For the first time in their history, Switzerland threw off the IHF Women’s Junior World Championship with a win, having lost their opening matches in 1989, 1997 and 2022. The European side had no problems against Tunisia and gave their new head coach Manuel Schnellmann a successful debut at a major international tournament.

GROUP B
Switzerland vs Tunisia 34:26 (20:11)

Switzerland and Tunisia broke the ice on the first day of the 2024 IHF Women’s Junior World Championship in the Jane Sandanski 2 Sports Center. The clear favourites of the group, Switzerland, lived up to their role and won convincingly against their African counterparts, dominating the match from start to finish.

Even though the game was rather even at the start, spurred on by the cheers from the stands and great assists from Emma Bächtiger, Switzerland soon took control of the game. With Claire Hartz scoring at a superb rate, it is no wonder that the Europeans were already seven goals ahead after 15 minutes.

Tunisia had problems creating chances in their opponents' defence and on more than one occasion went at least five minutes without scoring. On the African side, only left winger Mayssa Ben Hassine was able to make her presence felt.

Towards the end of the first half, Switzerland took their first double-digit lead when Sev Albrecht scored her sixth goal of the day. After the half-time break, Tunisia got off to the better start in the second half and were able to reduce the deficit to six goals with a more aggressive defensive performance (15:21).

However, Switzerland, who finished seventh at the W19 EHF EURO 2023 last summer, quickly woke up and restored their biggest lead with fast breaks (27:17), sealing the win to a certain extent. As the clock ticked over to the 45th minute, it was obvious that Tunisia had tired legs and their attacks were no longer as strong as before, leading to missed shots and turnovers.

While Switzerland waited for the final whistle to celebrate the certain victory, Tunisia took the opportunity to try out different things, from changing the defence to 3-2-1 and 5-1 to involving all players in the game. Something that will prove useful in the following matches of the tournament.

10 out of 13 outfield players scored at least once for the African team, with Loua Dammak and Mayssa Ben Hassine top scorers with four goals each. With 10 goals each, Alessia Riner and Sev Albrecht, Alkaloid Player of the Match, were unstoppable on the Swiss side, scoring almost 60 percent of their team's goals.

In the second round of Group B on Thursday, Switzerland will try to stay on the winning track against Chile, while Tunisia will face their continental rivals, Egypt.

Alkaloid Player of the Match: Alessia Riner (Switzerland)