National handball coach Alfred Gislason has brought Franz Semper and Luca Witzke back into the national team.
At the Olympic qualifying tournament in Hanover (March 14th to 17th), the two Leipzig players will replace the injured Kai Häfner (Stuttgart) and Martin Hanne (Hannover).
In the mini-tournament, the European Championship fourth-placed team plays against Algeria, Croatia and Austria and has to achieve at least second place to get a ticket to the Olympics.
Semper last played for the national team in 2022, Witzke (both backcourt) missed the European Championships in January due to injury and played his last international match to date almost a year ago in April against Spain.
On Thursday, the Gislason selection starts the Olympic mission against Algeria (from 5:45 p.m./DYN and Sport1) in the ZAG arena Hannover. Germany already played against Croatia and Austria at the home European Championship at the beginning of the year, but was unable to win either game.