A few weeks ago, Bob Hanning, the manager of Füchse Berlin and former vice president of the German Handball Association (DHB), made some logical demands under the impression of the German U21 juniors winning the World Cup. The train of thought went like this: The national handball team is going through a low and is currently not really a medal candidate in major tournaments. The juniors, on the other hand, win gold – so at the next major event, the European Championships at home in Germany (January 10th to 28th, 2024), please include a few of the successful talents in the squad.
“Why should we continue to rely on the old?” Hanning had asked about the recent mediocre results of the senior team, and Alfred Gislason, the national coach responsible for building the squad there, certainly listened carefully. It is also possible that the Icelander will take some juniors with him to the European Championship, perhaps the immensely strong goalkeeper David Späth from the Rhein-Neckar Löwen – or one of the highly talented Hanoverians, the backcourt player Renars Uscins or the line runner Justus Fischer.
In the background, however, Gislason was busy with two completely different personalities over the summer: He is working on a sensational return campaign. If he has his way, two European champions from 2016 who haven’t played a major tournament for Germany for a long time should be back at the European Championships: Hendrik Pekeler, 32, and Fabian Wiede, 29.
Wiede has canceled every major tournament since 2020. That’s why there was a discussion with Gislason first
In German handball there is now a general agreement that a national team with the Kiel defense chief Pekeler and the Berlin backcourt player Wiede would be better than without them – even junior advocate Bob Hanning would not dispute that. Still, her upcoming return is big news. Pekeler has only played at the club and no longer for Germany since the 2021 Summer Games in order to get a better grip on his Achilles tendon problems. It was even longer with Wiede: He has canceled every major tournament since 2020.
This circumstance had caused Gislason enormous resentment. Wiede had suspended tournament after tournament, sometimes citing injuries, sometimes other reasons. Most recently, he canceled the 2023 World Cup in Poland and Sweden to undergo a necessary dental operation. Did he really have to put the surgery date in the middle of the EM phase? “German players do that,” said Icelander Gislason angrily, without mentioning Wiede’s name. But it was clear to everyone whose cancellation had annoyed him the most.
A few months have passed since then. A first discussion at the Füchse away game in Göppingen was followed by another meeting in Berlin. They drank coffee together, Gislason reported to Sport Bild: “Fabi wanted to explain his point of view to me. That was a very, very good conversation. The problems have been eliminated.” Gislason knows: When Wiede is in a good mood, he is one of the best in the world in his position. And that’s exactly where the national team is “a bit thin” anyway (Gislason). If Wiede performs well in the club and stays healthy, he should be at the home European Championship.
The big question for Pekeler is whether he will be fit in time
The Pekeler case is different. He had taken a break, in constant contact with Gislason, who had been his trainer at THW Kiel. While teammate Patrick Wiencek announced his retirement from the national team, Pekeler never gave up completely. The agreement was: If the man from Kiel gets his pain under control, he will also return to the national team.
Now Pekeler has had his second Achilles tendon surgery in the summer and is currently in rehab. The schedule says he’ll be able to play handball again in the fall. But time is pressing: at the beginning of November, the DHB team will meet for two international matches. If Pekeler is fit by then, he’ll be a big step closer to the European Championship. But Gislason also says: “If he’s not that far, it would be very, very difficult.”
