On Wednesday, the DHB team contested the World Cup quarter-finals against Portugal. Host Norway will not be there – and that has consequences.
With Portugal, the German national handball team will meet a surprising opponent next Wednesday in the World Cup quarter-finals. Because before the tournament, hardly any observer would have expected that the Portuguese would become the first in a main round group with the actual top nations Norway, Spain and Sweden.
But everything turned out very differently: Portugal played big throughout the tournament. In the preliminary round, they already beat Norway, and in the main round they also followed a victory against Spain and a draw against Sweden. But that’s not all. The Brazilians were also able to conquer Norway in the preliminary round and follow victories against Spain and Sweden in the main round. After a defeat in a direct duel with Portugal, they moved into the quarter -finals as a group of group.
Conversely, this also means: Sweden, Spain and especially hosts Norway are not included in the K.-O. round, which takes place in Oslo-and this has a significant impact on the number of spectators.
As DHB sports director Ingo Meckes announced on Monday at a press conference, the Unity Arena in the Norwegian capital for the quarter-finals will not even be almost sold out. “I spoke to the Norwegians yesterday and so far 4,000 tickets have been gone,” said Meckes. According to him, the capacity of the arena is at 13,500.
The quarter -finals between Germany and Portugal will probably take place in front of a not even half -full arena. Meckes therefore hopes for some short -term German fans: “That means there is still room for German fans in the arena, where we hope that one or the other will find their way here.”
However, the German team will probably not be able to be driven by a particularly electrifying atmosphere. “All the more you asked yourself as a team that you get the tension up,” said national player Timo Kastening. “From the emotions to be full with the kick -off of the game, of course – I’m honest – at a full hall that is atmospheric, it is a bit easier,” Kastening admitted. Nevertheless, it is a World Cup quarter-finals. “If you are not completely focused from minute one, then you did something wrong,” said the 29-year-old.
The DHB selection should be used to playing in front of sparingly filled halls. Because even during the preliminary and main round in Herning in Danish, the 15,000 spectator Jyske Bank boxing was only completely filled when playing with Danish participation. The remaining games mostly took place there a maximum of half -filled stands.
DHB President Andreas Michelmann had therefore suggested a few days ago to include a real city at future handball events in Denmark with the capital Copenhagen. The situation in Oslo now shows that the big city factor is not necessarily the decisive factor.
That is why Michelmann also said: “There is still only one country in the world that is able to completely fill the halls, even if your team does not play.” Of course, this meant Germany. “We have proven it at the European Championship with a 94 percent capacity utilization,” said Michelmann with a view to the European Championship held in Germany last year.