Condition for the national coach
Gislason will stay until 2027 – or have to leave quickly
March 4, 2024, 1:50 p.m
The German Handball Association creates clarity and binds the national coaches of the men’s and women’s national teams. Also with a view to the home World Championships. Alfred Gislason’s new working paper is valid until 2027, but it also has a catch.
Shortly before the Olympic qualification there is clarity: The German Handball Association (DHB) has extended the contracts with its national coaches Markus Gaugisch and Alfred Gislason early. Gaugisch signed until June 30, 2026 and will therefore also look after the women’s team at the home World Cup in 2025. Gislason’s new working paper is valid until February 28, 2027 and thus also includes the men’s home World Cup in January 2027. In Gislason’s case, the prerequisite for the long term is successful qualification for the Olympic Games in Paris. Otherwise the contract ends this year.
“I am very happy about the trust and the opportunity to be able to accompany our national team on its path to 2027,” said Gislason, who has looked after the DHB team since 2020. In January, the Icelander led the German team to fourth place at the home European Championships: “The team has enormous potential to make extreme progress in the next tournaments. In the coming days we will first of all put everything into a successful Olympic qualification tournament subordinate.”
In the four-way tournament from March 14th to 17th in Hanover, Germany will face Algeria, Croatia and Austria. Two of the four teams, all of which compete against each other, qualify for the Olympics. “Now the facts have been clarified to the outside world and everyone can concentrate on the upcoming Olympic qualifications,” said DHB sports director Axel Kromer. The German women will fight against Slovenia, Montenegro and Paraguay in Neu-Ulm from April 11th to 14th for one of two tickets for the Summer Games in Paris. The German women will be taking part in the Olympics for the first time since 2008.
“The Olympic Games and a home World Cup are goals that do not require external motivation and give us the chance to get closer to the top in the world,” said Gaugisch, who has been responsible for the senior national team since 2022. It is “an honor to be able to work for the German national team and I am pleased about the trust expressed.”
The decision of the DHB executive board to extend the contracts of Gislason and Gaugisch was unanimous. “We are staying on course with a view to the upcoming home world championships in the decade of handball,” said DHB President Andreas Michelmann: “In recent years, we have also learned from other nations that continuity is a key to sporting success . With this long-term decision for Markus Gaugisch and Alfred Gislason we are creating clarity.”