Germany’s next opponent at the Handball World Cup is full of world-class players, and one stands out from the Danish star ensemble: Mathias Gidsel. The Füchse Berlin world handball player only inflicted a bitter defeat on the DHB team in 2024.
In the center of Herning, Mathias Gidsel is clearly smiling from a house facade in a kitchen advertisement. In the fan zone, supporters of the Danish national team line up to flock a jersey with the name of their top player. “I can’t hide anymore,” said the world handball player about his omnipresence at the Handball World Cup in his own country.
“You’ll never stop it completely”
The slender Gidsel is actually not a loudspeaker, but seems more introverted and fragile. And yet he carries the burden of an entire handball nation almost alone. When the Olympic final against Germany takes place again on Tuesday, the 25-year-old wants to present the DHB defense with impossible tasks with his dynamism and game intelligence. “You’ll never stop it completely. But just keeping it under control to some extent is the most important thing,” said DHB circle runner Justus Fischer.
Backcourt player Nils Lichtlein knows Gidsel well from training and playing together at Füchse Berlin. “Well, how do you stop him? Basically, it’s hardly possible,” said the 22-year-old to the sports show. “But of course there are ideas.”
The most important thing, says Lichtlein, is to slow him and the Danish team down. “That we prevent him from his ambush-like attacks and force him into fixed positions. We simply have to prevent handball from becoming easy for him this evening.”
Daniel Neuhaus, sports show, January 20, 2025 9:09 a.m
Gidsel motivated – “One of the most important games for us”
In the 39:26 lesson in the summer, almost everything came easily to Gidsel, the left-hander scored eleven times. Germany’s playmaker Juri Knorr uses this as motivation. “We have a score to settle with ourselves that we don’t want to look like we did in the Olympic final again,” said the 24-year-old. For Knorr it is “a game against one of the best teams of all time, with the best player in the world.”
He wants to go one step further on his performance at the Olympics. “For us, this is one of the most important games at this World Cup. Almost everyone in our team plays in the Bundesliga. We want to go back to Germany and say: We beat Germany,” announced Gidsel confidently.
Denmark is currently the measure of all things in world handball and is aiming for its fourth World Cup title in a row. The Scandinavians have now been unbeaten in 31 World Cup games. And the performances so far in Herning give Germany little hope that this series will break on Tuesday of all days. First 47:22 Algeria, then 32:21 against Tunisia and 39:20 against the Italians – the defending champions broke the 100-goal barrier in just three games.
“Those weren’t all the big tests,” said Gidsel, almost sounding as if he wanted to encourage the DHB selection. “Germany is one of the favorites. In Andreas Wolff they have the “We’re hard to beat.”