DHB women with pride and disappointment
“Left everything on the record”
December 14, 2025 – 8:30 p.mReading time: 3 minutes
In the end, the DHB women were not able to win the World Cup title against Dominator Norway. But mixed in with the disappointment was also pride.
In the end, Norway was a bit too big. In the final of the Handball World Cup, the German women’s national team had to admit defeat to the European and Olympic champions 20:23 after a brave fight.
While the Scandinavians completed their collection of titles, Germany is still waiting for its first World Cup title since 1993. Nevertheless: The tournament, for which the semi-finals were set as the goal, was a success for the DHB selection – even if national coach Markus Gaugisch didn’t want to think about it immediately after the end of the game.
“Disappointment,” Gaugisch called his prevailing feeling at the ARD microphone. “I would have rewarded the players for the performance we put in. We left everything on the table again and kept Norway to 23 goals. That’s sensational. That’s why it’s disappointment,” he explained his emotional state.
Nevertheless, he found words of praise for his team: “I think the development is good, above all we have a team,” he said. The team is intact and “we have a lot of opportunities in terms of handball,” said the national coach. “We gave Norway a fight defensively, we also have different weapons offensively. It was close today. Nevertheless, we are taking the experience with us and I think those who were there today are keen to go in this direction more often,” he said, looking to the future.
Of course, pride in the performance on offer will soon set in, “but we are competitive athletes,” said Gaugisch. “It would be wrong not to see this as a defeat. If the players were like that, they wouldn’t be here.” And further: “You want to win, no matter who the opponent is.”
“Now it’s time to be a little sad,” he said, “but then proud, look forward and move on.” Xenia Smits puts exactly this pride in the foreground. “The result shows what we achieved here today. It was really just a matter of little things. There really wasn’t much missing and that’s why I’m even more proud of this team,” she said. However, she also emphasized the “absolute will to do even better next time” and promised: “We won’t stop. This team is really worth its weight in gold and we will try to do a lot in the future to make that possible again.”