It has been 23 days since Sweden took European Championship gold after a thrilling final against Spain in Budapest.

In the celebration, star goalkeeper Andreas Palicka left his shoes on the podium in the arena, a gesture that could possibly be interpreted as the 35-year-old putting an end to his long national team career with the long-awaited gold.

Now it seems that the Swedish handball fans can breathe a sigh of relief.

The fact that Palicka is missing from the squad for the international matches against Poland, March 17 and 20 in Plock, is about other goalkeepers getting the chance and the veteran getting a rest.

- We know what Palicka stands for and we know that he is an extremely important player and has a passion for us, but he will rest in March, says Glenn Solberg during Tuesday's squad presentation.

Stone ore extracted

Peter Johannesson, Tobias Thulin (both in the European Championships) and Fabian Norsten (reserve in place when Palicka got the corona) are instead selected for the doubles match.

Otherwise, Solberg did not offer any big surprises in the squad for what will be an important starting point for the WC in Sweden 2023.

The only new player compared to those who represented Sweden in the European Championships is Redbergslid's 19-year-old left-winger Elliot Stenmalm.

On April 16, the reigning world champions from Denmark are waiting in Malmö, an international match where team captain Palicka is probably back between the posts.

"A little unreal"

And Glenn Solberg, who turned 50 last week, is hungry for new successes with Blågult.

- I get an absolutely fantastic feeling and it still feels a bit unreal (when I think of the European Championships), he says.

- We are all very happy for what happened in the European Championships and that we won the gold, and have a lot of inspiration and motivation to work even harder to be as good as possible for the World Cup at home in 2023.

The WC will be decided in both Sweden and Poland, 11–29 January.

Blågult plays its group game in Gothenburg, with the goal of then also being able to play for the medals in Stockholm.