Switzerland’s Aellen: “The main thing is in the head”

“It was a crazy experience. Before the game against Montenegro, it was, for us, just to do our work. The only thing that we can do is win by as much goals as we can. So, we pushed hard, we went through and got to our goal,” says centre back Felix Aellen.

The Swiss then sat down and watched Slovenia take on the Faroese, and win, sending Aellen and his teammates on the ride to Malmö. Aellen says: “We were amazed by the game and had a lot of emotions.”

“Ten minutes that almost cost us the main round”

The leader of the side’s attack, Aellen summarises their performance so far: “A lot of the times we played very, very well. Also, the discipline was very good in attack, but I think, if you break it down, we had maybe 10 minutes that almost cost us the main round. These are things that we will probably never forget in our lives, but we'll get better at it and adjust.”

After the EHF EURO 2024, Switzerland farewelled their long-time star centre back Andy Schmid from the court, and he transitioned to the role of head coach. A player many have considered one of the best ever in the game, Schmid left big shoes to fill — Aellen is the one to step into them.

“I love it. If you can stand on the field with as much time as me and have a lot of importance as well in the game, it's pretty cool,” says Aellen, who, at 22, is playing his first EHF EURO. He finished the preliminary round with the third highest number of assists and was Switzerland’s top scorer on the path to the final tournament.

“The goal for me is to play for the team. That's my first goal. We have a lot of quality in our team and my goal is to put this all together and have the connections as well. And I think for us as well in the attack, it's just to play our own game. We know we're good, we know what qualities we have and we just have to put it on the field.”

Aellen was named Swiss male newcomer of the year for 2023; finished as Switzerland’s third top scorer at his first major tournament, the 2025 World Championship; and is currently among the top 20 scorers in what is his first Bundesliga season.

“The year 2025 was pretty crazy. I made a lot of steps in a short time and if you think about that, it's pretty crazy to be now on this level,” says Aellen.

“Almost the main thing is in the head”

Schmid has said that mentality has been the key development for the team and “I tell my players all the time: They don’t know how good they are.”

Now they have pulled off a record win and rode an emotional wave to reach the main round, where does Aellen see the team’s confidence?

“It's also a long process to get on with. I think we started this process with the games for World [Championship] qualification against Slovenia,” says Aellen, referring to the two-leg play-offs on the path to the 2025 World Championship, which ended with a level score and meant a penalty shoot-out was required to find the winners. Despite a defeat in the shoot-out, Switzerland did make it to the tournament as they were later awarded a wild card.

“This was the first time we had a good opponent and we had trust in ourselves that we could play with them and we could be even. Then we had ups and downs afterwards, but I think this process is pretty long.

“For us, it's almost the main thing is in the head, maybe not even on the field or the tactics or whatever — the most part is in the head. We have to get some new experiences and then afterwards, adapting, adapting, adapting and go on. But I think we've made some steps as well already now in the European championship,” Aellen says.

With Schmid having been such a prominent player for Switzerland, it is naturally beneficial for Aellen and the numerous other young players to be able to learn from the coach. But it is not only Schmid whose experience is helpful to the team, who are on average the fifth youngest side of the 24 that started the EHF EURO 2026. Aellen points to others with big-club credentials, such as goalkeeper Nikola Portner, THW Kiel player Lukas Laube, or HBC Nantes’ Noam Leopold.

“You can talk with them about not even only tactics and how they play, but also what happens in their minds. How are they preparing for stuff, or how are they dealing with stuff after the game. I think we have a lot of qualities there and also the players who are able to learn from them,” adds Aellen.

“The question ‘why not?’ is probably almost the best”

Switzerland will now contest main round group II in Malmö, where they will take on Hungary, Croatia, Iceland and home side Sweden.

“It's open again, I think. For us, it's important that we know we can win games as well. We go from match to match. We want to push hard and push through. We want to win every game and get some points, and that's the next goal, but we look forward from game to game,” says Aellen. 

“The question ‘why not?’ is probably almost the best, I think. As I said, we take game for game, and we also see the chance for ourselves.

“We want to play our game and go on with that and then look what's coming.”

Photos © kolektiff images