Olympic Games or nothing, that applies to the German handball players and especially to national coach Alfred Gislason. The pressure is great before the qualifying tournament. Of all people, one of his predecessors may be standing in his way.
The celebrated successful coach is there when the German handball players fight for qualification for the Olympic Games. His name: Dagur Sigurdsson. However, the Icelander, who coached the young DHB team to become the “Bad Boys” in 2016 and surprisingly became European champions and third in the Olympics with them, is the opponent. He recently quit Japan and took over the coaching position at Croatia – and will be facing Algeria as well as his two former employers Germany and Austria at the four-man tournament in Hanover.
In Germany, Sigurdsson is still recognized as a coaching hero. He initially completed his job at the DHB alongside being head coach of the Füchse Berlin. In January 2017 he ended his successful time at the DHB because Japan lured him before the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Sigurdsson’s compatriot Alfred Gislason is still on the sidelines for Germany. He has been the national coach since 2020 and will remain so until the home World Cup in 2027. With one big but: only if the DHB team completes the tournament from Thursday to Sunday in Hanover with success, only if they are all allowed to travel to Paris together in the summer. It is a constellation that the DHB found itself in without necessity. “I’ve been a coach for what feels like 50 years. It wasn’t particularly important to me to extend my contract before this tournament,” said Gislason at a media event in Hanover. The pressure on him and the team is now even greater at the qualifying tournament. If the community does not deliver, the DHB faces an uncertain future. Because there is no Plan B, said DHB President Andreas Michelmann.
“Challenge will be brutal”
And between the Olympics and Germany stands, among others, Sigurdsson. “The challenge will be brutal,” warned ex-professional and current Füchse sports director Stefan Kretzschmar in the Dyn podcast “Kretzsche & Schmiso”. Croatia (Saturday, 2.30 p.m./ZDF) is the biggest opponent, the team is filled with young, up-and-coming players alongside the Kiel superstar Domagoj Duvnjak. That could be “really dangerous.” Gislason also has great respect, but is relaxed: “I don’t think Dagur will turn everything upside down for the Croatians in four or five days.”
However, Sigurdsson doesn’t have to shake things up that much. The DHB team’s last defeat against Croatia was less than two months ago, it dates back to the home European Championships. A fact that Gislason did not accept in the “Sport Bild”: “I completely ignore the Croatia defeat, in which I consciously distributed the burden with a view to safely reaching the semi-finals. I’ve been there for so long, that doesn’t interest me at all what others write.”
“We have to do it”
Next to Croatia is Algeria (Thursday, 5:45 p.m./Sport1) and Austria (Sunday, 2:10 p.m./ARD), which played itself into a frenzy at the European Championships and wrested a hard-fought draw from the DHB team, the other opponents in the four-person tournament. The top two finishers get to play at the Olympics. President Michelmann told “Bild”: “We can’t make ourselves smaller than we are. With all due respect to our opponents, but in a tournament with Algeria, Croatia and Austria and with home advantage, we have to come at least second That simply has to be the aim, especially with the spectators behind us. We have to do that.”
Gislason relies largely on the EM players. With the backcourt right Kai Häfner, the backcourt left Martin Hanne and pivot Justus Fischer, three of them are missing with injuries, but backcourt player Marian Michalczik is back after an injury. Gislason also nominated the two Leipzig backcourt players Franz Semper and Luca Witzke. At the beginning of the training week in Hanover there were still fears that the two pivots Golla and Jannik Kohlbacher could be unavailable; both had arrived with injuries but passed the medical check.
While Kretzschmar is worried about the attack and fears that not all players are in the best shape, he emphasized: “Goalkeeper, defense. We can rely on that.” Should one of the two pivots fail, Hendrik Pekeler, who actually only left the national team in January, could step up and is available on call. The Kieler, but also his teammate Steffen Weinhold, who is also in the 35-man squad from which the coaching team can bring in replacements, is one reason why Gislason’s contract extension was not only greeted with joy. Although he achieved fourth place at the home European Championships, the best placement of his time in office. Although he is undeniably a super successful coach, won the Champions League three times with Kiel and Magdeburg, won the German championship seven times and won a series of cup titles. Because the two were nominated again means that there is no room for other emerging talents. And that despite the fact that the U21 team became world champions last summer.
Gislason raves about youth, but…
At least three of them are still in the squad after Fischer’s loss: playmaker Nils Lichtlein, goalkeeper David Späth and half-right Renars Uscins. “The fact is that I want to continue to accompany this very young team, which will get better and better in the coming years with more experience,” Gislason told “Sport Bild”. But so far he has not consistently relied on young people. There was criticism during the European Championships, especially about the few appearances for Lichtlein, who is repeatedly mentioned internationally as a future exceptional player. When playmaker Juri Knorr, also just 23 years old, weakened and seemed outplayed, Gislason hardly gave Lichtlein any trust.
If you listen to Gislason, that could soon change. “Our team has a very bright future. How many people aged 2,000 or younger are in Denmark? There is only Simon Pytlick. In Sweden it is only Eric Johansson, in France there is none. For us there were seven,” he told “Sport Image” looking back at the European Championships. “That’s why I say: These guys will make mistakes in a year or two, but not the same ones. They’ll be a lot better.”
And he wants to continue to look after them, which he made clear despite his apparent calmness and the declaration that he felt no pressure at all immediately before the do-or-die tournament: “Because I have experienced what a great atmosphere in a home tournament, I would very much like to still be the national coach at the World Cup in Germany in 2027.” To do this, he and his team have to qualify for the Olympics.
Incidentally, Gislason doesn’t have a plan B, nor does the DHB: “I tried to stop handball a few years ago, but that didn’t work at all. 65 is just a number. I will definitely continue with handball “Because I’m having so much fun doing it – until I realize I can’t do it anymore. But at the moment I’m in great shape.”