The Croatian Association has written a letter of complaint to the International Handball Federation IHF. This confirmed the association SPIEGEL ONLINE. Reason are the performances of the two Danish referees Martin Gjeding and Mads Hansen in the game of the Croats against Germany (the DHB team won 22:21).

However, the Croatian federation did not make an official protest, said the World Federation. The Croats relined their complaint with a video summary of alleged wrong decisions by the two referees. The association also disseminated this video via social networks.

The Croats had already complained immediately after the game about the performance of the referees. Coach Lino Cervar said: "The referees did not do their job well, our team did not have the same chances today as Germany, this is the third World Cup we have been cheated of for our chance." Superstar Domagoj Duvnjak found everything "just ridiculous".

Here you can see the video of the Croats:

One day after the match, the Danish referees had self-criticized their performance. They had not slept well at night, Gjeding said the Danish TV channel TV2. And that would probably be the same in the following night.

Especially a scene causes the referees headache. Two minutes before the end, at 21:20 for Germany, they decided in a Croat attack after a duel between DHB player Fabian Wiede and Igor Karacic on striker foul - a clear mistake, as the TV pictures showed.

"One of the criteria for a striker foul is that the defender is in the moment of body contact," Gjeding told TV2. "That was not the case in the scene, I did not have to watch the video often to realize it was a wrong decision."

"Mostly we are good at what we do"

Gjeding colleague Hansen also commented self-critically, "Mostly we're good at what we do, but anyone who makes a mistake in his job knows how uncomfortable that is, but we know that wrong decisions are part of it."

Triggered by the criticism of the Croats were also other scenes, in the final minute Germany, for example, had a goal lead down the time run down - the referee showed no time play. The published video has the title "Ten decisive moments", it shows controversial scenes, especially from the Croatian point of view (possible disadvantages against Germany are not shown). With faded in writing is pointed to alleged wrong decisions.

IHF President Hassan Moustafa had joined the referees. It's humane to make mistakes, the Egyptian said in an interview with TV2. The team is one of the best in the world. "We trust them," says Moustafa.