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The EM 2024 in Germany will be the biggest tournament in handball history. At the opening game on January 10 in Düsseldorf, a new record is set with 50,000 fans. More than 40,000 tickets have already been sold for the match in the converted football stadium. The old record of September 2014 (44,189 fans, Rhein-Neckar Löwen – HSV) should easily be broken.
Of course, the Swiss handball players would also like to be present at this spectacle. To do this, they would have to face hosts Germany next Wednesday (5.45pm live on Youtube). “Especially for us Bundesliga professionals, the Germans would be a cool opponent anyway – whether at the start of the tournament or later,” says Lenny Rubin, who has been playing in Wetzlar for years. And Andy Schmid thinks: “With the pressure of the opening game for our own fans, a caliber like Germany would be the best for us to beat.”
Schmid hopes for Mannheim
Apart from Germany, the preferences of our national players differ. Samuel Zehnder wants the Spaniards out of pot 1: “They are the top country we haven’t played against for a long time. And for me it would be a reunion with my ex-teammate Joan Canellas and my current teammate Gedeon Guardiola.”
Andy Schmid would like to be drawn in Group B or E. He could play again in the Mannheim SAP Arena, which was the sporting home for the Rhein-Neckar Löwen for twelve years. And Lenny Rubin hopes for Munich because the Olympic Hall would be a new experience for him.
It does not matter against which opponent and in which location: to get into the main round, two of the three preliminary round games must be won. From Pot 1, Switzerland is the underdog against each of the six teams. From a sporting point of view, Austria would be the most attractive in pot 2. But there is a real hammer in pot 3 with Croatia.
“So far my wishes have not come true in any draw,” Andy Schmid takes it easy. Schmid and Co. have already fulfilled their greatest sporting wish by qualifying for the European Championship. (cmu)
Source : Blick
I’m Emma Jack, a news website author at 24 News Reporters. I have been in the industry for over five years and it has been an incredible journey so far. I specialize in sports reporting and am highly knowledgeable about the latest trends and developments in this field.
