It has almost been 14 years since Jim Gottfridsson made his debut in the national team. In championship after championship, he has been the leading player both on and off the field. But during this European Championship, the 33-year-old has had to take a step back and hand over the starting spot as middle nine and game engine to Felix Claar.
Before Sunday night’s match against Iceland in the second round of the main round, Gottfridsson tells how he sees his new role and what it’s like to spend a lot of time on the substitutes’ bench.
– I have been first choice in the middle nine position since 2016 and carried this national team. I have done that with pride. Now he (Claar) has taken this step, which I’m the first to pat him on the back for, and now I let him gas up. I’m there to support him and if he needs a break or if we play together, I’m there to help him, says Gottfridsson, who has no problem with not constantly being in the spotlight.
– I am very unprestigious. It’s me that the media wrote about for a long time, but I know how important Felix is to this team. And the game that he plays, I can’t play, because I don’t have that physique.
Claar has had his big breakthrough in world handball in recent years, but had an injury that hampered him during the Paris Olympics and he missed last year’s WC entirely. During the EC, the Magdeburg player has shown his class and has been one of the tournament’s best.
Gottfridsson pays tribute his teammate and is impressed by him in several ways.
– He is much stronger in the body than many people think and incredibly good at protecting the ball and shooting on contact. Even when he gets picked up, he can pass or shoot himself. Then he is good both at going to the right and to the left, says Gottfridsson and emphasizes that you must not forget Claar’s defensive game.
– Often people talk a lot about how good he is offensively and forget what a horse job he does at the back. Overall, he is one of the best handball players in the world right now, says Gottfridsson.
During the EC, Gottfridsson, now in the Hungarian top team Pick Szeged, who is coached by national team captain Michael Apelgren, has shown that he still has a lot to give. He says that many have asked how he feels about being relegated to the substitute’s bench and explains that he does not see it that way, but that he is part of the team and that in his new role he can give the Swedish game a new dimension.
– From the bench, I look a lot at how the opponents defend and that means that when I come in, I have some tools with me and try to use them during the minutes that I am in. Then I know that in some matches there will be more minutes and in others like against Georgia there will be more. Now I’ve got some playing time with the young rooster (Nikola) Roganovic and I think he thinks it’s quite fun to play with me. I know exactly what he’s good at and can put him in situations and let him be in the spotlight. He will be a great player.
How much talk have you had with Michael Apelgren about your new role?
– We have spoken every day because he is my coach in Hungary. Micke has been very open about how he wants it and that is something that I appreciate. He is very honest as a person and so am I. Sometimes the honesty stings, but I’ve said: If this is how you want it, I’m the first to back it up. I have no need to be seen.
But in the timeouts it is still you who is heard a lot.
– I think that me and Micke, but also Felix, even if he is a little more quiet, have found a good mix. We know how to get the best out of Felix and I get a lot of freedom in terms of how I play as well. There is no prestige there either.
It’s not just on the handball court as Gottfridsson has a new role. Before the European Championships, he graced the cover of the cartoon Kalle Anka & Co under the name Tim Getskäggsson and he also appears as a fictional character in the newly published children’s book “On life and death”, written by Anders Blentare.
It is a project close to his heart.
– I work hard to get young people to read and I read a lot to my children. It is especially important for us who live abroad to read a lot to improve the children’s language skills, says Gottfridsson, who thinks it is fun to do something new “in the old days” and to be noticed in a different context.
– I take that as proof that something good has been done, not just for Swedish handball, he says.
