On 11th of February the Swiss Alp League competition kicked off for the season 2022-2023. This year, all three Swiss korfball clubs, namely Korfball Basel, Korfball Club Zurich (KCZ) and Korfball Club Lausanne are competing for the title of the Swiss Champion. The first league day took place in St.Jakobs Halle in Basel, where the home team, Korfball Basel, welcomed the other two competing teams. Matthias Friedel, former national team coach and official IKF referee, was responsible for refereeing all three competition games.
In the opening game, Korfball Basel played against KCZ. The visitors had a strong start into the game, and didn’t have any trouble to maintain their lead throughout the game. The end of the game found KCZ taking the win with a final score 3-15.
In the next game, KCZ faced Korfball Lausanne, which had a lot of player absences and lined up with 7 players on the field. In return, one player from Zurich was not allowed to shoot. Despite the numerical disadvantage, Korfball Lausanne put up a strong fight against KCZ, resulting in a tight game. In the end, KCZ managed to keep the lead throughout the game and to overcome Korfball Lausanne’s resistance, and got the win with a final score 10-8.
Finally, in the last game Korfball Lausanne managed to overcome the hurdle of Korfball Basel, who appeared to have improved from their last game. The final whistle found Korfball Lausanne as the winning team with a final score of 7-12.
In an emotional atmosphere, all the team members gave a standing ovation to Jantine Brussee, player of Korfball Basel, when she was substituted off the court in the final minutes of the last game. This move was a minor thank you to Jantine, who is a major contributor to the development of Korfball in Switzerland and was strongly involved in both Swiss Korfball and Korfball Basel. Jantine, thank you for everything!
The day concluded with a friendly match of mixed teams from all the participating clubs, followed by a nice social event after the games. The teams will compete against each other on 11th March, in Zurich for the second day of the Swiss Alp League.
