“No one wants to see”
DHB star Wolff deals against EM opponents
01/13/2026 – 9:42 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
Germany’s goalkeeper Andreas Wolff complains about the style of play of his upcoming opponent before the start of the European Championship. Then he warns about the Austrians.
Before the opening game of the European Championship against Austria, Germany’s national goalkeeper Andreas Wolff sharply criticized the opponent’s style of play. “The Austrians, of course, play absolutely anti-handball. Nobody actually wants to see that. It’s very unattractive,” said the 34-year-old before the game on Thursday (from 8:30 p.m. in the t-online live ticker) in Herning, Denmark.
Wolff described the Austrians’ seven-on-six tactics in particular as “very unattractive”, but in the past it had caused problems for the German team. In this style of play, an additional field player replaces the goalkeeper to create a numerical advantage situation. Two of the last three duels against the neighbors ended in a draw.
The German goalkeeper therefore particularly warned against the Austrian key players: “With Lukas Hutecek and Mykola Bilyk, you have two absolute alpha animals who will lead the attacking game in all its ugliness and make sure that it is not a treat,” said Wolff, who appealed to his teammates: “You have to be very careful that you win the ball very easily in order to punish the seven-on-six.”
After the start against Austria, the DHB team will face Serbia on Saturday and Spain on Monday in the preliminary round. The final group game could decide who wins the group. Olympic champions Denmark, defending champions France, fourth place in the World Cup Portugal and Norway would probably wait in the main round.
Wolff, along with Jannik Kohlbacher and Rune Dahmke, is one of the three players in the current squad who were part of the European Championship triumph ten years ago. “We know how to win a tournament, but ultimately we haven’t been able to pass on the experience to the others,” said Wolff.