National coach Alfred Gíslason and national goalkeeper Andreas Wolff already worked together at club level. Their relationship was probably not always easy.
Andreas Wolff is currently an integral part of the German goal at the European Handball Championships. With strong performances, the 32-year-old became the match winner in both the preliminary round opener against Switzerland and in the first game of the main round against Iceland.
The result was great praise from colleagues and, above all, from the national coach. “Andi is one of our world-class players and an important leadership figure. He gives the boys a lot of security,” said Gíslason at a press conference in Cologne.
Gíslason brought Wolff to Kiel
As the national coach also revealed, the relationship between him and the goalkeeper was not always without its pitfalls. The background: Gíslason and Wolff worked together in the past at the Bundesliga club THW Kiel. The Icelander coached the team from 2008 to 2019 and brought the still young and relatively unknown Wolff into the team in 2016 – shortly before he celebrated his breakthrough with the national team when they won the European Championship.
“I brought him to Kiel,” Gísalson recalled at the press conference. “That was partly the reason why he was included in the national team squad in 2016, because he had just signed with us and my compatriot (then national coach Dagur Sigurdsson, editor’s note) knew that,” Gíslason continued. Wolff then developed from being the third goalkeeper with strong performances to becoming the starting goalkeeper in the national team.
Competition with Landin
When he arrived in Kiel, Wolff had an established world-class goalkeeper in front of him in Niklas Landin. The keeper probably didn’t particularly like the division of labor with the Dane. “It was difficult at times,” Gíslason recalled of the situation. “For him more than for me because he was younger and very impulsive,” said the 64-year-old.
“I noticed that Landin came off the bench very badly and Andi came off the bench very well because he was always so angry with me,” explained Gíslason. Wolff got almost as much playing time as Landin. “Statistically speaking, the two of them played exactly 50/50 the whole season. Almost identically. Nevertheless, Andi was always angry because he only started very rarely. But he did great.”
Wolff has now changed, said the national coach. “Over time he has become much more mature and balanced. That makes me very happy. He has matured into a world-class goalkeeper.” Gíslason emphasized that the relationship between coach and goalkeeper was good then and now, “even if we had an argument back then in Kiel.”