The Handball World Championship in Poland and Sweden, which ends this Sunday, offers sporting highlights, but also a number of imponderables for the participating nations. Some of the venues are like a lottery. “It was catastrophic,” complains DHB board member Axel Kromer.

DHB sports director Axel Kromer has sharply criticized the handball world association IHF for the World Cup schedule. “A World Cup should promote and advance our sport, but in terms of the game plan I have to say: It was catastrophic,” Kromer told the specialist magazine “Handballwoche”. Before the game for fifth place against Norway on Sunday (1 p.m. / ZDF), the 46-year-old sports director of the German Handball Association complained: “What some teams and nations were asked to do at this World Cup, for example in terms of travel, is not acceptable for top athletes.”

For example, defending champion Denmark had to fly from Stockholm to Gdansk the day before the semi-final against Spain and back to the Swedish capital the day after the game for the final. “This must urgently be avoided in the future,” Kromer demanded.

The German team also had considerable travel stress at the finals in Poland and Sweden. “The situation after the quarter-finals was opaque and hardly predictable. After our late game against France on Wednesday, we were supposed to fly from Gdansk to Stockholm very early the next morning. But that was impossible in view of the regeneration and the further course of the tournament,” said Kromer . The day before the duel with the record world champion, the DHB selection had already had to travel from Katowice to Gdansk via Kraków.

If Germany had won the quarter-finals against France, a trip to Stockholm would also have been in order. But only because Sweden beat Egypt in their quarterfinals. As hosts, they enjoyed home rights. It remained unclear what would have happened if Sweden lost to Egypt and the DHB team won at the same time in their quarterfinals. The question did not have to be answered because of the results.

(This article was first published on Sunday, January 29, 2023.)