Leipzig. Karsten Günther and Andreas Michelmann agree on the core message. After that, their thoughts diverge. Very widely. Shortly before the start of the new Bundesliga season, the President of the German Handball Federation explained in an interview with the trade magazine “Handball-Woche” that he saw an urgent need for action in the planning of the match schedule, as the burden on many professionals was too great. “Handball as a whole must noticeably get on with the program, otherwise there is a danger that our sport will eat itself up,” was Michelmann’s warning. So far, so good. Leipzig handball boss Karsten Günther has also repeatedly warned in the past about overburdening players. But what the managing director of SC DHfK could not understand at all were Michelmann’s suggestions on how this problem could be tackled. Reducing the Bundesliga, away from the current 18 teams, was one of them.
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“In Germany, the strength of our league is both a blessing and a curse,” explained Michelmann. “On the one hand, we are pleased about the enormous strength and density of the performance and therefore about a lot of high-class and exciting games, including their marketing.” On the other hand, one must acknowledge “that – with some reservations – there are no comparable strong leagues in Europe, with the exception of France and Denmark, and the strong clubs in other nations simply rely on the Champions League as a big stage.” So he had another idea: a European Super League. Michelmann put it this way: “So why shouldn’t we think in a European context for club handball and develop a cross-border league system that, for example, dissolves the competition between the Champions League and the Bundesliga?”
Are the many international games even interesting?
These ideas are met with clear rejection from the Green-Whites. Karsten Günther was quick to explain the reason: “The Bundesliga is the best functioning handball league in the world. That applies to sporting competition, but also to marketing, audience popularity and so on,” the manager began his explanation. “That is exactly what feeds a lot of people! The European Cup cannot do that, and neither can the international championships. We should accept that and build everything else around it instead.” Günther would therefore like the different leagues, associations and organizers to coordinate more with each other. “A lot of players are currently scheduling events independently of each other,” Günther says angrily.
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DHfK head coach Runar Sigtryggsson agrees that the Bundesliga should not suffer from a change in the European competitions. “I don’t even know where to start,” ponders the Icelander. The oversupply is already the real problem, says the coach. The Champions League, the Europa League, the EHF Cup, the Super Globe – even for a handball lover like the 52-year-old, that’s too much. “You just have to make sure that the competitions are interesting enough. In my opinion, there are too many games,” says Sigtryggsson, who also sees the problem in the structure of the individual tournaments: “The Champions League is probably a good business for the teams that are involved. But you have eight teams in each group and then six advance.” Günther gratefully accepts the suggestion and elaborates on his coach’s thoughts: “The games that are interesting are the Bundesliga games. Every week it’s about who is at the top at the end.”
Schedule always needs about three months summer break
But how can things continue now? What would the organizers of Leipzig handball suggest? “As a league – I sit on the schedule working group – we asked very precisely what was needed to relieve the pressure on the players. The answer was not: we need fewer games. The answer is: we need a slot in the year where we can relax our bodies and minds, where nothing happens for six weeks,” says Günther of the HBL’s plans. In addition, there are another six weeks that each team needs to prepare for the new season. So almost three months in which there is simply no handball game. How can that work with so many competitions? “We can only do that if we synchronize all the other dates with each other. But everyone has to agree on that and not build in a super globe in the middle of the season that then tears the entire league game operation apart again,” says the DHfK manager.
And how do the players see it? Leipzig’s director and Olympic hero Luca Witzke remains diplomatic as usual. “I don’t want to judge the ideas at all. First of all, I think it’s very good that an awareness of the situation is being created for us players,” says the silver winner. After the exhausting tournament in France and the short preparation with the Saxons, he has a clear opinion on this situation: “So far this year I’ve had the second half of the Bundesliga season, the Olympics and now the league restart after a very short preparation. When you see that other players still had the European Championship at home in January and the Champions League since then, awareness simply has to be created that some players are tired and worn out – and therefore more prone to injury.”
LVZ
