Always the youngest: Mia Emmenegger on life in the fast lane

EHF / Björn Pazen

04 April 2024, 13:00

When a talented handball player is at the age of 19, he or she usually dreams of making it to senior level in the club or the national team, completing the first steps on the big stage. But Mia Emmenegger is just 19 years old, and she is already a regular player for the Swiss national team and her club Spono Eagles from the city of Nottwil, near Lucerne.

Ahead of the final matches of the Women's EHF EURO Cup 2024, there are only three players in the current Swiss roster who have scored more goals than the right wing: team captain Kerstin Kündig (246 goals), plus the experienced Daphne Gautschi (157) and Lisa Frey (141). After 26 international matches for Switzerland, Mia Emmenegger already has 134 goals on her tally, an average of more than five goals per match.

“In almost all teams I have always been the youngest one, I always played with older players even in the youth teams,” says Emmenegger. “But now we have younger players in our national team. I am not the youngest anymore.”

Handball is a family business at the Emmeneggers'. Mia’s mother Caroline is a former international, with 86 caps for Switzerland. She also played for Spono Eagles, becoming Swiss champion three times - in 2000, 2001 and 2006. Later, she became the club's assistant coach and now she is coaching the U18 team. All three daughters – Ana, Mia and Nora – play for Spono Eagles. Ana and Mia are in the first team while Nora, the youngest sibling, is in the second team.

Mia’s talent was discovered early on. After being part of a regional selection, she made her first steps in the Swiss youth team at the age of 14. At the U17 EHF EURO 2021 in Montenegro, Emmenegger’s star was rising on the international stage. As the fourth-highest scorer with 50 goals, she was awarded best right wing as part of the All-star Team.

Only two months later, Mia Emmenegger, still 16 years old, made her debut in the women’s national team – and against four-times world champions and former Olympic champions Russia, no less.

“I was really pale and nervous before the match, when I was told that I was in the starting seven,” she says.

Two months later, the EHF Respect Your Talent course in Vienna was another boost for Emmenegger’s career. “It was great to be with all those talents from all over Europe and getting coached by stars such as Andrea Lekic, Anja Althaus, Jelena Grubisic and Ana Gros,” she explains.

In November 2022, Mia was already on court at the same event with her ambassador Ana Gros at the EHF EURO in Slovenia.

“Playing a women’s European championship is much, much bigger than a tournament with the youth or the junior national team. Suddenly there was huge public interest in Switzerland, as it was the first ever Women’s EHF EURO for our country. And we gained so much experience there,” says Emmenegger, who was the top Swiss scorer at EHF EURO 2022 with 17 goals in their three matches of the preliminary round against Norway, Croatia and Hungary. When Switzerland took their first ever point on this stage with a 26:26 draw against Croatia, Emmenegger was the top scorer, with seven goals.

In contrast to those national team players of a similar age, Emmenegger had not been part of the Swiss Youth Academy. “All those players in my team born in 2004/05 were in this academy. I was training there some times, mainly I could train there in Covid-19 times, but I was at a different sports school. And I already played in the Swiss women’s league and the women’s national team at a very young age.”

The national team underwent an unplanned change on the way to EHF EURO 2024 they are co-hosting, as they had to replace their coach. Dane Martin Albertsen, who coached the women’s an junior teams as well as head of the youth academy, became head coach of top Hungarian club FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria for a few months, before resigning. Norwegian Knut Ove Joa was his successor for Switzerland.

“Of course, it was a change for us, but as our assistant coach Vroni Keller remained with us, it was only a small transition, as we play a slightly different style now,” adds Emmenegger.

As early as his second match as national team coach, Joa – who had previously worked as youth coach for the Norwegian federation - faced his compatriots in the EHF EURO Cup. As expected, Norway were ruthless, winning 29:44. The final EURO Cup match on Saturday will bring those opponents together again in front of a sold-out crowd of 2,200 fans in Zurich. That means the second biggest attendance for a women’s handball match in Switzerland is guaranteed, after 3,124 fans at the World Championship play-off against Czechia in April 2023, the official start of the EHF EURO 2024 campaign in Switzerland.

“Of course, we are not the favourites against Norway. It is our goal to be competitive for a longer time, not only 30 or 40 minutes,” says Mia Emmenegger.

For her, this match is something very special, as she will face some of her upcoming teammates on club level. Some weeks ago, her transfer to three-time EHF Champions League winners Vipers Kristiansand from the start of the 2024/25 season was announced.

“This is a huge step for me. Maybe it is two steps in one, but I really like to take this chance and I am ready for this challenge, as I am sure that I developed in the right way in the national team and at the Eagles,” she says, confidently.