As home to one of the world’s top handball leagues, the contest to find the best players in the competition is tough. Germany’s Player of the Year award is therefore a title that carries significant prestige – and as of February 6, one new recipient and one three-time winner can celebrate. Swiss centre back Andy Schmid received the male Player of the Year award, while German goalkeeper Clara Woltering won 2017’s female prize.

 

Based on votes in the magazine Handballwoche, Rhein-Neckar Löwen playmaker Schmid was selected as Player of the Year for the first time. Goalkeeper Andreas Wolff won the award in 2015 and 2016, and came in second behind Schmid for 2017. His THW Kiel teammate Steffen Weinhold ranked third in number of votes.

 

“In recent years, German handball players were always chosen, so I consider it a special honour to receive this prize as a foreign player,” Schmid told the official website of the German Handball Federation, dhb.de.

 

In 2017, Schmid played a key role as Rhein-Neckar Löwen claimed the German Bundesliga title for the second consecutive time. His performance earned him the MVP award for the season for the fourth time in a row, and has also made him one of the five nominees for IHF World Player of the Year.

 

After four years playing abroad with Montenegrin team Buducnost, during which she won the EHF Champions League twice, Woltering returned to Germany to play for Borussia Dortmund in 2015. In the 2016/17 season, Dortmund ranked sixth in the Bundesliga. In December 2017, Woltering was crucial in Germany’s IHF Women’s World Championship campaign. Though the hosts were disappointed to finish 12th after being knocked out by Denmark in the eighth-final stage, Woltering still ranked eighth in her position overall, with a 37% save rate.

In the women’s Player of the Year vote, Anna Loerper and Emily Bölk, both of whom represented Germany at the home World Championship in December, finished second and third, respectively.