It is quite possible that the game management body of the Handball Bundesliga (HBL) will soon receive complaints about distortion of competition. Now that the Dane Simon Pytlick, 24, is moving to Füchse Berlin in the Bundesliga, the accusation is probably even valid. Pytlick at the Foxes, in a backcourt with Mathias Gidsel, 26, the world handball player, whom he knows well from the Danish national team: This is an imposition for all competitors in the Bundesliga or Champions League.
Rumors about Pytlick’s desire to play alongside his childhood friend Gidsel in Berlin have existed for several months. The left backfield player has a long-term contract with SG Flensburg-Handewitt, but it has an exit clause for the summer of 2027. Apparently it is 750,000 euros. The foxes are now drawing on this clause, Pytlick has signed a contact in the capital until 2030, as the Berliners announced on Monday afternoon. “It’s great that a player like Simon Pytlick has joined Füchse Berlin,” said managing director Bob Hanning proudly. He knows: The heart of the backcourt of the successful Danish national team will play in Berlin in the future.
:Because they are Danish
Four-time world champions between 2019 and 2025: Why are Denmark’s handball players so successful? This is due to the status of the sport in the country – and the training, which is different than in the rest of the world.
What Pytlick and Gidsel can do together in a team can be seen every year at the major national team tournaments. The Danes almost always win, most recently the Olympics and the World Cup. Pytlick plays half-left, Gidsel half-right. If they pick up the pace and rush explosively into the gaps in the opposing defense in a full sprint, it is almost impossible to defend in most cases. It’s like a warehouse of dynamite blowing up and only a bucket of water is available to put it out.
Coach Nicolej Krickau would also meet Pytlick again in Berlin
In addition, Pytlick and Gidsel understand each other almost blindly on the record. Everyone knows where the other is about to run, which helps enormously in covering the 40 meters from your own goal to the opponent’s goal at a record pace. Both have known each other since their youth days at the Gudme Oure Gudbjerg club, or GOG for short, where they played together from 2017 to 2022. Then Pytlick went to Flensburg, Gidsel, who was two years older, went to Berlin. It is said that when Gidsel extended his contract in February, he insisted that the club do everything they could to make Pytlick a really good offer.
Now the time has come: The Foxes need a replacement for Lasse Andersson, who is leaving the club in the summer. In addition, speculation about a new supplier contract (Adidas, from 2026) may open up new financial leeway. It certainly helped that the Dane Nicolej Krickau now works as head coach in Berlin. Krickau trained Gidsel and Pytlick for years as youth players and young professionals at GOG; The trio will be celebrating a reunion from 2027, now at world level.
And that’s not all, there are also rumors in the industry that the Foxes also want to bring the Frenchman Dika Mem to Berlin. The 28-year-old is the captain of FC Barcelona and is very highly regarded by the Spaniards. However, he is said to have looked at the Berlin training center in September and discussed the club’s vision with managing director Bob Hanning. Hanning recently responded evasively to such questions. “If I were to sign everyone who is being discussed in the rumor mill, I could fill the entire Bundesliga with them,” he told the Sports picture.
Gidsel, Pytlick and Mem in one backcourt – that would actually be a distortion of competition.