Atmosphere of crisis at European Handball Championship – mass corona cases in the German team

Corona alarm at the European Handball Championship – several cases are throwing up the tournament in Slovakia and Hungary. The Handball Bundesliga (HBL) is very concerned about the infections in the German national team. “I don’t want to say that this is the worst possible accident. But of course it’s difficult,” said HBL Managing Director Frank Bohmann.

A total of nine German players have now tested positive for Corona at the European Championships in the team hotel in Bratislava: After seven cases from the previous day, two more were reported on Tuesday afternoon. After the infections of goalkeeper Till Klimpke and Marcel Schiller, a total of nine players will be out of action this Tuesday.

Although the source of the infection is unclear, national coach Alfred Gislason had already reacted the day before and nominated five Bundesliga professionals around goalkeeper veteran Johannes Bitter for the final preliminary round game on Tuesday (6 p.m. / ZDF) against Poland. Bohmann views the subsequent nominations with skepticism.

“There may be other corona cases in the team. It remains to be seen whether it makes sense to continue to nominate,” said Bohmann – he was asked about the situation when a total of seven cases were known. With the two other cases, his worries seemed confirmed on Tuesday afternoon. “Then you have to be very careful and not say I’m making it much worse than it is. If there are more outbreaks now, then we have a new situation,” he said.

PCR tests for the entire German team at the European Handball Championship

This Tuesday, the entire DHB delegation should complete another PCR test. Why the German team is so badly affected is a mystery to the DHB. Bohmann does not want to blame either the DHB or the European association EHF, the league boss sees an explanation in the highly contagious omicron variant.

“The infectiousness is incomparably higher than in the past. I don’t presume to say whether this is due to the hygiene concept of the tournament – or is every hygiene concept overwhelmed by this infectiousness?” said the 57-year-old. “You will have to evaluate afterwards whether it was right to leave the concept so open.”

The European Handball Federation (EHF) also reacted to the cases and sees the hygiene concept of the tournament facing major challenges. “That cannot be denied. However, when the hygiene concept was developed and coordinated with the organizers, the situation was different,” said EHF General Secretary Martin Hausleitner.

Despite the contagion of the German players, the EHF considers its concept to be appropriate even in the current situation with the highly contagious Omicron variant. “Together with the organizers, we sharpened some points even before the tournament and we continue to do so,” said Hausleitner. From the Austrian’s point of view, this also applies to the accommodation of the teams in Slovakia and Hungary.

Complaint about the lack of corona protection in a Hungarian hotel

“All the teams have their own areas in the hotels. They also eat in these areas. Teams that have had multiple infections are accommodated in single rooms. As far as the hotels are concerned, the teams are basically already in a bubble,” said Hausleitner. France’s multiple world handball player Nikola Karabatic complained at the beginning of the European Championship about the conditions in the hotel in Hungary, where, according to him, the French moved among guests who were not wearing a mask. “The possible grievances were addressed and rectified,” said Hausleitner.

The EHF is apparently not considering canceling the tournament at the moment. “In a team sport like handball and also in a case like the game between Germany and Poland, it shows that on the one hand there is the possibility of nominating substitutes and on the other hand that the quality of these substitutes is very high,” he said.

The Corona situation at the European Handball Championship also worries THW Kiel and SG Flensburg-Handewitt. “It’s a fine line we’re walking,” said SG Managing Director Dierk Schmäschke. With a view to the restart of the Bundesliga after the European Championships in Hungary and Slovakia, Schmäschke’s THW colleague Viktor Szilagyi added: “We have to prevent infections from being carried into the team.”

Both managers rely on the experiences made so far in the pandemic. Szilagyi said: “We have our testing strategy when the boys are back.” Schmäschke pointed out “that we have been trained in this for two years. I hope that everyone will come back healthy and corona-free.” Flensburg have eleven players at the European Championships, Kiel, with Rune Dahmke who has traveled to nine, has nine.

For Szilagyi, the most important thing is that all cases have so far had only minimal or no symptoms: “This is good and important news.” Neither of the two managing directors expressed any criticism of the situation on site. “You have to be careful about that,” said the Austrian Szilagyi: “Reproaches are useless.”

Watch the video: How fast and where exactly is the corona virus spreading in Germany and the world? How are the Covid-19 infection numbers developing in the federal states? The Corona briefing from n-tv gives an up-to-date overview.