Dagur Sigurdsson is furious: Croatia’s coach is settling scores with the European Championship organizers before the semi-final against Germany. He denounces unfair conditions and speaks of a “fast food company”. Gislason agrees with him. The EHF reacts.
In an unprecedented angry speech, Croatia’s national coach Dagur Sigurdsson mercilessly settled accounts with the European Championship organizers the European Handball Federation (EHF) before the semi-final duel with Germany. “I have to take part in this circus here. It’s a disgrace. The EHF is not interested in us players or in the team,” complained Sigurdsson before the game this Friday (5.45 p.m./ARD and Dyn).
In his tirade, the former national coach referred to the packed tournament schedule for his team. Unlike Germany, Croatia played its main round games in Malmö/Sweden and recently had to play two days in a row. On the non-playing Thursday, Croatia had a day of travel to Herning, where the final round will be played – and where Germany has been playing since the start of the tournament.
The EHF responded about two hours later. “The schedule will be known to all teams no later than the draw for the final tournament, more than six months before the start of the championship. It is recognized that the teams from Malmö face a more difficult situation. However, it should be noted that the teams in previous championships have faced similar schedules,” it said.
Sigurdsson: “It’s absolutely shocking”
Sigurdsson’s monologue lasted 2:57 minutes. “They advertise with the slogan ‘Pure Greatness’,” he said, referring to the EM slogan. “Really? Is this pure awesomeness? It’s absolutely shocking,” said Sigurdsson and wanted to leave: “I’ll be very happy when I can leave. Just let me know when I can.”
Sigurdsson denounced unfair conditions and unequal match preparation. “We drove four hours by bus from Malmö. We arrived at 2.30 p.m. and our hotel isn’t even at the Herning venue. Now we drive 45 minutes from the hotel to the hall and back again. It’s six o’clock when I get back. We didn’t have any training, we didn’t have a meeting with the team,” the 52-year-old continued. Pictures circulated in the Croatian media showing players laying down on the floor to sleep during the bus ride.
The EHF defended the decision that the Croatian team hotel would be in Silkeborg. “To offer the two semi-finalists, Germany and Croatia, identical conditions. Slightly longer journeys at international championships are not uncommon,” explained the association.
Sigurdsson described the EHF as a “fast food company” that does not care about the quality of the games. “They just want to sell. They order artists to put on a great show. They don’t care about anything else,” said the Croatian national coach and complained: “They’re like an event company. They order a few artists, put on a nice show, a nice press conference. They packed us into a cold bus like frozen chicken.”
Germany’s national coach Alfred Gislason agreed with his compatriot. “He’s absolutely right and I’m sorry,” said the 66-year-old.
dpa/mel
