Learned the Baedeker by heart?

Christopher Steinert laughs.

"I had no idea what to expect when I first came here in 2017," he replies, "but now I have to say: It's an incredibly beautiful region.

Erlangen is great.

And if it were on the Baltic Sea, it would be the perfect place.” He likes the size of the university town, “and if you want something more, you can be in Nuremberg in 20 minutes”.

Steinert comes from Berlin, was trained in Magdeburg and, after stints in Minden and Leipzig, has found his sporting home with HC Erlangen since this season.

He is tied to his second engagement in Middle Franconia until mid-2024 after the two years at SC Magdeburg had previously been poor.

Definitely not a straight career path.

The 32-year-old backcourt player thinks it doesn't matter: "There's no clear career plan behind it.

I never said I wanted to be in Paris by the time I was 30.” But he has no regrets – and why should he.

“Everything has worked out well so far.

I am a friend of lifelong learning.

You're never done, not even when you're 80." More overview, more consistency, more dynamic: He could still learn a lot.

“So far I only know the Final Four as a fan”

Despite the modest minutes of play, the versatile left-hander can gain a lot from his time at SCM, and in a very concrete way: On Saturday afternoon (4:10 p.m. on ARD and Sky) the Erlangen team will appear on the big stage of the DHB Cup for the first time – semi-finals in Hamburg against Magdeburg.

This season's superior team, his old club.

Steinert says: "It certainly doesn't hurt us that I played in Magdeburg and know their systems." Now suddenly against coach Wiegert, against the beaming Omar Ingi Magnusson, against the concrete defense Piotr Chrapkowski and Magnus Gullerud, against the DHB Colleagues Philipp Weber and Lukas Mertens.

"I have a huge portion of anticipation," says Steinert, "so far I only know the Final Four as a fan."

Favorites are others at the handball festival in the Hanseatic city;

Magdeburg, THW Kiel, in the first semi-final (1.30 p.m. on Sky) against TBV Lemgo.

The Erlangen are once again stuck in a disappointing season.

Coach Michael Haass had to go, sports director Raúl Alonso took over.

Effort and income are disproportionate at HCE.

Steinert says: "The cup season is the complete counter-example to this thesis.

Unfortunately, we gave a different picture in the league.” The HCE defeated Flensburg and Wetzlar, survived Gummersbach in the quarter-finals.

What is missing?

"We have to achieve continuity," says Steinert.

There is enough quality.

For a group with Steinert, the Swede Simon Jeppsson, director Nico Büdel and a decent team of goalkeepers, more than lower mediocrity must be possible.

Recently, people took notice when Erlangen welcomed the legend Olafur Stefansson as a member of the coaching team.

A central role is planned for Steinert.

"I'm supposed to have a lot of responsibility here," he says, also helping to make young players from the next squad ready to play professionally.

He has something integrative, empathetic, someone you like to have with you, Steinert also plays right wing in addition to backcourt and can also cover well.

"Corona slowed me down"

There's a lot that comes together that national coach Alfred Gislason also liked - at the European Championships in January, Steinert played his way up the field after making his debut in 2013.

“Alfred explained my role to me and quite a lot worked well.

He did it well.” Suddenly a regular DHB player.

Steinert laughs.

“I definitely didn't come back from Bratislava like the high-flyer.

Firstly, we didn't have such great results there, secondly, Corona slowed me down quite a bit." Steinert brought the virus with him from Slovakia.

When he played again, he saw the red card against Flensburg, got badly injured a week later in Kiel and missed the next international matches.

Ticked off.

Steinert says: “You can see from me that development is still possible at 32 or 35.

The European Championship really gave me momentum.” At HC Erlangen he is now the “national player Steinert” and is often recognized on the street in beautiful Middle Franconia.