Before the start of the Handball World Cup: German handball players have big goals

Gislason then continued with an exceptionally cheerful telephone episode. Because of Kohlbacher’s failure, he wanted to nominate Magdeburg runner Tim Zechel and called his cell phone – but no one answered. There was 24 hours of radio silence, Zechel was no longer expecting a call, he was on the cruise ship Aida and had no network off the Norwegian coast. When the reception was back, Zechel’s pulse increased: three missed calls from the national coach. The rest was pure joy.

The national coach has to reduce his squad by two players before the first World Cup game against Poland

The national coach attended the press conference on Wednesday in Hamburg – a week before the start of the World Cup – with visible satisfaction. It could have gone better, without cancellations for example. But it would also have been worse if the injuries had been more numerous (like with co-favorites Sweden). Or would there have been players who were indispensable for the statics, such as game director Juri Knorr or backcourt shooter Renars Uscins. If nothing goes wrong in terms of personnel in the two upcoming test matches against Brazil on January 9th in Flensburg (6.30 p.m./ZDF live stream) and on January 11th in Hamburg (4.20 p.m./ZDF), the national coach will have a powerful group together for the World Cup , which can achieve a lot.

Gislason briefly mourned the absences of Heymann and Kohlbacher (“difficult to replace”), but he quickly switched to the advantages of having a player like Lukas Stutzke in the squad instead. The Hanoverian, like the cruise traveler Zechel, was nominated and plays an important role in Gislason’s plans: Stutzke, 26, plays in the same club as Justus Fischer, who is firmly scheduled to play in the defense in the middle block at this World Cup. Stutzke and Fischer “understand each other blindly,” said Gislason: “We have found a good solution.”

In general, the national coach attests that his team has an excellent domestic climate, which is also linked to the successes in 2024. The tough times are over in German handball, Gislason recently led his team to the European Championship semi-finals and even to the final at the Summer Olympics in Paris, even though both games were lost against industry leader Denmark. Since the young players are more likely to get better than worse in the coming years, the prospects are excellent. Right winger Timo Kastening, the atmosphere when he met his colleagues again reminded him “of a school reunion”. Gislason agreed: “The atmosphere and solidarity are extraordinary.”

Before the first appearance against Poland, it is the national coach’s job to reduce his squad by three more players. If there are no further injuries, Joel Birlehm (TSV Hannover-Burgdorf) will probably stay at home as the third goalkeeper for the time being. For his position, Gislason is “clearly” relying on Andreas Wolff (THW Kiel) and David Späth (Rhein-Neckar Löwen). It is possible that the national coach will travel to Denmark on Monday afternoon with two extra national players, i.e. with 18 instead of 16 men. And depending on the situation, before each game it is decided which two players he will leave out. The statutes of the World Handball Association allow this.

Gislason hasn’t given too much thought to his preliminary round opponents Poland, Switzerland (January 17th) and the Czech Republic (January 19th). “We took more care of ourselves in training,” he said, which speaks for the new self-image: the German handball players feel on a par with the best teams, perhaps not with the Danes, but with the Swedes, French or Spanish . This is also reflected in the goals for the World Cup. While Gislason speaks loosely about the semi-finals, backcourt player Luka Witzke goes one step further: “We want to win something,” he said. That would be a medal.