Home European Championships make handball players hot
The hunt for medals has begun for Gislason, who doesn’t like Christmas
December 27, 2023, 7:04 a.m
The opening game of the European Handball Championship will be a world record, that is already certain. Until then, the German national team only has a short time to get to know each other and get used to each other. For national coach Alfred Gislason, this is a better job than playing Santa Claus.
Alfred Gislason isn’t all that unhappy about the abrupt end to the celebrations. “Although my daughter tried to get me to run around like Santa Claus for my grandchildren this year, Christmas isn’t really my thing,” says the national coach. Gislason is doubly happy that work calls immediately after the holidays.
Today, Wednesday, the months-long wait is over: With the three-day course in Frankfurt, Gislason starts the hot phase of preparation with the German handball players exactly 15 days before the opening game and is committed to the home European Championships. “I see the first course as a warm-up to January 1st. Not in the sense of a party warm-up, more like a good diesel engine. It used to have to warm up first. I remember that from my tractor at home,” says Gislason and laughs .
The mood among Gislason and his 19 chosen ones is great before the upcoming highlight of the season (January 10th to 28th), slowly ramping up for the medal hunt is the motto for the three days until Friday. For the DHB selection, which has been hit by a few cancellations, it will also be about team building with its five tournament debutants. “A good team spirit can make up for a lot,” said Gislason.
Two tough tests still lie ahead
This was also shown at the 2016 European Championships, when Germany sensationally won their last title to date with an inexperienced team under coach Dagur Sigurdsson. Comparisons with the golden boys of the time, four of whom are also there in January, don’t bother Gislason at all. A lot is possible in team sports, we can get that out of it. But not much more than that.
Gislason wants to write his own story with his team in the next five weeks. However, the experienced master trainer consciously avoids full-bodied declarations of war. “We look from game to game,” he says and is full of anticipation at the same time. He has already experienced a tournament in Germany as Iceland’s national coach, but now it is “a little different” because: “Germany is my second home.”
First of all, full concentration is on preparation anyway. In the next few days there will be “a lot of talk about what we want and how we want to do it,” Gislason explained: “The boys should get to know each other better. Especially those who haven’t been there so far have to get used to it quickly.”
The final European Championship countdown starts on New Year’s Day in Brunsbüttel. The highlight of the preparation is two tough tests against Portugal on January 4th and 6th in Flensburg and Kiel. The European Championship begins for the German team with the world record game against Switzerland in front of over 50,000 spectators in the Düsseldorf football arena. Other opponents in the preliminary round are North Macedonia and France. Until then, “pre-glow” is the order of the day.