DHB team: 100 days before the European Handball Championships: looking forward to the mega event

The anticipation among fans and organizers for the first men’s handball championship in Germany is increasing – only Alfred Gislason’s personnel concerns are currently dampening the euphoria a little.

But the national coach also feels goosebumps at the thought of the mega event to come. “In terms of sport, we have to concentrate fully on the pitch, but everything around it will be fantastic at the entire European Championship. Anyone who has a heart for great sport can look forward to that,” said Gislason.

Viewer interest is already enormous

On Monday there were still 100 days until the opening game of the DHB selection against Switzerland, which will take place on January 10, 2024 in front of a world record crowd of over 50,000 spectators in the football arena of the second division team Fortuna Düsseldorf. The national ticket quotas have already been exhausted for the other German preliminary round games in Berlin against North Macedonia and record world champions France. “Next January, handball should be the big topic in sport and ideally in every small talk,” said DHB CEO Mark Schober, formulating the goal.

In total, well over 250,000 of the approximately 400,000 tickets for the 65 final round games have already been sold. Michael Wiederer, President of the European Handball Federation (EHF), is therefore looking forward to “a groundbreaking tournament with full halls. The great interest is very good for European and German handball.”

DHB President Andreas Michelmann also firmly believes that the European Championships will set new standards. “We want to be good hosts. That means that we have full halls with a knowledgeable audience, even when Germany is not playing. It is a unique selling point in Germany that the interest in the sport of handball is so great that the spectators enjoy it “To attend games even if your own team isn’t playing,” Michelmann told the German Press Agency.

The European Championship games will be played in six cities

In addition to the Düsseldorf stadium with a capacity of more than 50,000 seats and Berlin (14,800), the other venues are Munich (12,000), Mannheim (13,200), Hamburg (13,300) and Cologne (19,250). “In Munich alone we are expecting 3,000 fans from Iceland, in Mannheim a similar number for the Croatians – and especially in Berlin, where the Faroe Islands are playing,” said Michelmann. If the DHB team progresses, they will play their main round games in Cologne, and the semi-final and medal games will also take place there on the final weekend.

Long-time DHB captain Uwe Gensheimer can still remember the unique atmosphere in the German handball temple at the 2019 home World Cup. “You come into the hall in Cologne and there are almost 20,000 people sitting there, almost all of them with German flags, singing along to the national anthem. I got goosebumps even before the throw-off. Such an experience cannot be compared to anything else in handball “, said the 36-year-old from cup winners Rhein-Neckar Löwen in a recent interview with “Mannheimer Morgen”.

Germany also wants to shine in sport

With the support of the fans, the DHB selection wants to take the next step back to the top of the world after fifth place at the World Cup and fight for the medals. “We want to be successful in sport. That means reaching the semi-finals,” said DHB boss Michelmann. “We know that it’s not easy. But with the spectators behind us the chances aren’t that bad.”

However, the national coach is currently plagued by some personnel concerns. Goalkeeper Andreas Wolff is at risk of missing the European Championships after a slipped disc, as is backcourt player Fabian Wiede because of a foot injury. The hoped-for return of pivot Hendrik Pekeler is also uncertain. “There are really a lot of players at the moment who are either only playing to a limited extent or have even dropped out completely,” said Gislason to the “handball-world.news” portal.