Why So Hard on Gislason? The Night That Can Silence Everyone
There are no unbeaten teams left at EHF EURO 2026. Sweden were the last to fall, beaten by Iceland in front of their home crowd in Malmö, while in Herning Denmark, Germany and France have all gone down one after another — the very teams whose head-to-head clashes will decide who reaches the semi-finals and who ends up below the line.
Tonight brings one of the most important matches of this Olympic cycle for Germany and Denmark. The Danes are chasing a “three-peat”, and after slipping up against Portugal they have no margin for error. Germany, on the other hand, treated the loss to Serbia as a knockout punch — and recovered quickly. With a little help from Austria and a win over Spain, Alfred Gislason’s side is striding confidently toward the semi-finals.
In all of this, the rifles are safety-locked but loaded — ready to fire if the Icelander fails to do the job tonight, and again in the next match against France, to keep himself in the medal race.
Even though he reached the Olympic final in Paris with a young squad (and before that, the only final Germany had played in 17 years was at EHF EURO 2016), for the handball public in the sport’s No. 1 country, it was only a brief pause. Gislason, who has led the national team since 2020, has — besides Olympic silver — just one fourth-place finish with Germany, at the home EHF EURO 2024 in Cologne. And that is not enough.
Not enough for a man who is the most successful club coach in the Bundesliga in the 21st century, having sat on the benches of Kiel, Gummersbach and Magdeburg — and whose courage and vision helped shape a new German generation that still has plenty to say in the future. Germany are fighting for a semi-final spot against the two greatest forces in handball — Denmark and France — with as many as 11 players under 25, and seven from the golden 2002 junior generation. Clearly, not everyone is happy with a team built so deliberately for the years to come.
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The criticism is coming from everywhere: journalists, former players, club people, social media — and internationals are being asked to comment on their status and minutes.
He will silence them all if tonight’s atmosphere in Herning turns into such a hush that you can hear celebrations 150 kilometers away, across the German border.
And if he doesn’t succeed, someone else will collect the laurels — because Germany will still be a team with medal potential in the next two Olympic cycles.
