A promising generation is looking forward: Juri Knorr and Julian Koester. (IMAGO / Sven Simon / IMAGO / Anke Waelischmiller / Sven Simon)
This European Handball Championship in Germany was a promise: Dear sports fans: Something is happening. This youngest team in the tournament has shown a quality of play that is promising. Not in every game, but exactly when it mattered most. Then, for example, Germany demystified Hungary in the key game of the main round, creatively, varied and powerful. It defied series world champions Denmark over long stretches in a thrilling semi-final. And by the strong first half of the semi-finals it must have dawned on even the last skeptic: Something is happening.
Since the European Championship title in 2016 and the Olympic bronze medal in Rio, the German handball players have been waiting for great success. And such a European Championship in our own country was of course linked to the hope that, with the fans of the world’s largest handball nation behind us, the long-awaited thing could become possible. Nowhere else are so many people members of a handball club as in Germany; the atmosphere in the Cologne Arena, for example, is legendary.
A promising generation
It was still enough for the big title at this home European Championship. Not yet. But with what the German team, the youngest in the tournament, showed, the foundation for something big has been laid. Maybe even a handball generation that can grow together over the years and gain tournament experience. The quality of the boys in the team is there – the work with young talent is paying off. In 2023, the German U21 national team won the World Cup title, and four players from the Junior World Cup squad are now part of the European Championship team. The 21-year-old Renars Uscins replaced veteran Kai Häfner in the backcourt in the semifinals and showed what he can be worth for the A team. There are also other young players who were already mainstays in the team at this tournament – Julian Köster, who is only 23 years old and who excelled in the backcourt and defense, for example.
The high expectations of playmaker Juri Knorr reflect what this intelligent player promises with his playing ability – but what is often ignored is that this is anything but normal for someone who is also only 23 years old.
France and Denmark as role models
The German handball players are well on the way to creating what Olympic champion France and world champion Denmark have had for many years: a stable, successful generation of handball players in the national team. In addition, Alfred Gislason is a coach who has won virtually everything in club handball. His experience and his calmness are the best addition to this young team. It would only be logical if Gislason and the German Handball Association extended the expiring coaching contract after the European Championships. The best coach with the most promising team – something is possible.