Handball EM in crisis mode – mass corona cases in the German team

Corona is now the dominant topic at the European Handball Championship. The pandemic is hitting the German team with full force and not only increasing concerns in the Bundesliga. While the DHB selection had to report two more infected people in goalkeeper Till Klimpke and Marcel Schiller on Tuesday, the European Handball Federation was working flat out to ensure the continuation of the final round. Concerns are increasing in the top German league.

“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 about the worrying news from Hungary and Slovakia. And Dierk Schmäschke, managing director of the German runners-up SG Flensburg-Handewitt, warned: “It’s a fine line we’re walking.”

Cancellation of the final round is still not an issue at the European Handball Championship

As feared by critics, the number of infected players is increasing – also in other nations. “The current situation is a big challenge. There’s no denying that,” said EHF General Secretary Martin Hausleitner. Together with the organizers, the hygiene concept was sharpened in some places before the tournament and is “continuously being sharpened,” emphasized Hausleitner.

Abandoning the finals – as was the case recently in ice hockey at the U20 World Cup – is currently not up for debate. Even if, according to ex-national player Christian Schwarzer, the EM is moving “in the direction of farce”. The 2007 world champion even fears lasting damage to handball as a whole. “It would be bitter and bad for our sport if the team with the fewest corona cases became European champions in the end,” Schwarzer told the Spox portal, adding: “We have to be careful that it doesn’t end up saying: The Handball players are not very tight and have never heard of Corona.”

The long-standing DHB Vice President Bob Hanning already attested to the tournament due to the many corona failures “not the sporting value of other European championships”. However, he does not see a particularly great risk to the health of the players at the European Championship. “There is a risk of infection everywhere,” said the managing director of the Bundesliga club Füchse Berlin.

Players have comparatively much contact with the outside world at the handball championship

However, unlike a year ago at the World Cup in Egypt, the players at the continental tournament are not completely isolated from the outside world. The halls in the Slovakian venues of Bratislava and Kosice are 25 percent occupied and in Hungary they are even full. 20,000 fans cheered in the stands at the preliminary round games of the co-hosts in Budapest – many without masks. “We have a vaccination rate of 62 percent in Hungary and 45 percent in Slovakia. That doesn’t justify the full or high utilization of the halls,” criticized the German team doctor Philip Lübke a few days ago.

The world was still fine in the DHB team. After nine positive corona cases, however, the fear of a wildfire is increasing – also in the league. “There may be other cases of corona in the team. It remains to be seen whether it makes sense to nominate more and more,” said Bohmann. “You have to be very careful and not say I’m making it much worse than it is. If there are any more outbreaks, then we have a new situation.” Viktor Szilagyi, managing director at record champion THW Kiel, added with a view to the restart of the Bundesliga after the European Championship: “We have to prevent infections from being carried into the team.”

Why the German team is so badly affected at the EM remains a mystery for the DHB. Bohmann 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.”

Especially since there had been disturbing news at the beginning of the tournament. France’s superstar Nikola Karabatic reported before the start: “We are stunned by the conditions under which this EM stands. We followed strict protocols in order not to catch the virus. And then we arrive here at the hotel and move among guests who don’t wear masks. We also eat at the same places.” According to the manager, the grievances were “addressed and remedied”.

There were no similar reports from the DHB team, but the Germans were hit with full force. “Corona will accompany us. We have to pay attention to everything and in the end be lucky enough to stay corona-free,” said Captain Johannes Golla shortly before the tournament. That hope is long gone.

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.