{"id":2273,"date":"2025-08-30T08:00:57","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T06:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aflswitzerland.ch\/?page_id=2273"},"modified":"2025-08-30T09:19:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T07:19:09","slug":"womens-australian-football-in-switzerland","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/aflswitzerland.ch\/de\/womens-australian-football-in-switzerland\/","title":{"rendered":"Women’s Australian Football in Switzerland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Women\u2019s Australian Football in Switzerland: A Proud Legacy and a Bold Future<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Women\u2019s Australian football has been an integral part of AFL Switzerland\u2019s journey since its inception in 2018. In 2025, Winterthur Lions player Molly Coleman\u2014originally from country Victoria, Australia\u2014was appointed Head of Women\u2019s Football. With experience playing in Australia, Vietnam, and Switzerland, Molly brings a deep understanding of the game and a passion for growing the sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to logistical challenges, AFL Switzerland was unable to send the Swiss Heidis to the Euro Cups in 2024 and 2025. Molly has now taken on the exciting challenge of rebuilding the women\u2019s national team. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Her goals include recruiting new players, rebranding the team name, and preparing a squad to proudly represent Switzerland at the 2026 Euro Cup in Amsterdam. AFL Switzerland is fully behind her, with planning already underway for a series of women\u2019s \u201ccome and try\u201d sessions in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s important to note: without women players, there would be no AFL league in Switzerland. While there aren\u2019t yet enough players to form a separate women\u2019s league, AFL Switzerland has adapted its rules to ensure inclusivity. As a result, there is no men\u2019s or women\u2019s league\u2014just one unified AFL Switzerland league.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women players compete under standard AFL rules when playing against other women. When matched against men, modified tackling rules are in place to ensure safety and fairness. Male players may only perform a safe wrap to prevent a woman from kicking, handballing, or bouncing. <\/p>\n<\/div>

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If a male player cannot execute this safely, tackling is not permitted. Under no circumstance may a male player tackle a woman to the ground. All clubs educate new players on these rules, and the system has worked seamlessly since the league began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AFL Switzerland has a proud history of women\u2019s involvement\u2014not just on the field, but across all levels of the league, from playing to volunteering, supporting and the league’s presidency position. Some of the pioneering women who played in the inaugural 2019 season and represented the Swiss Heidis at the 2019 Euro Cup, include Ulrike Senti, Katherine Dellar, Svenja M\u00fcller-Byrnes, and Ya\u00ebl Weissmann.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Svenja M\u00fcller-Byrnes<\/strong>, a dual German-Australian national who grew up in Geelong, played women\u2019s footy in New South Wales before becoming the first female player for the Basel Dragons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ulrike Senti<\/strong>, originally from Liechtenstein, began her AFL journey with the Winterthur Lions in 2019 before helping establish the Z\u00fcrich Giants. She discovered the sport while studying in Tasmania and went on to serve as AFL Switzerland\u2019s second president from 2021 to 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ya\u00ebl Weissmann<\/strong>, from Switzerland, remains the only original 2019 women\u2019s player still active in the league\u2014now serving full-time as an umpire. In her playing days she played for the Winterthur Lions and still remains a dedicated member of her club today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Katherine Dellar<\/strong>, from Western Australia, was the Geneva Jets\u2019 trailblazing women\u2019s player. She co-captained the first Swiss Heidis and was runner-up in the Jets\u2019 2019 Reserves Best & Fairest.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Have you ever dreamed of representing Switzerland on the national stage?<\/strong> We\u2019re looking for passionate players to wear the red and white jumper at the 2026 Euro Cup in Amsterdam. If you’re interested, reach out to Molly at aflswitzerland@gmail.com<\/strong> for more information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Women\u2019s Australian Football in Switzerland: A Proud Legacy and a Bold Future Women\u2019s Australian football has been an integral part of AFL Switzerland\u2019s journey since its inception in 2018. In 2025, Winterthur Lions player Molly Coleman\u2014originally from country Victoria, Australia\u2014was appointed Head of Women\u2019s Football. With experience playing in Australia, Vietnam, and Switzerland, Molly brings […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2273","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aflswitzerland.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2273","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=2273"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/aflswitzerland.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2301,"href":"https:\/\/aflswitzerland.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2273\/revisions\/2301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aflswitzerland.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}