You don't have to come to Tobias Hauke ​​with thoughts of farewell or other sentimentalities.

"I only feel anticipation to be able to play such a tournament and I haven't even thought about whether I should be sad," he says with a smile.

And his role in the young German team?

Hauke ​​replies: "I'll take responsibility, of course, but I'm just a normal member of the team.

Nothing depends solely on me.

It's neither Hauke's farewell tour nor is it alms that I'm allowed to play with."

The team player from the 35-year-old hockey veteran from Harvestehuder THC (HTHC), who is the record national player with 369 international matches indoors and on the field, speaks: "I was less talented than others, but I trained more and in a very disciplined manner," says Hauke, "I tried to see hockey independently of athletics and tactics from the coach's point of view and to understand it that way."

His heart is still attached to HSV today

It worked out quite well, one could say as bluntly as he would like: he was twice allowed to wear the Olympic gold medal.

He was European champion several times indoors and outdoors.

In addition, the title in the Euro Hockey League with the HTHC and the award for World Hockey Player of the Year 2013 - in his six years at Hamburger SV in the Bundesliga, first in the press department, then as team manager, Hauke ​​was by far the most successful athlete.

But he didn't let it hang out, nor was it of great interest to the kicking colleagues.

His heart is still attached to HSV today.

It's over now - soon.

First play the continental hockey fair in the sports hall in Hamburg.

From this Thursday, the DHB selection will meet Belgium, Holland, Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic in everyone-against-everyone mode.

The final begins on Sunday at 2:00 p.m.

Hauke ​​says: "The times are over when Germany automatically wins the title.

Everyone has invested a lot and also trained a lot, which is very important in indoor hockey because agreements are important.

Individually we provide the best team.

But the others have caught up.”

In addition to Austria, defending champion Germany is considered a favorite in the hockey-loving Hanseatic city despite brief preparation.

National coach Rein van Eijk has assembled an interesting mix of talent and indoor specialists in the absence of many top players preparing for the field world championships in India in January.

Tobias Hauke ​​actually wanted to stop after the disappointment in Tokyo - fourth place at the Olympic Games in summer 2021. At the HTHC he no longer played the first half of the field, and in February 2023, when the indoor hockey Bundesliga ends, underm roof be over.

But a farewell in front of a home audience seemed promising, especially since his sister Franzisca is also playing for the European Championships with the women's national team in Hamburg - coached by national coach Valentin Altenburg, the women have been fighting for the title since Wednesday and until Saturday.

With a view to the "new life" without constant hockey appointments, Tobias Hauke ​​says: "From a family perspective, it's very relaxed.

But I have to work out the balance.

Even if it doesn't seem like it, I have to work on my patience because I won't be able to let my impatience out on the sports field as usual." The calm ball in the second team of the HTHC is simply not the same as the thrill of big competitions.

He says: "Hockey has been my life all my life, but now the time has come to set other priorities." As managing director of his parents' long-established company, which trades in petroleum products, Hauke ​​is challenged every day.

Which certainly also applies to your own family with two small children (one year and four years old).

The two and his wife will sit and watch in Alsterdorf from Thursday – which creates great anticipation.

"I've shown a lot of commitment professionally and in hockey," says Tobias Hauke, "and I know how well we're doing.

For that I feel great gratitude.

Looking at my life now, at 35, I can be really happy.” That doesn't mean he'll slack off an inch in the five games leading up to the final (and then there?).