The German handball players are already longing for revenge

“This silver medal definitely feels shittier than the one at the Olympics,” says Marko Grgic openly. “Especially at the moment, of course. At some point you’ll look back with pride, but right now it’s just very disappointing.” In 2024 in Lille, Germany clearly lost the Olympic final (26:39), the result back then put a lot of things into perspective. This time there was a long feeling that more would have been possible.

Germany kept up until around ten minutes before the end. Then the game tipped over – through a few missed chances, small mistakes, decisions that left Grgic stunned. “I don’t understand any of this. It stinks to high heaven,” he says about time penalties and the red card against Jannik Kohlbacher. “That wasn’t 100 percent the problem. Of course, there were little things that were our own fault.” It’s exactly these little things that decide between gold and silver in world-class handball.

Pride should replace pain

And yet this finale is another step forward. Nils Lichtlein, Füchse Berlin playmaker, sums it up: “The pain is still deep, but in the future we will be able to be very proud of it.” The tournament showed “that we have a great team. That makes you want more.”

This desire is fueled by a development that the competition is also noticing. Mathias Gidsel, world handball player and top performer for the Danes, says: “It scares me a bit that they will have the home advantage next year. I think the German team is now our biggest opponent.” Respect at the highest level.

Lukas Zerbe also sees the gap shrinking. “We can actually beat anyone. We could have beaten the Danes too,” he says. Shortly after the final, disappointment prevailed “because we actually wanted the medal to be a different color.” But that will change. “If you look back on the tournament, it was outstanding. It was a team effort.”

The German team thrives on its breadth – and its cohesion. At the award ceremony, David Späth demonstratively wore the jersey of Justus Fischer, who missed the final due to an infection. “Without him we wouldn’t be where we are now,” explains Späth. “It was a symbol that he is always with us.” Späth himself needs time to classify the silver. “It’s slowly getting better now,” he said an hour after the game. “But we wanted to win this final at all costs.” That is exactly what must be the motivation to “make the gap to Denmark ever smaller”.

Team manager Benjamin Chatton sees the disappointment as a breeding ground for the future. “The boys really believed they could achieve something. This is a good thing,” he says. “You can learn from that and hopefully that will help us go one step further at the home World Cup with the fans behind us.” Just two weeks ago this DHB selection was the “pallbearers of German handball”, now it is being celebrated. “That’s how it is in sports.”

Coach Gislason is pleased with the development

In any case, national coach Alfred Gislason looks less at the result than at the process. “I’m even more pleased with the team’s development than with the silver medal,” he says. Germany has become more well-rehearsed, more stable and more self-confident. “The boys wanted to win this game. And they were very close.”

Denmark coach Nikolaj Jacobsen also speaks of a “very young, very talented team” that will be a force to be reckoned with in the coming years. “At some point they will start winning finals,” he believes. “Of course I hope not against us, but it will come.”

The development of the German team has also been noticed beyond the halls. The European Championship final was watched by 12.822 million viewers on ZDF, with a market share of 50.8 percent – it was particularly high among the young target group. In these weeks, handball has reached an audience that would otherwise not naturally tune in.

The European Championship ends without a title, but with a clear perspective. Renars Uscins speaks of a team “that can play together for a long time”. Grgic hopes “that the year goes by quickly so that we can get to the home World Cup very quickly.” Then, at the 2027 World Cup in Germany, with full halls, a tailwind – and a team that is far from at the end of its development.

Silver feels bad right now. And that is perhaps the best sign.