National handball player Philipp Weber suffered an injury in Saudi Arabia. Image: picture alliance / SVEN SIMON
The Bundesliga representatives’ handling of the Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia shows that handball remains trapped within itself. Clubs and players hope to get away unscathed if possible. That doesn’t always work.
Ideally, as SC Magdeburg and Füchse Berlin have already experienced twice, participation in the Club World Handball Championship ends like this: with the winner’s check for $400,000. With a team that remained uninjured and morally strengthened. And a greatly increased reputation. The title win at the “Super Globe” is certainly noticed in handball circles – some spectacular transfers from the SCM such as Felix Claar’s have recently come about because the Magdeburg team’s international image as Super Globe winners in 2021 and 2022 is brilliant.
The worst case: The tournament ends without prize money, dejected and with injuries on board, back to Germany, where a merciless program awaits the top clubs in November.
