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Monday, February 10, 2025

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Handball in Disaster: Stefan Kretzschmar Warns of Sport’s Decline


The 2025 Handball World Championship, hosted by Denmark, Norway, and Croatia, has introduced underlying points within the sport to the forefront. Regardless of excessive expectations, matches not involving host groups are being performed in near-empty arenas, highlighting handball’s wrestle to increase its world enchantment.

Stefan Kretzschmar, a former German nationwide participant and present sports activities director of Füchse Berlin, has raised severe issues in an interview with SPORT1. He argues that handball faces a dire future except daring steps are taken to globalize and modernize the game.


Empty Halls and Lack of World Presence

Kretzschmar observes that exterior Germany and some different international locations like Denmark and France, handball stays a distinct segment sport. Whereas Germany persistently fills arenas, with a 94% occupancy price on the 2024 European Championship, tournaments exterior Europe fail to attract vital crowds. Matches that includes groups like Switzerland, Tunisia, or the Czech Republic have seen sparse attendance, even at World Championships.

Kretzschmar criticizes the frequent awarding of main tournaments to Germany, warning that this “monoculture” threatens the game’s worldwide relevance. “If we don’t spend money on world development, handball dangers turning into a purely German sport,” he warns.


Proposed Options for World Progress

Kretzschmar emphasizes the necessity for progressive methods to avoid wasting handball from decline:

  1. Rotating Tournaments Globally: He suggests internet hosting World Cups alternately in sturdy markets like Germany, Denmark, and France, and in underdeveloped areas like Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Free tickets and native sponsorships may entice new audiences and construct world curiosity.
  2. Leveraging Digital Media: Kretzschmar advocates for high-quality console and cell video games, in addition to documentary-style storytelling akin to Netflix’s success with System 1 and tennis. These instruments can create stronger connections between followers, gamers, and golf equipment.
  3. Revamping Visible Attraction: From jerseys to enjoying fields, Kretzschmar requires cleaner designs to interchange the present cluttered look dominated by sponsor logos, which he says diminishes the game’s professionalism.
  4. Youth Engagement: The introduction of progressive codecs like a summer time league, that includes smaller groups (5v5) and partnerships with streamers and influencers, may have interaction youthful audiences. Colleges and universities must also grow to be central to handball’s improvement.

The Price of Inaction

Kretzschmar warns that with out world enlargement and modernization, handball dangers fading from the Olympic scene and past. He additionally highlights a generational hole in decision-making, urging youthful leaders to take the helm and envision the place handball must be in 20 years.

“If we proceed as we all the time have, the game will ultimately die,” he concludes, including that the present management should prioritize innovation and collaboration to safe handball’s future.


Remaining Ideas

Kretzschmar’s candid critique underscores the urgency of reinventing handball. Because the 2025 World Championship struggles to seize world consideration, it’s clear that the game wants contemporary concepts and daring investments to thrive in an more and more aggressive sports activities panorama.



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