Wolff ahead of Austria EHF EURO 2026 opener: “Absolute anti-handball”

Posted on 13. January 2026.

Germany and Austria will face each other on 15 January in the first round of the group stage in Herning (20:30), and German NT and THW Kiel goalkeeper Andreas Wolff provided a fiery build-up to the clash.

Never one to mince his words, Wolff labelled Austria’s handball style — where the 7-on-6 attack is a dominant weapon — as “anti-handball”.

“Austria play absolute anti-handball. Nobody really wants to watch it. It’s very unattractive, even for us players,” Wolff said ahead of the game at the famous Jyske Bank Boxen.

“They have a fantastic goalkeeper in Constantin Möstl from TBV Lemgo Lippe, and together with his teammate Lukas Hutecek and Mykola Bilyk they have two leaders who drive their attack — in all its ugliness. There won’t be any handball delicacies. But we have to break through, bring our quality, and from our defence get easy goals,” added the 34-year-old.

Austria’s squad includes seven Bundesliga-based players, and at the last EHF EURO 2024 in Cologne they stayed unbeaten against Germany in front of 20,000 home fans — a 26:26 draw in the main round.

“Austria have attracted attention with their style and caused surprises. That looseness, that self-confidence, makes them dangerous. First games have their own traps. From the start we have to show that we came to go far — and that begins in the very first match,” Wolff concluded.

Germany are among the leading contenders for a deep run at the championship.