At the German handball federation you are looking forward to the home World Cup. Sports director Ingo Meckes emphasizes how important “inspiring” achievements and a good placement for German women’s handball are.
Seventh place at the past European Championship was not what was imagined at the DHB. Again, the “big ones” around Norway, Denmark, France and Co. were a touch better. Not much, but still decisive.
DHB board member Meckes – “Madness quarter-finals” as a goal
At the home world championship, which starts with the game against Iceland for the German team in Stuttgart on November 26, it should finally be different.
“We took a step forward in the last six months. (…) Now we want to take a little step again with regard to the World Cup“says DHB sports director Ingo Meckes in the sports show interview. “The goal is very clear to make the games in Stuttgart successfully, to have a successful main round phase in Dortmund and then deliver an insane quarter-finals with full support from the audience.”
Should the team of Markus Gaugisch achieve this objective and win a possible quarter -finals in Dortmund, it would continue in the semi -finals in Rotterdam. Because together with Germany, the Netherlands are hosts of the tournament, which ends with the final on December 14th. And should you make it so far, “Then of course you want to win too“, says Meckes.
Test games against co-hosts Netherlands as a guide
According to Meckes, said Netherlands are one of the “big ones”, among the favorites, which in addition to the Scandinavian nations and France, but also Germany.
Six games about a total of three short courses are still available for the DHB selection before going into the important tournament. In the first two of them, on September 19th and September 21st in Eindhoven and Krefeld against the co-guides. According to Meckes, these games are particularly important as part of preparation: “These are the last two tests against world-class opponents. I think the Dutch are a little bit ahead of us in the ranking. But I believe that the duels will be at eye level and therefore these are very important guidelines for us.“
Meckes – Ludwigsburg bankruptcy “No excuse”
The fact that the year 2025 has not only had positive headlines for German women’s handball, but also had a huge low a few weeks ago with the bankruptcy of the figurehead and master HB Ludwigsburg, the DHB is not seen positively.
However, one is happy, according to Meckes, that all national players have now come back to clubs and have been playing. With regard to the World Cup, the 49-year-old does not want to accept the situation around the Ludwigsburg bankruptcy and the short-term change of club of the players as an excuse: “Basically we have to deal with the situation and it shouldn’t be an excuse. I think the players want to prove that they can.”
U19-European As a “great start”
One figurehead is gone, another becomes all the more important, especially for a home World Cup: the national team has to deliver if the upswing, which reached its preliminary highlight with the European U19 European championship title in the summer, is to continue. Meckes also knows that: “I think a good placement and exciting appearances are very important to bring German women’s handball forward.“
It is now the task of the DHB to show “handball Germany and beyond” how attractive and tactically interesting women’s handball can be: “We want to achieve movement for the whole women’s handball. Of course, the U19 European Championship title was a great start and good results at the World Cup are important to make something of it sustainable. “