Alfred Gislason’s contract as national handball coach will soon expire. After the last game of the home European Championship, he gave information about his future.
After losing the game for third place at the home European Championship, Alfred Gislason remained calm about his future as national coach. At the press conference after the game, Gislason was asked whether he had already received information about a contract extension after reaching the semi-final goal.
“No, I didn’t,” said Gislason. “I’m also very, very relaxed,” said the 64-year-old. He still has a contract until after the upcoming Olympic qualification in March and referred to the team’s transition to a young team.
Gislason and the “rocky road”
“Ultimately, I’ve made this rocky journey to rebuild the team so far,” explained Gislason. “It’s looking very good with the boys and whoever looks after them will have a lot of fun with this team.” He himself is certainly interested in continuing to work: “I signaled that I would like to do it, but in the end I didn’t decide,” says Gislason.
Gislason took over the national team in March 2020 after the dismissal of Christian Prokop. Among the Icelanders, the DHB team continuously improved its results at major tournaments. At the 2021 World Cup, the selection reached twelfth place, at the Olympic Games in Tokyo it was enough for the quarter-finals, at the 2022 European Championships they came seventh despite many Covid illnesses, fifth place at the 2023 World Cup and now at the home European Championships achieved the semi-final goal with fourth place.
Before joining the DHB, Gislason coached the German record champion THW Kiel for eleven years, where he resigned from his position in 2019 and actually wanted to end his coaching career.