Handball players to European Championships without Michalczik
Gislason would like to look after the national team in the long term
December 29, 2023, 4:00 p.m
Alfred Gislason can imagine a contract extension until 2027. Negotiations will take place after the home European Championship. There is now bad news for the tournament because backcourt player Marian Michalczik is out. The national coach “doesn’t want to control” his remaining players.
After the home European Championships, national coach Alfred Gislason will hold concrete negotiations with those responsible at the German Handball Federation about an extension of his contract, which expires in summer 2024 at the latest. “I was asked whether we could hold talks after the European Championships, and that’s no problem for me at all,” said the Icelander in an interview with “Kieler Nachrichten”.
Gislason has been in office since the beginning of February 2020. Next year, his contract covers the home European Championships from January 10th to 28th as well as the Olympic Games in Paris, for which the DHB selection still has to qualify in the spring. Last January, DHB President Andreas Michelmann indicated that he wanted to extend the contract with Gislason as quickly as possible. However, that didn’t happen. Gislason, who previously worked successfully at club level in Gummersbach, Magdeburg and especially Kiel, would like to remain national coach. He can “well imagine working with the team until 2027. It’s a lot of fun. And I’m sure we can achieve a lot.” He sees great potential and the chance “to play for medals at every tournament in the long term.”
Meanwhile, Gislason sent his handball players on their XXS New Year’s holiday without any “conditions”. “There are no bans for the players,” said the national coach with a view to the mini-break at the turn of the year: “I’m past the age where I try to control them. They’re all national players, they know what they’re doing “What to do and what not to do on New Year’s Eve.” The DHB team led by captain Johannes Golla has completed three days of training in Frankfurt, and part one of the preparation for the home European Championships has been completed. “The days were very valuable for us. You could see the boys’ anticipation. They did a great job. I’m very satisfied,” said Gislason, before sending his players home to their loved ones “with a little video material” as homework.
Michalczik is missing, no subsequent nomination
Gislason didn’t seem 100 percent happy, however, because the Icelander had to cope with another personnel blow shortly before the turn of the year due to the loss of Marian Michalczik. The TSV Hannover-Burgdorf playmaker suffered a muscle injury in his leg during training with the German team and is not available for the tournament. “Of course we are very disappointed. But we will try to solve this internally,” said Gislason. He decided not to be nominated later, so that the German team, which is full of five tournament debutants, will start the final phase of preparation for the European Championship on New Year’s Day in Brunsbüttel with 18 players. The highlights of the last course are two tough tests against Portugal. The first meeting with the Portuguese will take place on January 4th (4 p.m.) in Flensburg, the tournament dress rehearsal will then be on January 6th (6 p.m.) in Kiel.
Before the coming days off – in the best case scenario they will be the last until January 28th – Gislason is relying on personal responsibility. According to the 64-year-old, he himself will go out to dinner with his partner in Berlin, “but will be home before midnight so that he can set off for Brunsbüttel early in the morning.” With his players, he “trusts that every single one of them is simply mature enough. If they are mature enough to make the decision on the field, then they are also mature enough to make the right decision on New Year’s Eve.”
This met with open ears from the team. “So close to the tournament,” Kastening promised before he left for his XXS vacation, “we won’t do anything about it.”