Handball European Championships
National coach Gíslason: “The first time I was wrong”
01/28/2026 – 9:38 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
National coach Alfred Gíslason celebrates, even though no goal was scored. In the victory over France, he made up for his much-criticized mistake – not without an old coaching wisdom.
DHB coach Alfred Gíslason stood on the sidelines with his arms outstretched and a big grin on his face. Assistant coach Erik Wudtke put his arm around him and the Icelander had a permanent smile on his face. The game was still in the balance after 51 minutes when the score was 30:28. But for the German team, the timing worked in all actions in the 38:34 victory over France: including pressing the buzzer for the timeouts.
Because the Icelander pressed the button just at the moment when a pass from Nils Lichtlein to Johannes Golla did not reach the circle, thus preventing a possible loss of the ball. “That’s a risk and if Golli had caught the ball, you would talk differently,” said the DHB coach on ZDF, recalling the situation eleven days ago.
What had happened? In the preliminary round in the defeat against Serbia, Gíslason pressed the buzzer in the middle of Juri Knorr’s throwing movement and thus prevented a sure hit. The 66-year-old was subsequently heavily criticized for this. “It’s so easy to jump on it and say that he pressed at the wrong moment,” ZDF expert Sven-Gören Christophersen stood by the coach’s side after the game.
“I’ve taken this risk ten times in my career and I’ve been right nine times. Against Serbia was the first time I was wrong and I’ll take that on myself. As a coach you have to make decisions and stand by them.”
In the subsequent conversation in the mixed zone, Gíslason seemed even more relaxed than in the TV interview and explained that he had “gambled”. “I was happy that it was right this time – finally again,” he added with a laugh.
Overall, he is proud of the entire team and set the direction for the final two games. “We are capable of getting to the final. Then the team has to play as well as it did today.” And Gíslason press the buzzer at the right time.
