The European Handball Championship has significantly fueled enthusiasm for the sport thanks to the German team’s fantastic performance in the opening game. In front of a record number of exactly 53,586 spectators, the DHB selection played in its first game against Switzerland and won confidently, also thanks to an extremely good performance by goalkeeper Andreas Wolff, who was celebrated by the team and fans after the game.
“I knew he was good, but today was from another planet,” said playmaker Juri Knorr after the 27:14 victory over the Swiss team. “He was a great support.”
A total of 24 teams will play for the title of European champions until January 28th. The tournament will be held in six cities in Germany – in addition to Düsseldorf, where the tournament began, also in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Mannheim and Munich. The final round will take place in Cologne.
The fact that the sport is becoming increasingly popular in Germany is shown, among other things, by a series of portraits on ARD, which introduce the coach Alfred Gislason and two of the most famous German handball players, goalkeeper Wolff and backcourt player Knorr, and which have been available in the channel’s media library for some time is. The popularity of the actors is reflected in detailed background pieces on public television.
A few days before the start of the tournament, former handball world champion Dominik Klein was asked by the German Press Agency (dpa) for his opinion about the local squad. Klein won the World Cup with his team in 2007. He likes the mix of young guns and seasoned veterans, said Klein.
Promising mix in the DHB selection for the European Handball Championship
“The distribution of roles is clear. On the one hand, the core of experienced players who have to radiate the necessary calm and confidence. On the other hand, the national coach has euphoric, carefree U21 world champions in his back pocket,” said Klein, who is now a TV expert in the use is.
Meanwhile, national coach Gislason was preparing for the European Championships with an initial 18 players; the second course began on New Year’s Day. However, Patrick Groetzki had to withdraw due to injury a few days before the start of the European Handball Championship; the 34-year-old veteran from the Rhein-Neckar-Löwen injured his foot in the friendly win against Portugal. Gislason did not nominate any players.
Next Sunday the DHB team will play against North Macedonia, ZDF will broadcast the game (here you can read when the other games will take place and where you can watch them live.)
In the photo series we introduce coach Gislason and some of the players.
Sources: THW Kiel, DHB.de“Kicker.de“, “HNA.de“, “Rhein Necker newspaper“, ARD media library“Southgerman newspaper” / with material from dpa
Read at stern+: German handball has been a bit lackluster recently – the last title was eight years ago. After the clear win against Portugal, that should now change at the home European Championship. Important source of hope: Juri Knorr, 23 years old, playmaker with a penchant for quarreling.