Alfred Gislason seemed much happier than he did seven weeks ago. “I am confident that we can put together a very good team,” said the national coach on Thursday morning when the squad for the European Handball Championships was announced in January, “that is the best possible squad at the moment.”
Led by captain Johannes Golla and the leading players Andreas Wolff, Juri Knorr and Julian Köster, Gislason has gathered a group of 19 around him that is almost identical to the squads from previous major events – this is what he hopes to have a team that is as well-coordinated and powerful to get started.
Wolff, Golla, Knorr and Köster form “an axis that would play in any national team in the world,” emphasized DHB sports director Axel Kromer. In the days of the continental handball exhibition, it will depend on whether the level drops when the stars get a break and second fiddle takes over. Gislason is hoping for a boost of energy from the U-21 world champions Nils Lichtlein, Renars Uscins and Justus Fischer.
The 64-year-old Icelander is hopeful that there are no injuries and that there are some who were missing from the last course. However, the national coach seemed annoyed that the lofty goal of “semi-finals” was being talked about openly – including by the association management. On Thursday he said: “We’ve been talking a lot about dreams lately. The coach’s goal is to win the first game.” He wants to highlight how complicated the opening game against Switzerland on January 10th in front of 55,000 spectators in the Düsseldorf football stadium could be.
Gislason: “I am confident that we can field a very good team” : Image: dpa
Gislason nominated largely without any surprises; Silvio Heinevetter will not be there in goal, David Späth will be there instead. In the backcourt, Leipzig’s Luca Witzke, who has been injured for a long time, was a hardship, but Gislason is now “unfortunately” without him because he didn’t get into shape in time. On-off national player Philipp Weber is back on board and will play in the worrying left back, although he has rarely impressed in the national jersey. But the national coach sees him as someone who can make the game quick.
Additional shifts “between years”
The holidays seem to play a minor role in Gislason’s plans: “I’m more looking forward to the measure between Christmas and New Year than to Christmas,” he said. The DHB selection will work additional shifts this year – the Bundesliga used to be played on Boxing Day. This time the DHB and HBL have agreed that the club year “already” ends on December 23rd.
This gives Gislason the opportunity to get his players committed to the big goal in Frankfurt from December 27th to 29th, before the preparation continues on January 1st with the course in the Brunsbüttel education center – which sounds remote and is actually located in the eastern Dithmarschen, in Schleswig-Holstein on the Elbe. From there the DHB travels to Flensburg and Kiel for the tests against Portugal on January 4th and 6th.
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In addition to the sporting ones, the DHB combines ideal and financial goals with this European Championship. The association is pleased with the ticket sales so far: “We are at 70 percent capacity in the arenas for the total of 28 match days, 80 percent is the plan,” says board member Mark Schober, which would mean substantial profits and a break even was 66 percent. There are currently no more tickets available for the “German games”, which also applies to the weekend games in the venues Munich and Mannheim.
There are still a number of tickets available for the main round in Hamburg (with Denmark, Sweden and Norway). “We are currently doing a lot of advertising for Hamburg on the Scandinavian market,” says Schober, who underlines the importance of the performance at this European Championship: “As an association, we are economically very dependent on the success of the senior men’s national team.” The budget for the European Championship will be at 28 million euros.
High viewing figures on the broadcasting channels ARD/ZDF can help with the association’s goal of “making handball more socially relevant”, although the start of transmission has caused strong criticism: “The kick-off time at 8.45 p.m. gives us a greater reach overall,” explains Schober, “Unfortunately, we know that this is quite late for children – but we cannot resolve the conflict.” Ultimately, the same applies in handball: money rules the world.
