Dream start in front of a record crowd: Led by the outstanding goalkeeper Andreas Wolff, Germany’s handball players opened the medal hunt at their home European Championships with a gala performance and raised hopes for a new winter fairy tale.
National coach Alfred Gislason’s team won 27:14 (13:8) against Switzerland in the Düsseldorf football arena, thanks primarily to a defensive masterpiece, and celebrated a black, red and gold opening party in front of Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in front of 53,586 spectators.
Intoxicated by the breathtaking atmosphere, the DHB stars were at their best. At the back, Wolff scraped one ball after the other out of the corners, while at the front, playmaker Juri Knorr (six goals) and his teammates shone with spectacular goals, repeatedly pulling the fans out of their seats. “I would have no objection at all to a winter fairy tale that begins today. And I think it started well,” said Steinmeier euphorically.
In addition to Knorr, Julian Köster and Justus Fischer became the best German throwers in the eagerly awaited world record game with three hits each. With the impressive opening win against the Swiss team led by old playmaker Andy Schmid, the German team headed straight for the main round. Just a win on Sunday (8.30 p.m./ZDF and Dyn) in Berlin against North Macedonia, which lost its first European Championship game against France 29:39, could be enough to advance to the next phase of the tournament.
Perfect start for German handball players
Even before kick-off, the mood was at an all-time high when Steinmeier ceremoniously opened the first European Championship on German soil. “Thank you for this record crowd,” he called out to the spectators: “We are proud to organize this tournament for spectators all over Europe.” DHB President Andreas Michelmann was also beaming. The European Championships are “an opportunity to make the sport even better known than it already is.”
Captain Johannes Golla and Co. also did the best advertising for their sport – right from the start. Knorr got the game off to a perfect start by hammering the ball into the top right corner to make it 1-0 after 49 seconds. The slight nervousness, which was evident in a few missed throws and bad passes, was not significant because Germany played courageously in defense and Wolff was always there.
After just nine minutes, the 2016 European champions had five saves and only two goals conceded – absolutely world class. As a result, the Swiss repeatedly got stuck in the German defense and didn’t score a goal for nine minutes. When DHB right winger Timo Kastening scored to make it 7:3 after a quarter of an hour, a LaOla circled through the wide area. Shortly before half-time, the fans celebrated their keeper with “Wolff” chants.
“What Andi Wolff showed at the back of the goal is impressive,” said DHB sports director Axel Kromer at the break. He was also enthusiastic about the atmosphere: “It’s obviously great when you suddenly hear that over 50,000 people are screaming ‘Germany-Germany’. I think that’s exactly what the boys were hoping for.”
In the second half, Germany continued to press the accelerator. Wolff remained hard to overcome at the back, while up front the nimble Kastening, among others, punished the Swiss outsider’s mistakes with lightning-fast counterattacks. The greenhorns Justus Fischer, David Späth, Martin Hanne and Renars Uscins were now also able to prove themselves.
After the rush in Düsseldorf, the full concentration is now on the remaining preliminary round games against North Macedonia and next Tuesday (8.30 p.m./ARD and Dyn) against record world champions France. Only the top two finishers advance to the next phase of the tournament.