National coach Alfred Gislason has appointed nine tournament debutants to the German squad for the European Handball Championship in Slovakia and Hungary (January 13th to 30th).

The Icelander responded to the many cancellations in recent weeks.

With the 21-year-old Julian Köster from VfL Gummersbach, a second division professional was also nominated.

“It's the best possible squad under these circumstances.

He will be able to talk about himself, "said Gislason at a virtual media meeting on Tuesday.

He is sure "that we will be on the record with a big fighter heart from the first second".

The nominated players would have “the chance to play themselves in the foreground.

The situation is what it is and we will try to make the best of it. "

The 19-man squad will be led by new captain Johannes Golla for the first time at the season's highlight.

With goalkeeper Andreas Wolff, the backcourt players Julius Kühn, Kai Häfner and Simon Ernst as well as circle runner Jannik Kohlbacher, five players are still there who won the European Championship in 2016 with the DHB selection.

New to the team, however, are the two keepers Till Klimpke (23) and Joel Birlehm (24), who were given preference over the experienced Silvio Heinevetter (37) and together with Wolff (30) form the goalkeeping trio.

For the first time at a major tournament, the backcourt players Köster (21), Luca Witzke (22), Christoph Steinert (31), Sebastian Heymann (23) and Djibril M'Bengue (29) as well as the two outside Lukas Mertens (25) and Lukas Zerbe (25). 

International debut

Six of them only made their international debut in November, left-hander Steinert has never played for the A-Team.

Heymann has twelve and Klimpke seven DHB missions.

Only circle runner Patrick Wiencek (150), the only professional from THW Kiel in the German line-up, Wolff (116) and Häfner (112) make over 100 international matches.

The German team will fly to Slovakia from Frankfurt on January 12th.

In the preliminary round of the European Championship, Golla and Co. will meet Belarus (January 14), Austria (January 16) and Poland (January 18) in Bratislava.

Preparations for the European Championship, which will start at the beginning of January, also include two international matches against Serbia.

The games will take place on January 7th in Mannheim and on January 9th in Wetzlar.

With Juri Knorr (no vaccination), Paul Drux (precautionary measure after knee injury), Fabian Wiede and Patrick Groetzki (both family reasons) and Hendrik Pekeler (national team break) five players had recently canceled their participation in the European Championship.

"Of course I'm not thrilled about cancellations," said Gislason: "But that's the way it is." In addition, long-time captain Uwe Gensheimer and Steffen Weinhold resigned after the Olympic Games.

The EM squad of the German national handball team:

Goal: Andreas Wolff (KS Vive Kielce / POL), Joel Birlehm (SC DHfK Leipzig), Till Klimpke (HSG Wetzlar)

Left winger: Marcel Schiller (Frisch Auf Göppingen), Lukas Mertens (SC Magdeburg)

Back space left: Julius Kühn (MT Melsungen), Sebastian Heymann (Frisch Auf Göppingen), Julian Köster (VfL Gummersbach)

Back center: Philipp Weber (SC Magdeburg), Luca Witzke (SC DHfK Leipzig), Simon Ernst (SC DHfK Leipzig)

Back room right: Kai Häfner (MT Melsungen), Djibril M'Bengue (FC Porto / POR), Christoph Steinert (HC Erlangen)

Right outside: Timo Kastening (MT Melsungen), Lukas Zerbe (TBV Lemgo) 

District: Johannes Golla (SG Flensburg-Handewitt), Jannik Kohlbacher (Rhein-Neckar Löwen), Patrick Wiencek (THW Kiel)