Germany will compete in their 14th Men’s EHF EURO with a quite new team as coach Alfred Gislason has started a transition and integrated a number of young players. Therefore, the goals are not that high this time and sights are set to the long-term goal of a home championship in 2024.
Germany extended their impressive series to 20 straight victories in the EHF EURO qualifiers, leaving Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Estonia behind, and will face the Austrians again in a preliminary round group alongside Belarus and Poland.
Three questions ahead of the Men’s EHF EURO 2022:
Who is in, who is out?
After missing the semi-finals at the Tokyo Olympic Games, team captain Uwe Gensheimer and right back Steffen Weinhold retired from the national team, Hendrik Pekeler (best defender at the EHF EURO 2020) has announced a break, while other notable absentees are Paul Drux, Patrick Groetzki and Fabian Wiede.
This means we will definitely see some new names on-court in Bratislava, where Alfred Gislason will have his first EHF EURO as German national team coach. Among those hoping to play their first EHF EURO are Till Klimpke, Sebastian Heymann, Julian Köster, Hendrik Wagner and Djebril M’Bengue.
Is the German team internationally experienced enough to be successful?
Looking upon the provisional squad list, only five German players are signed by EHF Champions League clubs: Rune Dahmke, Patrick Wiencek (both Kiel), Johannes Golla (Flensburg), Andreas Wolff (Kielce) and M’Bengue (Porto).
Compared to top teams or even preliminary round opponent Belarus, this is not a lot. But playing in the highly competitive German Bundesliga can be compared to playing in European competition every weekend. Nevertheless, coach Alfred Gislason, three-time EHF Champions League winner as a coach, always mentions that he wants to have more players with Champions League experience.
Which young players can have their international breakthrough?
After younger players such as new team captain Johannes Golla or Timo Kastening have left their marks already since the EHF EURO 2020, an even younger generation is ready to take more responsibility. Mainly goalkeeper Till Klimpke and left back Sebastian Heymann - both All-star players at the Men’s 18 EHF EURO 2016 - have the abilities to arrive under the spotlight. Klimpke continues the series of strong German goalkeepers, while Heymann was an EHF Cup winner with Göppingen at the age of 17, before severe injuries have stunted his development in the last two years.
Another potential rising star is defensive specialist Julian Köster from second division team VfL Gummersbach, who was awarded best defender at the 2019 U19 World Championship when Germany won the silver medal.
Under the spotlight: Johannes Golla
Johannes Golla’s 24th birthday marked a new era of German handball: On this day, the line player steered Germany for the first time as team captain in an international match as they beat Portugal in Luxembourg. Golla is the youngest captain of a German men’s team in history and succeeds the legendary Uwe Gensheimer.
From his performances and personality, Golla is a leading figure, who grew rapidly since his debut in the national team in March 2019. The EHF EURO 2020 was his first major tournament, and mainly his transfer to Flensburg boosted the batch of German EHF Champions League participants. Golla is a perfect link between generations and definitely has all trust of the team and the coaching staff.
