Of course, Juri Knorr could have raised his protective shield and claimed that all the talk hadn’t affected him in the slightest. The headlines from the winter, which had less to do with handball player Knorr than with his vaccination status, the missed European Championships – all half as wild. Knorr is still young, only 21 years old, there are many who say that the future in the German national handball team belongs to him. How about some headlines?
But Yuri Knorr is not like that. The Rhein-Neckar Löwen handball player is someone who tends to think too much rather than too little, and this week he described how upset he has been in the past few months. How he struggled with the consequences of his decision not to be vaccinated after surviving the corona infection in November 2020, which brought him considerable internal and public criticism and even caused him to miss his first European Handball Championship.
“It wasn’t an easy phase for me,” said Knorr now. He’s also read a few articles too many about himself; he was dubbed the “Kimmich of handball” because of the prominent national soccer player who had to endure a similar debate without being vaccinated. “That didn’t leave me untouched, I admit that openly and honestly,” said Knorr. For a short time it seemed as if one of his promising careers was missing a huge damper.
Shortly before the European Championship, Knorr was suddenly out – and the national coach was very upset
He was just the hope of his sport, the big promise – and suddenly the biggest crosshead in handball. After surviving the corona infection at the beginning of the pandemic – he was one of those athletes who had developed severe symptoms – Knorr wanted to avoid vaccination and would rather have his antibodies tested regularly. A special path that could not be reconciled with the regulations of the European Handball Federation (EHF) for the European Championships in Hungary and Slovakia. Only those who had been vaccinated, had recently recovered and also tested negative (2G+) were allowed to travel to the tournament.
So he was out, and national coach Alfred Gislason was very upset because he wanted to build a new, young team around Knorr at the European Championships. Knorr shouldn’t be surprised if other colleagues are now playing the foreground, the Icelander grumbled at the time.
But Knorr has learned his lessons. He quickly declared that he was not a corona denier; even if his vaccination status remains his private matter. Since the lifting of many protective measures in professional sport, this is no longer significant, so Knorr can take part in the decisive World Cup qualifiers on Wednesday in Kiel (6:15 p.m. / Sport1) and on Saturday in Torshavn against the Faroe Islands when it comes to the important qualification for the World Cup 2023 in Poland and Sweden.
Somewhat surprisingly, Knorr was nominated instead of Magdeburg’s Philipp Weber, who was long considered the number one middle man, but hadn’t played a really good EM. Now Knorr is to share his duties with Luca Witzke, 23, who is also still young. “It goes up, it goes down, then up again,” Knorr said of this turbulent career phase. And if he has his way, a stable high will now follow.
Juri Knorr learned from the best early on – also at FC Barcelona
Some people are actually waiting for Knorr to explode – and let out what handball is in him. As the son of former national player Thomas Knorr (83 caps), he learned from the best at an early age. At the age of 18 he moved from the third division team HSG Ostsee Neustadt/Grömitz to the reserves of FC Barcelona, where he also helped out with the professional team; after moving to GWD Minden, he is now completing his first season with the Rhein-Neckar Löwen, where he is coached by the experienced Swiss middleman Andy Schmid. The Löwen are having a disappointing season, Knorr was on the bench a lot in the first half of the season, but he’s been showing better performances for the past few weeks.
Gislason noticed that too. “Juri has increasingly found his place in the club,” said the national coach, “I’m curious to see what he can bring against the Faroe Islands.” Gislason knows, of course, that Knorr has everything he needs for a world career in terms of technique, tactical flair and goal instincts. It would be almost negligent not to rely on Knorr in the future, who is one of those complete handball players who can actually do everything – except goalkeeping. In the middle position you haven’t had one like that in Germany for a long time. The last was probably Markus Baur, the director of the 2007 World Cup title.
Are these the footsteps that Knorr has to fill? He brings the tools with him if he doesn’t shoot himself out again in the meantime. But Gislason is not a vindictive type. What happened in winter has long been forgotten, Gislason explained: “We will enjoy Juri for a long time.” With the small caveat: “If everything goes well.”