Andy Schmid wants to “suck up” the games of his last Bundesliga season, “paired with great ambition”.

One thing is important to him: “It shouldn't be a farewell tour.” Rather, it is a season of maximum success.

As for the Swedish goalkeeper Andreas Palicka, the Rhein-Neckar Löwen playmaker will end in June 2022.

After twelve years and big titles - the lions became German champions in 2016 and 2017 under his guidance.

Schmid has not extended his expiring contract.

At almost 38 years of age, he no longer just wants to think about himself and his career, but about his family.

Back to Switzerland

He should go back to Switzerland, together with his Norwegian wife and their sons.

Schmid says: “Our big son will start secondary school next year, the little one will start school.

It feels like the right time for me to quit. ”Schmid doesn't yet know whether and, if so, where he will continue to play in Switzerland.

In the foreseeable future he wants to work as a handball coach.

Schmid says: "It was 80 percent a family decision and 20 percent a sporting one." The pandemic did not play a role in setting the course, he claims.

And is full of anticipation for his next, the last season in the Bundesliga in front of spectators.

Schmid has a special role in this - he is supposed to help usher in a new era of lions, because in the 21-year-old Juri Knorr his successor is ready, an entry from GWD Minden.

Big footsteps, for sure.

Schmid then also curbs the expectations of Knorr and says with a laugh: "If it had gone stupid, he could be my son."

In any case, the two directors of different backgrounds have already talked about handball and life over a coffee. "But he doesn't do an apprenticeship with me or anything else," says Schmid, who finds such attributions too aloof: "There are things that he can and I can't, and vice versa."

Schmid was named “Player of the Season” five times in a row. In the master's years all threads came together in the game. The fact that he recently appeared less dominant was also due to the unrest among the Lions, who are still looking for the right coach to succeed Nikolaj Jacobsen - since 2019. After Kristján Andrésson and Martin Schwalb, Klaus Gärtner will lead through the season, before Sebastian Hinze takes over from Bergischer HC in 2022 and is the long-term solution hoped for from Löwen's point of view.

You can tell Schmid that he has little to do with the term “transitional season”. His ambition does not allow that. And that won't be any different in the final season either. Seamless throws from the back room, magical allusions to the circle - handball fans can expect that from Schmid again in the season that begins on September 8th. He feels fit, says the Swiss: "I will approach the games consciously, knowing that it will be the last time as an active player."