DHB squad nominated
Club boss angry: “Incomprehensible”
12/17/2025 – 1:26 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
National coach Alfred Gíslason surprisingly left Tim Freihöfer out for the European Handball Championships. His club boss can’t understand it at all.
Füchse Berlin managing director Bob Hanning reacted with incomprehension to the exclusion of his left winger Tim Freihöfer from next year’s European Handball Championships. “I really don’t go along with that at all,” said Hanning in his video column for “Kicker”.
On Wednesday, national coach Alfred Gíslason nominated his 18-man squad for the tournament in January. On the left wing, he surprisingly nominated the Kiel veteran Rune Dahmke alongside Lukas Mertens from Magdeburg, instead of the young star Freihöfer from the German champions Füchse.
“Everything has been overruled here when it comes to fairness and content. You can say that sometimes and you have to clearly define it that way,” said Hanning and assured that he wasn’t just saying that in his role as Füchse managing director. “Tim has been the Füchse’s first man for two years now. He plays every important game and is outstanding in 90 percent of the games. He has always been able to impress in the national team and is also a clear number one in a statistical comparison,” he explained his opinion.
Hanning did not accept possible tactical considerations or the experience of Dahmke, who was in the squad for the last DHB title win in 2016, as reasons for the nomination. “We have enough experience in the squad,” he said. “I’ll say that clearly. Not because I’m managing director of Füchse Berlin, but because I’m a sports fan and because I’m simply saying that this is and will not only be incomprehensible to me,” said the 57-year-old.
Apart from the Freihöfer personnel, Hanning appeared satisfied with the squad. “A lot of it is understandable, a lot of good decisions,” he said and spoke of an “otherwise balanced squad.”
The European Handball Championships will take place from January 15th to February 1st in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Germany will face Spain, Austria and Serbia in the preliminary round. The DHB team plays the games in Herning, Denmark.