Next destination awaits
DHB women crown European Championship qualification with record victory
April 7, 2024, 9:25 p.m
The DHB women completed qualification for the European Championships with a flawless record. At the end there is an effortless record victory. The next big goal now awaits the handball players.
With the highest international victory in history, Germany’s handball players crowned their flawless European Championship qualification and celebrated a successful dress rehearsal for the upcoming Olympic qualification. The team of national coach Markus Gaugisch achieved an effortless 46:9 (23:4) against Israel in Heidelberg and thus their sixth win in their sixth game.
The best German thrower in the record win in front of 1,121 spectators was backcourt player Xenia Smits with seven goals. The highest international success to date was the 45:12 against Paraguay at the 2007 World Cup. The DHB selection, which had already been declared group winners, completed qualification for the European Championship finals from November 28th to December 15th in Hungary, Austria and the Switzerland with 12:0 points and is now heading to Neu-Ulm with a lot of tailwind.
Starting on Thursday, there will be a four-way tournament with Slovenia, Montenegro and Paraguay for a ticket to the Summer Games in Paris. It would be the first Olympic participation for the DHB women since 2008 in Beijing. Similar to the clear 35:12 the day before, the German team also dominated the second duel with Israel from the start, although Gaugisch initially spared some top performers. Co-captain Emily Bölk, who was honored as “Handball Player of the Year” before kick-off, sat on the bench in the first half, just like Smits.
Both came after the substitution when the one-sided game had long since been decided. Nevertheless, the sixth place in the World Cup remained focused and continuously expanded his lead. In the end there was another record: the DHB team had never scored 46 goals in an international match before.