Organization of the European Handball Championships
National coach with a tantrum: “An absolute disgrace”
Updated on January 29, 2026 – 5:40 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
The day before the European Championship semi-final between Germany and Croatia, the EHF invited people to a press conference. It turned into a tirade from the Croatian coach.
Nils Kögler reports from Herning
The headlights heated up the air considerably, but there was also a metaphorical thick air in the press conference room at the Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning, Denmark. Croatia’s national coach Dagur Sigurdsson’s face trembled with anger as he began to make an angry speech against the organization at the European Handball Championship. “This is an absolute disgrace,” raged the Icelander, who led the DHB team to the European Championship title in 2016.
Sigurdsson and his team had played main round games in Malmö, Sweden, on two consecutive days on Tuesday and Wednesday and have to play the semi-final against Germany in Herning, Denmark, on Friday. Germany has been playing in Herning since the tournament started. The Croatians started their journey on Thursday and then appeared immediately at the press conference. “We just arrived at 2:30 p.m., then I had to come here obligatory,” Sigurdsson complained. “Because, funnily enough, we’re not staying here, I had to drive 45 minutes. Now I have to do this circus and then drive 45 minutes back,” the Icelander continued.
He couldn’t be at the team hotel until around 6 p.m. and then he hadn’t had any training or a meeting with the players. “This is confirmation that the European Handball Federation doesn’t care about the players and teams. They are like a fast food company. They don’t care about quality, they just sell,” complained Sigurdsson and followed up with another comparison: “They are like an event company. They order a few artists to put on a good show, a nice press conference and it doesn’t matter that we had a four-hour drive from Malmö this morning.”
“We had two days less than some of the teams in this competition to play seven games. And anyone who knows anything about sport knows that two days less rest in a 12-day, seven-game period is a hell of a lot. A hell of a lot,” Sigurdsson’s complaint said.
They had to play the last two games within 22 hours, complained Sigurdsson. “The next morning they put us on a bus like frozen chicken and drive us here.”
“We are in the semi-finals,” he reminded. “They advertise with the slogan ‘Pure Greatness’,” he said, referring to the EM slogan. “Really? Is this pure awesomeness? It’s absolutely shocking,” Sigurdsson continued, ending his tirade with: “So thank you, I’ll be very happy when I can go. Just let me know when I can.”
When asked, the 52-year-old went on to say: “It’s disturbing and I don’t accept things like that,” he said, explaining his protest. “They just care about the show. I’m sure there will be a few dancers at halftime. They’re great at it,” he said snidely. After a total of around five minutes, his angry speech ended.
