Training camps and test matches: Germany’s schedule up to the Handball World Cup

Germany’s handball players will start preparing for the World Cup in Hanover in the new year – including a friendly double pack.

For Germany’s handball players, the year 2023 will begin with a World Cup trip to Poland and, if things go really well, in Sweden. In Katowice, Poland, the DHB team will hold its preliminary round and, if it is still there, the main round as well. The quarter-finals would be in Gdansk and only for the semi-finals would it possibly go to Stockholm, Sweden – where the final will also take place.

But this trip starts in Hanover. This is where the national players and Alfred Gislason’s coaching team meet on New Year’s Day, before the first part of the training camp really begins the following day.

Test matches against Iceland

DHB Iceland has chosen itself as a sparring partner for the endurance tests. “Iceland is the ideal friendly opponent”, said Gislason. “They will demand everything from us and present us with problems. Then we will see what we still have to work on before the first World Cup game.” The dates for the friendlies: January 7 at 4 p.m. in Bremen and January 8 at 3:30 p.m. in Hanover.

This is followed by the second part of the training camp in Barsinghausen near Hanover, before the trip to Katowice is due on January 12th. There the DHB team meets Qatar on January 13 at 6 p.m. for the start of the World Cup.

Gislason has to downsize squad

Gislason has yet to reduce his squad to 18 players by the morning of this game. From this round he can then nominate 16 players for each World Cup game.

There are currently 35 names on the extended squad list. These players are then also potential replacements, because up to five changes are possible during the World Cup.