{"id":2008,"date":"2025-06-21T16:43:52","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T14:43:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aflswitzerland.ch\/?page_id=2008"},"modified":"2026-10-23T18:24:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T16:24:20","slug":"swiss-heidis-womens-swiss-national-team","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/aflswitzerland.ch\/de\/swiss-heidis-womens-swiss-national-team\/","title":{"rendered":"\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udded Swiss Lynx – Women’s National Team"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Swiss Heidis made their international debut at the 2019 Euro Cup in Norrt\u00e4lje, Sweden. Coached by Tommy Ross<\/strong> and co-captained by Katherine Dellar <\/strong>(Geneva Jets AFC) and Ulrike Senti<\/strong> (Winterthur Lions\/Zurich Giants AFC), the team finished 7th out of 8 sides \u2014 an impressive result given that most players had no prior international experience. Larissa Waibel played a key behind-the-scenes role in recruitment, while the squad was strengthened by former rugby player Matilda Lea and standout performers Yael Weissman <\/strong>and Svenja M\u00fcller-Byrnes<\/strong>.

Yael continued playing for the Winterthur Lions until 2024 before injury forced her to hang up the boots. She has since become a full-time AFL Switzerland field umpire under the guidance of head umpire James Olle<\/strong>. Svenja <\/strong>was a long-standing member of the Basel Dragons before relocating to Berlin in 2023.

In 2022, Ulrike stepped back from the game due to injury, passing organisational and recruitment responsibilities to Claira Lea<\/strong> (Winterthur Lions AFC). Claira also captained the Heidis for two years. Under national coach Dave White<\/strong>, the team competed at the 2022 and 2023 Euro Cups, with Svenja and Yael again representing Switzerland in the red and white.

Player relocations and injuries meant the Heidis were unable to field a team at the 2024 and 2025 Euro Cups. In 2025, CEO Jason Ransome<\/strong> and Head of Women\u2019s Football Molly Coleman<\/strong> (Winterthur Lions AFC) began rebuilding the women\u2019s programme with the clear goal of sending a national team to the 2026 Euro Cup. After Molly relocated overseas for work, Alina Pirkheim and Emilia Heufelder stepped into the role and drove recruitment throughout early 2026. Their efforts led to the formation of a new women\u2019s squad and a fresh identity: the Swiss Lynx.

In 2026 the Swiss Lynx, captained by Gretchen Gilbreath<\/strong> (Basel Dragons AFC), competed at the Euro Cup and achieved their best-ever result, including a victory over the German women\u2019s team. The squad was built largely from beginners drawn from the Bern Bears, Winterthur Lions and Zurich Giants, reflecting the rapid growth of the women\u2019s game across Switzerland. Emilia Heufelder was selected in the official Women\u2019s Team of the Tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Swiss Heidis and Swiss Lynx Coaches<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Tommy Ross – Coach (2019 – 2022)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Dave White – Coach (2023 – 2025)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Matthew Kenna – Coach (2026 – 2026)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Swiss Heidis and Swiss Lynx Captains<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Ulrike Senti – Co-Captain (2019-2021)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Katherine Della – Co-Captain (2019-2021)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Claira Lea – Captain (2022-2023)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Gretchen Gilbreath – Captain (2026 – 2026)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Past Euro Cup Results<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Swiss Heidis Euro Cup Squads<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Swiss Heidis – Eurocup 2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Swiss Heidis – Eurocup 2022<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Swiss Heidis – Euro Cup 2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Swiss Lynx (and Wolves) – Euro Cup 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Swiss Heidis in the Media<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Ulrike Senti<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Swiss Heidis made their international debut at the 2019 Euro Cup in Norrt\u00e4lje, Sweden. Coached by Tommy Ross and co-captained by Katherine Dellar (Geneva Jets AFC) and Ulrike Senti (Winterthur Lions\/Zurich Giants AFC), the team finished 7th out of 8 sides \u2014 an impressive result given that most players had no prior international experience. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2066,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2008","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aflswitzerland.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aflswitzerland.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aflswitzerland.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aflswitzerland.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aflswitzerland.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2008"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/aflswitzerland.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3495,"href":"https:\/\/aflswitzerland.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2008\/revisions\/3495"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aflswitzerland.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aflswitzerland.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}