A perennial contender at the Olympic Games, where Germany have already secured four medals, including the title in 1936, the European powerhouse will make its 12th appearance from 15 editions, after securing the second place in the Paris 2024 Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournament #2, which they hosted in Hanover.

Three years ago, at Tokyo 2020, Germany finished sixth, with three wins and three losses, being eliminated in the quarter-finals, but that was just one step towards returning in the medal conversation, which the European side has followed up with a fifth place at the 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship and a fourth place at the EHF EURO 2024, a competition which they hosted.

With arguably the strongest domestic league in club handball in the world, Germany have plenty to offer, with an interesting mix of young stalwarts, like Renars Uscins, David Späth or Justus Fischer, winners at the 2023 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship, already bona-fide superstars like Juri Knorr or Johannes Golla, as well as one of the top goalkeepers in the world, Andreas Wolff.

Nevertheless, Germany were surprised back in March in Hanover, when they only finished second at the Paris 2024 Olympic Qualification Tournament #2, winning against Algeria (41:29) and Austria (34:31), but conceding a loss against Croatia, 30:33, which surely made Gislason second-guess some of his choices.

While Wolff was nominated for the IHF Male World Player of the Year in 2023, Uscins has seen a meteoric rise, with the strong right back being his team’s top scorer in each of the matches against Algeria, Austria and Croatia, finishing the Paris 2024 Olympic Qualification Tournament #2 with 27 goals in three matches, a fantastic performance which propelled him to be the top scorer in the competition.

Now, Germany will return to the Olympic Games, where they missed only one appearance in the last two decades, at London 2012. They were truly consistent in the past, winning the silver medal at Athens 2004 and the bronze medal at Rio 2016, while finishing ninth at Bejijng 2008 and sixth at Tokyo 2020.

Can they go even further now? The first challenge is to deliver the best performances in Group A at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where they will face four other European teams, plus a plucky side in Japan, which can always cause trouble in such an action-packed competition.

Germany will face Croatia once again in this group, alongside Spain, Slovenia and Sweden, with the latter side taking a 34:31 win against Germany in the EHF EURO 2024 bronze medal match. 

"The invited players now know what their summer will look like, We have a strong group together and we are looking forward to this team and the journey. For two weeks, we will have intensive training and I am really looking forward to this time and for the Olympic Games” says Gislason.

Germany

Coach: Alfred Gislason

Key players: Andreas Wolff (goalkeeper), Juri Knorr (centre back), Johannes Golla (line player)

Qualification for Paris 2024: Olympic Qualification Tournament #2: 2nd place

Previous appearances: 1936: Champions, 1972: 6th, 1976: 4th, 1984: Silver medal, 1992: 10th, 1996: 7th, 2000: 5th, 2004: Silver medal, 2008: 9th, 2016: Bronze medal, 2020: 6th 

Group at Paris 2024: Group A: Spain, Croatia, Germany, Slovenia, Sweden, Japan