Captain Johannes Golla, four European champions from 2016 and U21 world champion from 2023 – and a debutant: With a total of 19 players, the German national handball team is heading for the EHF EURO 2024.
The announcement of the squad on Thursday (December 21, 2023) was preceded by intensive discussions and observations of the individual form curves.
“The European Championship starts in 20 days. I’m looking forward to our team, the work in preparation and the tournament itself”explained national coach Alfred Gislason. “We have a really strong team that has very high quality and self-confidence and knows that the outstanding German home crowd has their backs.”said Axel Kromer, Sports Director of the German Handball Association.
Hanne new in the squad
Patrick Groetzki, right winger and captain of the Rhein-Neckar Löwen is the most experienced player at 34 years old and has 171 international matches, Justus Fischer is the youngest at 20 years old – the TSV Hannover Burgdorf pivot like goalkeeper David Späth, Renars Uscins and Nils Lichtlein won in the summer U21 World Cup. Goalkeeper Andreas Wolff, left winger Rune Dahmke, left-hander Kai Häfner and pivot Jannik Kohlbacher were European champions in 2016. And the name Martin Hanne is completely new to the DHB squad. The 22-year-old right-hander from TSV Hannover-Burgdorf receives his first nomination and is a candidate for the left backfield.
Two test matches in January
After a short course in Frankfurt (December 27th to 29th), Gislason and his coaching team will continue their preparation for the European Championship on New Year’s Day in Brunsbüttel. In the run-up to the European Championships, the German national handball team will meet Portugal in two international matches (Thursday, January 4th, 4 p.m. in Flensburg and Saturday, January 6th, 6 p.m. in Kiel.
In the preliminary round of the EHF EURO 2024, the DHB team will first meet Switzerland in Düsseldorf (January 10th, 8:45 p.m.) and North Macedonia (January 14th, 8:30 p.m.) and France (January 16th, 8:30 p.m.) in Berlin. The first two teams reach the main round, which will take place in Cologne from January 18th.
Firnhaber is no longer there
Sebastian Firnhaber is no longer available from the 35-man squad that was announced on November 30th. The HC Erlangen pivot suffered a torn cruciate ligament during the Bundesliga game in Stuttgart last Friday and will be out for several months.
For the tournament itself, the squad does not have to be formally announced until the technical meeting on January 9th. From the 20 players named, 16 must be selected by one hour before kick-off. During the preliminary, main and final round tournament phases, two changes are possible with players from the 35-man squad.
The squad of the German national handball team:
Goal: David Späth (Rhein-Neckar Löwen), Andreas Wolff (Industria Kielce)
Left wing: Rune Dahmke (THW Kiel), Lukas Mertens (SC Magdeburg)
Back area left: Martin Hanne (TSV Hannover-Burgdorf), Sebastian Heymann (Frisch Auf Göppingen), Julian Köster (VfL Gummersbach)
Backspace left/center: Philipp Weber (SC Magdeburg)
Back center: Juri Knorr (Rhein-Neckar Löwen), Nils Lichtlein (Füchse Berlin), Marian Michalczik (TSV Hannover-Burgdorf)
Back area right: Kai Häfner (TVB Stuttgart), Renars Uscins (TSV Hannover-Burgdorf)
Backcourt right/right wing: Christoph Steinert (HC Erlangen)
Right wing: Patrick Groetzki (Rhein-Neckar Löwen), Timo Kastening (MT Melsungen)
Circle: Justus Fischer (TSV Hannover-Burgdorf), Johannes Golla (SG Flensburg-Handewitt), Jannik Kohlbacher (Rhein-Neckar Löwen)