With three saves in the penalty shoot-out, the former Mannheim player Jean Paul Danneberg recorded the World Cup victory of the German national hockey team. The party mood was correspondingly high.
Jean Paul Danneberg was happy when he entered the arrivals hall of Frankfurt Airport on Monday evening. The 200 or so fans who welcomed the hockey world champion in 2023 drove away the last bit of fatigue that had accumulated in the 20-year-old after the World Cup party at the team hotel and the long flight from New Delhi. “Incredible! I’m speechless. It’s great that so many people have come here,” said Danneberg. With his three saves in the penalty shoot-out, the goalkeeper, who played for Mannheimer HC last season, played a major role in the 5-4 win against defending champions Belgium. “Just being back home makes me really happy,” said Danneberg.
Hockey world champion surprised by the euphoria
National coach Andre Henning was also in a party mood: “It exceeds everything else we know from hockey and would have hoped for and wished for. We would not have expected so many people in life who are all waiting for us,” said Henning: “We are overwhelmed and absolutely thrilled.” The team then made their way to Cologne, where there will be a boisterous celebration on the Rot-Weiss Köln club grounds. “We are a lot of party kings,” said Grambusch.
As comeback kings to the hockey throne
In their first World Cup final since 2010, the selection of the German Hockey Association (DHB) was once again behind a two-goal deficit. But as in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, Germany showed “this irrepressible will,” as Henning called it. Niklas Wellen (29th), Gonzalo Peillat (41st) and Mats Grambusch (48th) brought the DHB team on course for gold – and Germany also put away a goal at the last second. Jean-Paul Danneberg was reliable in the penalty shootout, and his saves secured Germany’s third World Cup gold after 2002 and 2006. “Some have waited so long for this success and have fallen so often,” said Henning: “Now we’re at the top.”
