Swiss national player Noé Spirig and team, at the 2018 World Cup in Italy.
Historic Swiss victory against the World Champion
The Netherlands leads the World Championship medal table in Powerchair Hockey. The only nation to have won a medal at each of the four World Championships held so far – twice the gold medal.
It was a thrilling achievement for Switzerland at the 2018 World Championship to win 5:4 against the Netherlands in the group matches – it was the second defeat of the frontrunner team in their entire international sport history. The decisive injection of motivation came from Paul Emmering, skills coach of the Swiss team. The German Powerchair Hockey world champion said in the dressing room: «The Netherlands are beatable. I‘ve done it. You can do it too!» Germany beat the Netherlands 7:6 after extra time in the 2010 World Championship final with Emmering – the first time ever that the Netherlands lost an international match.
Despite this stunning surprise, Switzerland remained without a medal at the 2018 World Championship. They narrowly missed out on a place in the World Championship semi-finals due to having a worse goal difference between the teams with the same points.
By the way: Paul Emmering is also skills coach in the Swiss national team this year. A good omen.
IPCH World Championships
