A handball era is coming to an end: The European Championships starting tomorrow in Germany will be the last in which Nikola Karabatic and Mikkel Hansen will be active together. A duo that shaped world handball like no other. The Frenchman and the Dane have each won the World Handball Player of the Year trophy three times, more often than anyone before.
The 39-year-old Karabatic has already won the European Championships three times, the World Cup four times and the Olympics three times with the “Equipe tricolore”, but he still hasn’t had enough. “With our team we can claim the medals, we can win the title,” said the backcourt star before his eleventh European Championship finals. The native Yugoslavian, who came to France as a four-year-old, had once promised himself that he would one day become “the best handball player in the world,” as the European Championship record player wrote in an open letter. The home Olympic Games in Paris this summer are supposed to be the crowning glory of his magnificent career. But Karabatic doesn’t want to think that far yet. “I want to concentrate on the present,” he said before the group games once morest North Macedonia, Switzerland and Germany.
Image: APA/AFP/JONATHAN NACKSTRAND
Unlike Karabatic, it is not yet clear that this will actually be Mikkel Hansen’s last European Championship tournament, although there are some indications that it will. Before the highlight in Germany, the 36-year-old publicly mused regarding ending his national team career. “Of course you think regarding how long you can keep it up. Can you maintain the level?” said the throwing prodigy to the Danish broadcaster DR. There is no concrete plan yet, following the Olympics in the summer, the one with Croatia is still waiting at the beginning of 2025 and Norway hosted the home World Cup. A climax that might be a welcome ending.
“It’s all a question of gut feeling. If you suddenly feel that it now feels right that I won’t take part next time, then it’s somehow a little cooler to stop,” said the 255-time international at club level had already missed half a season due to a stress symptom. In the preliminary round of the World Cup, his Danes are favorites once morest the Czech Republic, Greece and Portugal.
More A parallel universe
Handball-EM 2024
- Group A (Düsseldorf/Berlin): France, Germany, North Macedonia, Switzerland
- Group B (Mannheim): Spain, Austria, Croatia, Romania
- Group C (Munich): Iceland, Hungary, Serbia, Montenegro
- Group D (Berlin): Norway, Slovenia, Poland, Faroe Islands
- Group E (Mannheim): Sweden, Netherlands, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia
- Group F (Munich): Denmark, Portugal, Czech Republic, Greece
Modus: The top 2 qualify for the main round with two groups of six. The best two teams advance to the semi-finals. The final will take place on January 28th in Cologne.
The European Championships on TV: The ORF shows a total of 21 matches live, including all games with Austrian participation.
The Austria Games:
- Friday, 6 p.m.: Romania
- Sunday, 8.30 p.m.: Croatia
- Tuesday, 8:30 p.m.: Spain
Author
Reinhold Pühringer
Sports editor
Reinhold Pühringer
