Title mission starts
Two surprises in the DHB squad for the 2026 European Handball Championship
Updated on January 7, 2026 – 4:55 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
After the DHB women’s silver medal at the Handball World Cup, the men also want to win precious metal at the European Championships. This squad should do that.
National coach Alfred Gíslason has nominated his squad for the 2026 European Handball Championship. From January 15th to February 1st the tournament will take place in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The DHB selection would like to aim for a medal at the 2026 European Handball Championships, but has had a difficult draw. There are already tricky opponents in the preliminary round: Spain, Austria and Serbia. In the main round there could then be meetings with world champions and Olympic champions Denmark, European champions France and Portugal.
“I’m extremely excited about next January,” said Gislason at the presentation of the DHB squad in Dortmund for the men’s handball European Championship and added: “We have a grown but still very young team. For this European Championship we have to get to our top level quickly, because the mode doesn’t forgive any mistakes with these opponents.”
This squad should master the difficult task:
Goal: David Späth (Rhein-Neckar Löwen), Andreas Wolff (THW Kiel)
Left wing: Rune Dahmke (THW Kiel), Lukas Mertens (SC Magdeburg)
Back area left: Marko Grgić (SG Flensburg-Handewitt), Tom Kiesler (VfL Gummersbach), Julian Köster (VfL Gummersbach), Matthes Langhoff (Füchse Berlin), Miro Schluroff (VfL Gummersbach)
Back center: Nils Lichtlein (Füchse Berlin), Juri Knorr (Aalborg Handbold)
Back area right: Franz Semper (SC DHfK Leipzig), Renārs Uščins (TSV Hannover-Burgdorf)
Right wing: Mathis Häseler (VfL Gummersbach), Lukas Zerbe (THW Kiel)
Circle: Johannes Golla (SG Flensburg-Handewitt), Justus Fischer (TSV Hannover-Burgdorf), Jannik Kohlbacher (Rhein-Neckar Löwen)
When it came to the nomination, the national coach had two surprises in particular. On the one hand, right winger Timo Kastening, who has always been used in recent years, is missing. On the left wing, Gíslason also decided against Tim Freihöfer from Füchse Berlin. Veteran Rune Dahmke, who was already part of the squad when they won the European Championship in 2016, is once again in the squad. With goalkeeper Andreas Wolff and pivot Jannik Kohlbacher, two other players from the last title win are there.
Backcourt players Miro Schluroff and Matthes Langhoff, right winger Mathis Häseler and defense specialist Tom Kiesler are experiencing their first tournament. A total of six U21 world champions from 2023 are in the squad, which Gislason does not have to finalize until January 14th.
“We have the necessary quality for the big sporting challenges and know where we want to go. For this we need good preparation and always absolute focus on the next task ahead of us,” said DHB sports director Ingo Meckes about the DHB squad, also with regard to the game plan for the 2026 European Handball Championship.