When it was done, Alfred Gislason walked across the field with a mild smile. The Icelander wasn’t running completely smoothly, as he had damaged hips and intervertebral discs after a long handball career, but he was a happy man. His German handball players had just secured their participation in the Summer Olympics with a 34:31 win in the decisive game of the qualifying tournament against Austria. And Gislason also had personal reasons to be satisfied. He now knows that he will probably remain national coach until 2027. All the discussions of the past few weeks were finally, finally over.
“I’m looking forward to continuing to look after this team,” Gislason explained at the ARD microphone, and when asked if there was a tear glistening in his eye, he said: “Nooo.” Before he added: “Not really.” Right winger Lukas Zerbe also felt “pure joy, pure relief”. Qualifying for the Olympics is “a huge dream come true” for him. The team finally posed in front of a large “Ticket to Paris”. So these much-quoted access certificates do exist after all.
The German handball players last missed the Summer Games in London in 2012. This should definitely not be repeated, after all, the Olympics enjoy a special status in the handball players’ calendar. World Championships and European Championships take place much more frequently, while summer games only take place every four years. In addition, the Olympic handball tournament is considered the fastest route to a major title due to the few starting places for the strong teams from Europe.
DHB President Michelmann defends the approach surrounding Gislason’s contract
The German Handball Association (DHB) had previously made the qualification tournament in Hanover even more explosive because the association linked the fate of national coach Gislason directly to participation in Paris. Basically without necessity, the DHB had extended the contract with Gislason until 2027 before the tournament; including the home World Cup in 2027, they wanted to entrust the Icelander’s fortunes. However, the great vote of confidence was provided with a passage in the contract: If the Olympics had been missed, the contract with the Icelander would have ended immediately.
A strange move that put Gislason in a bad mood due to the frequent questions and increased the general tension. In the second group game against Croatia, which was lost 30:33 on Saturday, nerves were noticeably frayed in the first half. Miraculously, DHB President Andreas Michelmann still defended the approach on Saturday evening when he said on ARD that everything had been “done right, carefully weighed up and communicated transparently”. Michelmann even asked: “What more could you want?”
Against the Austrians, however, the German team showed that they could cope with the situation. Above all, things got off to a much better start than on Saturday. The Austrians, who wanted to qualify for the Olympics for the first time ever, quickly took the lead, but the Germans held on. Julian Köster, who had a bad day against Croatia and spent a lot of time on the bench, scored three times from the backcourt, and Juri Knorr and Zerbe (from seven meters) also found their way in well. After ten minutes the DHB team led 7:5.
Austria still gets close, but can’t turn the game around
Everything looked more focused and determined than in the completely unsuccessful first half against Croatia; Above all, Gislason’s team reduced the number of easy, avoidable ball losses to a tolerable level. Goalkeeper Andreas Wolff was also in form early on and finally awake after an action by Austria’s backcourt player Janko Bozovic, who first missed Wolff with the ball and then caught the goalkeeper in the head with his foot. Bozovic left the field for two minutes.
However, until half time, the German team failed to increase their lead due to minor inadequacies in attack. Zerbe took the lead for the first time after 20 minutes with three goals (13:10); The Austrians only stayed within striking distance thanks to goals from the strong Kiel player Mykola Bylik. The suspicion that coach Ales Pajovic’s team performed slightly above their own capabilities at the recent European Championships has been confirmed. We also went into the break with a three-goal lead (18:15).
In the second half, the Germans initially made it clear that they had absolutely no desire to let the game degenerate into a game of nerves. Substitute goalkeeper David Späth caught two important balls and then showed his well-known ecstasy game with the audience. Wolff came back for a seven-meter penalty against Sebastian Frimmel and also made a save. When Köster then stole a ball from the Austrians, bounced it all over the field and threw the ball into the net, Germany was ahead by five goals for the first time. The decision?
No. Austria came within two goals ten minutes before the end, and Germany was suddenly only just away from being eliminated from the Olympics. But the nerves held firm. “Job done,” said Juri Knorr and laughed.