Things were seething in Dagur Sigurdssons. Croatia’s national coach gave a tough monologue at the media event before the semi-final of the European Handball Championship against Germany.
National coach Alfred Gislason had just answered the opening question at the EHF’s obligatory press event when Croatia coach Dagur Sigurdsson was asked what kind of game he would expect in his Croatia’s semi-final against Germany tomorrow, Friday (5.45 p.m. live on Erste and in the stream).
No breaks, far away from the training hall, long journey
But the Icelander, who became European champion as coach of the DHB team in 2016, came to this event on Thursday afternoon with a completely different agenda and gave a monologue that could go down in the history of the European Handball Championships.
His Croatians had significantly less rest time between their last two main round games, which, unlike Germany and Denmark, they had to play on consecutive days without a regeneration day. To do this, just like Iceland, which is playing against Denmark in the other semi-final, they had to travel from Malmö in Sweden to Herning in Denmark on the only “rest day”, unlike Germany or the Danes. In addition, the hotel in Silkeborg where the Croatians were staying was far from the training hall.
Sigurdsson – “Like one fast food company”
The Icelander couldn’t control himself anymore, called the European Handball Federation (EHF) a fast food company, the media event a “circus”, compared his team’s situation to “frozen chickens” and in the end also received approval from national coach and compatriot Gislason, who said: “He’s absolutely right and I’m sorry.” At the end, Sigurdsson was asked whether he could still look forward to the game. “Yes, but I would have liked to have had more time”said the coach of the vice world champion.
The EHF pointed out in a statement on Thursday evening that the “more difficult situation” for the teams traveling from Malmö was known well in advance and that it had already happened in a similar way at other tournaments. The hotel in Silkeborg was chosen in order to offer Germany and Croatia the same conditions. The organization wants to “carefully evaluate” for future championships.
Sigurdsson’s all-round criticism in verbatim:
“We just arrived at 2.30 p.m. Then I had to come here obligatory. Because, funnily enough, we are not accommodated here, I had a 35-minute drive to do this circus here. Then I have to drive 35 minutes back, it will be 5 or 6 p.m. when I get back. Then I had no training with the team and no meeting. This is confirmation that the European Handball Federation doesn’t care about the players and teams. They are like one Fast food company. They don’t care about the quality, they just sell. They are like an event company: order a few artists, put on a good show, a nice press conference. It doesn’t matter that we had a four-hour drive from Malmö in the morning. In our group in Malmö we had two days less than other teams in this competition.
Anyone who knows anything about sports knows that two days off is a heck of a lot in a 12-day, seven-game span. And we had to play two games within 22 hours. The next morning they pack us like frozen chickens into a bus and drive us here – and we’re not even close to the training hall.
And then I have to go to a press conference and don’t arrive back at the hotel until 6 p.m. to check whether my players are healthy, to hold a meeting to do an analysis of tomorrow’s game. We are in the semi-finals! This is an absolute disgrace! They have this slogan ‘Pure Awesomeness’. Really? Is this pure awesomeness? It’s absolutely shocking. So: Thank you very much, I would be very happy if I could go again. So let me know if I can.”
