Juri Knorr, the young leader of the national handball team, talks about a European Championship opening game in front of 50,000 spectators in Düsseldorf, overwork and social media stress, harsh words from the national coach – and about his second passion: football.
The European Handball Championships begin in Germany in just under two weeks. In the opening game, Germany will face Switzerland on January 10th in the Düsseldorf football arena in front of more than 50,000 people – never before have so many spectators seen a handball game. The preliminary round takes place in Berlin, Munich and Mannheim, the main round takes place in Hamburg and Cologne. And the finals in the Lanxess Arena in Cologne; the tickets are largely sold out. The defending champion is Sweden, the favorites are world champion Denmark and Olympic champion France. But the German team also made a good impression with fifth place at the World Cup a year ago. National coach Alfred Gislason is sending a surprisingly young selection into the race. The team is led by Juri Knorr, the playmaker of the Rhein-Neckar Löwen. The 23-year-old explains in the interview why the host can be trusted to do a lot.