National handball team: tricks and goals: handball players shine against Switzerland

Germany’s handball players enjoyed the ovation from the enthusiastic spectators after the gala goals at the start of the European Championship qualification. 88 days after the Olympic silver coup, the DHB selection booked the first two points on the way to EURO 2026 with a convincing 35:26 (21:13) win against Switzerland and then received not only applause from the fans big praise from the national coach.

“I’m very happy with how the team played. It was very good. What made me particularly happy was the enthusiasm with which the boys played. They had a lot of fun,” said Alfred Gislason about his charges’ first appearance since the Summer Games in Paris. And captain Johannes Golla said: “We were very efficient right from the start. It was a good performance that impressed the people.”

In addition to goalkeeper Andreas Wolff, top thrower Lukas Zerbe stood out with seven goals. On Sunday the Olympic silver medalist will continue against Turkey in Ankara. The third group rival in the elimination for the final round in Denmark, Sweden and Norway is Austria.

In front of 12,721 fans in the sold-out SAP Arena in Mannheim, the German team shone with tricks and goals. In addition, the DHB selection caused the Swiss around national coach Andy Schmid a similar debacle when he returned to his old place of work as at the beginning of the year in the opening game of the home European Championship. At that time, the DHB team prevailed with 27:14. “Germany showed us what world class means,” admitted Schmid.

Even before kick-off, the DHB boys were greeted with lots of applause by the spectators. Buoyed by this euphoria, the German team got off to a lightning start and quickly gained a five-goal cushion (8:3/8th minute). Schmid, who played for the Rhein-Neckar Löwen in Mannheim from 2012 to 2022, reacted with a first time out. But he couldn’t get his team on track.

Despite the absence of some injured top performers such as director Juri Knorr and backcourt player Julian Köster, Germany dominated the game and even led by 13 goals at 19:6 (24th). It was only in the final phase of the first half that Gislason’s protégés had a few lapses in concentration and allowed the Swiss to get closer.

Nevertheless, Gislason was happy with his team’s first 30 minutes, both in defense and in attack. Well supported by those in front of him, goalkeeper Andreas Wolff provided strong support as usual. And the German team impressed at the front with a shooting rate of 84 percent.

After the change, David Späth moved between the posts for Wolff. But the U21 world champion was unfortunate and couldn’t get hold of the ball. After just ten minutes he had to give up his place for the veteran from record champions THW Kiel. At this point, Switzerland had reduced the deficit to six goals.

However, the DHB team did not give the guests more hope. That was also due to Wolff, who immediately made some brilliant saves. In the middle of the second half, Germany was leading by double digits again at 32:22 (47th). The rest was an exhibition in which the DHB selection no longer exerted itself and saved energy.