Injured handball player Julian Köster: The fixture is out

Julian Köster didn’t see the impact coming, but the pain was there immediately. The situation at the Gummersbach circle was actually resolved when Leipzig’s circle runner Moritz Preuss attempted a throw while leaning – and unfortunately landed on Köster’s leg. The national handball player had already turned his face away, but now fell to the ground screaming. The TV images show how the knee twisted under the weight of Preuss’ body.

Köster, 24, disappeared into the dressing room with the physiotherapist, and when he did not return, it was already clear to some that the diagnosis would be serious: torn medial ligament, around ten weeks out. This presents challenges for Gummersbach, but also for the German national team – because Köster is a fixture in both teams and is difficult to replace. The two-meter-tall Köster plays in the middle of the defense, and his speed also makes him an important backcourt support. In Gummersbach he is the captain. “Everyone knows how important Julian is to us,” said his club coach Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson. Within 40 days, VfL now has to play 13 games in three different competitions – all without Köster.

It is no surprise that the 58-time national player has been injured. The problem for the Gummersbach native is that he has such great qualities in both parts of the team – attack and defense – that the coaches rarely, and if they do, only very reluctantly, order him off the pitch. So Köster always plays until he runs out of energy, in the club and in the national team, especially in a year with two major international tournaments. “Perhaps the strain was too much for him,” said former national coach Heiner Brand to the portal Handball-World.

The case is also likely to cause the current national coach Alfred Gislason some concern. There are still almost four months until the World Cup in Denmark, Norway and Croatia in January; apparently plenty of time to get fit. However, a good recovery process is required. Köster will probably miss the European Championship qualifiers in early November in Mannheim against Switzerland (7 November) and in Turkey (10 November). If Gislason could name a player who should definitely not miss the World Cup, he would certainly think of goalkeeper Andreas Wolff, backcourt shooter Renars Uscins, center Juri Knorr or captain Johannes Golla. But he would probably also name Köster.