The German Handball Association said goodbye to long-time national player Hendrik Pekeler on Saturday evening. The THW Kiel professional said goodbye with his children on the field after the dress rehearsal for the home European Championships in Kiel.
In his 122 international matches, the defensive expert scored 210 goals for Germany. His greatest successes were the European Championship title in 2016 and the bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Rio in the same year. When asked about his personal highlights, the 32-year-old mentioned, in addition to the European Championship final, his first game for Germany back in Mannheim and the 2019 World Cup, which was held in Germany and Denmark. In the end, the DHB selection lost to France in the game for third place.
“Ten years is a long time. It was an incredible honor to be able to represent your fatherland,” said Pekeler, who left the stands with his children after the 35:31 (20:15) in the second friendly against Portugal in Kiel came onto the field, at the hall microphone. “I’m glad that I got this farewell from the DHB.”
Confusion about Pekeler’s departure
However, there was some confusion about this. While the association had already announced the farewell in the Arena magazine, which had been published online in advance, national coach Alfred Gislason reacted sniffily. That had been agreed otherwise, the Icelander grumbled when asked about Pekeler’s farewell after the first Portugal test in Flensburg. He doesn’t know anything.
However, the 64-year-old rowed back just one day later. As it turned out, Gislason simply hadn’t read an internal email. He took the blame for this communication problem entirely on his shoulders – and announced that Pekeler had offered a short comeback in case there were any serious failures on the way to the Olympic Games in Paris this summer. “That’s great,” said the coach in Kiel. He knows that Pekeler, who was recently injured for a long time, would probably not last the entire tournament.
Jogi Bitter: “Still one of the best”
“Peke has invested an incredible amount for the German national team. Thank you for everything,” said DHB sports director Axel Kromer. At the farewell, which could be seen live on the Sportschau, co-commentator Jogi Bitter also paid tribute to his former national team colleague: “He is still one of the best in the world, a fantastic defender,” said the professional from HSV Hamburg and added: “It will be a long time before we have such an intelligent defender again.”
Pekeler had already declared after the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo that he wanted to take a break from the national team. For the upcoming home European Championships (January 10th to 28th), national coach Gislason wanted to bring the 32-year-old back into the national team, but the consequences of a torn Achilles tendon prevented the THW professional from making a comeback, for whom there was no better place for him than at an international match in Kiel and 9,113 spectators.
This topic in the program:
Sports show | 01/06/2024 | 5:45 p.m
