Missed the final round – Thanks to wildcard: Switzerland still goes to the World Cup – Sport

The Swiss handball team receives the last wildcard for the 2025 World Cup and is therefore allowed to take part in the tournament.

In the penalty shootout against Slovenia, the Swiss national handball team missed out on qualifying for the 2025 World Championship. But now it is clear: Switzerland will still be allowed to take part in the tournament in Croatia, Denmark and Norway. The International Handball Federation (IHF) awarded the last wildcard to the Swiss national team. As the IHF announced, they will receive this for sporting reasons on the one hand and for commercial reasons on the other, as they have a large reach.

Coach Andy Schmid’s team joins the USA, who have already been assured of participation, to kiss the hand. The national team was surprisingly allowed to take part in the World Cup in 2021 when they were allowed to travel to Egypt as a replacement.

Great joy among the Swiss

There is great joy in the Swiss camp. National coach Andy Schmid: “Receiving the wild card is a great thing for us and at the same time shows recognition of our sporting achievements in the playoff games against Slovenia. We are pleased that we can present ourselves on the big World Cup stage, which is extremely valuable.”

SHV Central President Pascal Jenny was also pleased: “The wildcard is confirmation that we are on the right path with Handball Switzerland. Today, it takes much more than sporting success on the field. We are working on an interactive, participatory and constantly growing handball community.”

Draw on 29 May

Who Switzerland will face will be decided in just a few days. The draw for the preliminary round groups will take place in Croatia on May 29th. The tournament will take place from January 14th to February 2nd in a total of 5 cities in the 3 host countries.