National coach angry
“He whispered to me that it wasn’t a red card”
02/01/2026 – 10:58 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
For Tom Kiesler, his return to the DHB team after recovering from illness was different than expected. The national coach is bothered by a decision.
Nils Kögler reports from Herning
After missing the games against France and Croatia due to a gastrointestinal infection, Tom Kiesler had big plans for the final of the European Handball Championship. “I wanted to help the team. That’s why I played and got fit so I could give everything for the team,” said the German international after the 27:34 win against Denmark. Nobody could have guessed in advance that his appearance would only last a total of 14 minutes.
Because Kiesler was sent off the field with a red card because of dangerous play and a hit in the face against world handball player Mathias Gidsel. He himself described the scene like this: “I hit Gidsel in the face and neck. That’s of course very unfortunate. I wanted to make a stop foul, but he dives a little and I then hit him in the neck.”
The 25-year-old from VfL Gummersbach struggled with himself and regretted the action: “I was a little too impetuous.” Kiesler is “very disappointed” and “that something like this is happening is extremely annoying.” In his opinion it was “a justified red card”. After Justus Fischer’s short-term absence due to an infection, the German defense was further weakened by Kiesler’s exclusion.
National coach Alfred Gíslason was also annoyed about the red card for his defense specialist, but was less bothered by Kiesler’s action and more by the referee’s decision: “In my opinion, that was a two-minute penalty, but not a red. Even Mathias Gidsel whispered to me that it wasn’t a red card.”
Germany had to cope with a setback early on. Shortly before the end of the game, pivot Jannik Kohlbacher also saw the red card – but the exclusion didn’t change anything about the game itself; Germany hardly wanted to succeed on the offensive in this phase anyway.
Kiesler therefore focused on the positive: “We now have the silver medal, we should be happy about it and not just hang our heads.” He wants to get over the red card and learn from it.
