What does the DHB selection have to prepare for in the first European Championship game on Thursday (from 8:15 p.m. live here on stream, on TV and here in the full audio report) against Austria? And how dangerous is Germany’s neighbor for the DHB’s tournament ambitions?
Andreas Wolff spoke of “anti-handball”. And that means the handball that Austria, the first opponent of the DHB selection at the European Handball Championship, would play in his opinion. A choice of words that certainly made waves and did not go unheard in the Austrian camp. At the media meeting on Wednesday, almost all of the German players tried to classify the words of the veteran, who was also known for his pointed statements in the past.
Long attacks, few mistakes and “tempo control”
Wolff also meant this as a kind of expression of respect, said Jannik Kohlbacher and Juri Knorr, for example. Nikola Bilyk, Austrian opponent of the DHB selection on Thursday, but otherwise Wolff’s teammate in Kiel, emphasized that he did not agree with the exact choice of words, but understood what the goalkeeper wanted to say.
At the aforementioned German media event, Wolff’s teammates became even more specific in their interpretation of the statement. Austria likes to control or slow down the pace of the game – national coach Alfred Gislason named backcourt veteran Lukas Hutecek, who is also currently at TBV Lemgo “outstanding Bundesliga season” games: “That’s also the style of play that makes the Lemgoers very successful.” Long attacks, few mistakes and a great focus on interaction with the dangerous and physically strong pivot Tobias Wagner are core elements of the Austrian offensive.
Romero continues “Spanish school”.
In addition to the Lemgo variety, there is also a lot of “Spanish school” in it. The long-time coach Ales Pajovic, who played large parts of his career in Spain, trained the Austrians from 2019 to 2025 and is now on the sidelines at SG Flensburg-Handewitt, had already established many elements of this style of play, and now the new national coach, Spain’s handball icon Iker Romero, is continuing it almost seamlessly.
Additional field player – particularly annoying for goalkeeper Wolff recently
What Wolff also meant with his “anti-handball statement”: the Austrians’ 7-on-6 attack game. So removing your own goalkeeper in favor of an additional attacking player with a quick change back after your own goal throw, as has been possible in handball since 2016, even without a marking bib. “You can’t blame him if he stands in goal and then gets 60 minutes of 7 against 6, where Austria is really very patient and waits until they get through somewhere free within six meters or the pivots are free.”Jannik Kohlbacher explained Wolff’s assessment, who as a goalkeeper naturally prefers to get shots with a slightly better chance of defending on his goal.
In fact, this artificially created game of superiority was an elementary stylistic device of the Austrians for many years, which also repeatedly caused major problems for the DHB team in the many duels with each other. Among other things, at 22:22 in the main round of the last European Championship in 2024 or at 26:26 most recently in qualifying for this European Championship.
In the last test games, however, this stylistic device was hardly seen anymore. But there is no reason for the national coach not to place emphasis on defense concepts against this system in his own preparation: “I think it’s more of a feint and that we’ll see 7v6 all the time”said Gislason.
Lemgo keeper Möstl can become a problem
At the 2024 European Championships and especially at the 22:22, a star rose in the handball goalkeeper sky that has been shining ever since: that of Constantin Möstl. The 1.86 m tall Viennese held a total of 17 balls at the time and earned a contract with TBV Lemgo with these brilliant performances. In the Bundesliga this season he has the fourth best catch rate of all regular goalkeepers. Only Sergey Hernandez, Lasse Ludwig and a certain Andreas Wolff have a better defensive record than the Austrian. “If the last player still needed motivation, he should watch the video again. Then the last percentage points are now there to give 100 percent.”said Möstl when asked about Wolff’s statement.
Constantin Möstl in action for Austria
Even if the DHB team is the favorite on Thursday and the Austrians lost their test games against Slovenia and France despite a decent performance, Romero’s team around the individual class of Bilyk, Hutecek and Möstl definitely has what it takes to be a stumbling block – for actually every team in the tournament. In any case, things get off to a hot start in terms of sport – and verbally we’re already up to speed in the neighborhood duel.