Coach: Dagur Sigurdsson

Key Players: Uwe Gensheimer (Left Wing), Tobias Reichmann (Right Wing), Patrick Wiencek (Line Player), Andreas Wolff (Goalkeeper)

Qualification information: Champions of EHF EURO 2016

History in Tournament: 1954: 2nd, 1958: 3rd, 1961: 4th, 1964: 4th, 1967: 6th, 1970: 5th, 1974: 9th, 1978: 1st, 1982: 7th, 1986: 7th, 1990: DNQ, 1993: 6th, 1995: 4th, 1997: DNQ, 1999: 5th, 2001: 8th, 2003: 2nd, 2005: 9th, 2007: 1st, 2009: 5th, 2011: 11th, 2013: 5th, 2015: 7th

Overview:

Germany enter the 25th IHF Men’s Handball World Championship as one of the hot favourites for the title given their notable success in 2016.

 

The team started the year with an outstanding European championship campaign that saw them claim the gold medal for the second time in history (2004, 2016) despite being severely depleted by injuries and failing to even qualify for the event in 2014.

 

When they raised the EHF EURO 2016 trophy following a clear 24:17 win against 2013 world champions Spain in the final, Germany also celebrated a qualification for the 2017 IHF World Championship in France and a ticket to the 2016 Olympic Games.

 

Despite the squad being comprised completely of Olympic debutants expectations were high for Germany to perform at Rio 2016, with Vice-President of the Federation Bob Hanning identifying the quarter-final stage as the minimum goal for the team. Germany proved their success at the European championship in January was no one-off when they qualified for the quarter-finals as the top-ranked team in Group B ahead of Slovenia, Brazil and 2015 World Championship bronze medallists Poland.

 

They made their way to the semi-finals with a 12-goal victory over 2015 World Championship runners-up Qatar in the quarter-final, but were eliminated from the title race by the current world champions France in the penultimate match. Germany recovered from the disappointing one-goal loss (28:29) to dominate the bronze-medal match against Poland, claiming third with a 31:25 win that was never really in question.

 

Now the team look to continue riding their recent wave of success at the France 2017 World Championship, where they will begin their campaign from preliminary round Group C, coming up against Croatia, Belarus, Hungary, Chile and Saudi Arabia.

 

“We were drawn in a thrilling and interesting group with all chances to proceed. Like in all tournaments it is always our approach to make it to the knock-out stage,” says Hanning regarding Germany’s goals at France 2017.

“Our long-term goal is to win the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo 2020, thus the World Championship is an integral part of this journey. Our main advantage is the depth of the squad we can count on now.”

 

Germany do indeed rely on a formidable roster full of promising young talents such as goalkeeper Andreas Wolff and centre back Paul Drux, as well as more experienced stars like captain Uwe Gensheimer and line player Patrick Wiencek. With such a start list the Federation are confident of their side’s chances:

 

“I do not expect that there will be any danger not to proceed to the eighth-finals,” says Secretary General of the DHB, Mark Schober. “Our previous performances at the EURO 2016 and the Olympic Games proved that we have made it among the top of the world, and we want to continue on this road at France too.”

Group at France 2017:
Group C: Germany, Croatia, Belarus, Hungary, Chile, Saudi Arabia

Games at France 2017:

All times local

Friday 13 January: GER vs HUN 17:45
Sunday 15 January: CHI vs GER 14:45
Tuesday 17 January: GER vs KSA 17:45
Wednesday 18 January: BLR vs GER 17:45
Friday 20 January: GER vs CRO 17:45

 

IHF Social Media during France 2017

Follow the 2017 IHF Men’s World Championship on the IHF.info France 2017 mini-site on our website, on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Google+.

 

Official France 2017 channels

Join in the conversation around the world using the hashtag #PhenomenalHandball and through the official France 2017 channels – website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube

 

For Germany

Official federation website and social media channels - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram