In the midst of the Danish celebration, the German players were heartbroken. Arms on hips, heads bowed, looks empty. Lost another final, again against Denmark, again the silver medal. But although the German national handball team missed its third European championship title after 2004 and 2016, it finished the continental tournament on Sunday with a decent performance and with all honors.
In the 27:34 final defeat, however, they had to acknowledge – as in the Olympic final in Lille a year and a half ago – that the Scandinavians as a world power can hardly be overthrown. Quite good is not good enough if the backcourt axis around Juri Knorr, Julian Köster and Renars Uscins doesn’t roll like it did in most of the previous European Championship games in Herning.
The 15,000 spectators await Denmark’s victory
Competitors can occasionally challenge their dominance – like Portugal in their preliminary round victory or the Germans on Sunday. But given their individual class, it is unlikely that the Danes will weaken and fall several times in a tournament. The DHB selection of the German Handball Federation (DHB) came away empty-handed against Denmark for the eighth time in a row, most recently winning in the successful year of 2016, when they won the title and the Olympic bronze medal at the European Championships.
“We are disappointed today, but tomorrow we will be even more hungry to beat the Danes. We played an excellent tournament. I am convinced that it will be a further step in development,” said team manager Benjamin Chatton: “We will hopefully be in the final again next time against the Danes.”
Most of the 15,000 spectators in the hall in Herning, who expected nothing other than the title from their team, were over the moon. In contrast, Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) had to acknowledge in the midst of the Danes dressed in the national colors that “the Reds” appear more powerful in handball than at home in the government coalition.
The Danes not only achieved the rare feat in EHF history of triumphing as the home team. After France in 2010, they are the second team ever to hold the three major titles at the same time: Olympic champions, world champions and European champions.
The Danes also won the individual awards: world handball player Mathias Gidsel from the Füchse Berlin was voted the most valuable player of the tournament, Simon Pytlick the best in the backcourt on the left. Together they scored 132 goals in the tournament (Gidsel 68, Pytlick 64) and were therefore responsible for almost every second goal scored by the new European champions.
Justus Fischer is out due to an infection
The DHB defense couldn’t resist with full force. Tom Kiesler returned to the team after recovering from a gastrointestinal infection, but the man from Gummersbach was unable to help his colleagues for long. After he hit Gidsel in the face, the referee team took him out of the game with a red card (14th minute). Because Justus Fischer, who impressed as a human powerhouse in the semi-final win against Croatia, was unable to step in due to an infection, Matthes Langhoff raised his arms in the air instead.
The success was limited because the European Championship hosts have too many agile, powerful and powerful backcourt shooters. A frequent player, Gidsel didn’t have the best day; the world handball player occasionally seemed to lack the last bit of energy. But Johan Hansen and Pytlick in particular on the left jumped into the breach and often found a gap.
The Flensburg Bundesliga professional scored six of his eight goals in the first half, including Denmark’s first three-goal lead after a quarter of an hour (10:7). It was hardly noticeable that the Danes were even more thinned out at the circle than the Germans and, after three failures, could only fall back on Magnus Saugstrup.
In attack, the Germans often had difficulty dealing with the offensive Danish defense. Juri Knorr in particular was always started early, and Renars Uscins in particular was rarely able to free himself from the constant accompaniment. If he did, he all too often missed the mark. Only two of his seven throws ended up in the net.
Fail, try again, fail better
Knorr and Julian Köster coped better with the Danes’ tight coverage. It was more difficult for them to get the ball past goalkeeper Kevin Möller than it was to get it past Emil Nielsen until the 21st minute. But the two goals in particular contributed to Germany’s 16:18 deficit at half-time leaving room for imagination for the second thirty minutes. Especially since Andreas Wolff, like captain Johannes Golla, was elected to the European Championship all-star team, and did not rest on his laurels and parried magnificently against Gidsel, Pytlick and Co. several times.
Fail, try again, fail better: In the spirit of this motto from the Irish writer Samuel Beckett, the DHB selection tried to continue taking on the challenge. She hadn’t achieved much since 2008. Two of the last three games resulted in humiliation.
A year ago, the 30:40 in the World Cup main round, but above all the 26:39 disgrace in the Olympic final, was stuck in people’s minds. In Lille they were “euphorized” by the surprising silver medal win, said captain Johannes Golla and announced before the European Championship final: “We won’t make the same mistake again and oversleep the game.”
The fact that Gislason’s teams are capable of failing better and better was proven in their first meeting in the main round when they stopped the Danish tempo game in the 26:31 defeat in the first half. On Sunday in the second half it was no longer possible to force the opponent into a positional game. When the score was 19:19 shortly after the break, the Danes moved ahead by four goals (26:22/45th), although they also missed a few great chances.
Germany has a home World Cup in 2027
The German team gradually weakened in the ninth game within 18 days of the tournament. When Nielsen parried a seven-meter penalty from Nils Lichtlein five minutes before the end and Niclas Kirkeløkke in return increased the score to 31:27, the race for the European title was over. All the more so since Jannik Kohlbacher also had to leave the floor after a red card (57th).
“I’m proud of the performance, of the entire tournament. We didn’t give up on ourselves today either,” said Golla: “The result is clearer than the game suggested. Compared to the final at the Olympics, we can go out of here today with our heads held high.”
This time the DHB selection had far less to blame itself for than in August 2024 in Lille, when they were presented on a big stage. She won silver twice in the last three major tournaments. If the German twenty-somethings continue to develop as before, their hour could come at the home World Cup in 2027, the highlight of the proclaimed “Decade of Handball” in Germany.
