The Austrian men’s national handball team find themselves just 60 minutes away from a place at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

But standing in their way are neighbours Germany, their match on Sunday afternoon at the ZAG-Arena in Hanover seeing the winners join Croatia from Men’s Qualification Tournament #2 at the global sporting event.

“It would be…” says Austria’s Jakob Nigg to ihf.info, trailing off when thinking about just the possibility of qualifying for an Olympic Games. “I’m 20 years old so I think everything about qualifying for the Olympics. I can't even imagine the feeling. Now I get the goosebumps. It’s amazing.”

If Austria do qualify for this event this summer, it would end a run of 88 years since their last – and only – appearance. At the 1936 Olympic Games, handball was played outside, called ‘Field Handball’ and the Austrians lost in the final to…Germany.

Austria’s clash against Germany on Sunday was set up thanks to a big win against Algeria, 41:26, but agonisingly, they fell short by just one goal conceded – or scored – and having the better goal difference and goals scored record in the group, meaning that it is their opponents, not them, who can afford to draw and go through.

And that could be crucial with their last meeting a 22:22 draw at the 2024 European Championship in January.

“I'm not really a fan of this calculation, so that's why I didn't say it to the guys,” said Austria coach Ales Pajovic to ihf.info about the mathematics going right down to the last two seconds, when Algeria struck that crucial goal.

“We were happy that Croatia won against Germany before our match so after that we just said we have to win against Algeria, be better in defence and other stuff. It was very important for us that if we wanted to go to the Olympic Games, we had to win.

“Yes, we had a chance to win by 16 goals and then we had this last goal, but it doesn't matter,” added the Slovenian. “It doesn't affect what will happen against Germany. Against Algeria we changed a little bit the players I use because usually I play with just seven or eight players, but we need power for when we play at two o'clock against Germany.

“It's going to be a final, my guys know that. They know that they have to fight until the end so we have this chance to go to the Olympic Games and that's something special for us. We are just happy that we, maybe, go to Paris.”

And Pajovic knows not only the Olympic Games experience and spirit well – he represented Slovenia at Sydney 2000, where they finished eighth, and Athens 2004, when they finished 11th – but how to beat a host nation to grab the ticket.

At the 2000 EHF Men’s European Championship in Croatia, the 5/6 placement game saw the winners qualify for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and it pitted Croatia against Slovenia in Zagreb.

In front of over 10,000 passionate Croatians, six goals from Pajovic for Slovenia helped his side to a 25:24 victory to finish fifth and book their ticket to Australia.

“That was a long, long time ago,” said Pajovic with a smile. “It was an amazing, amazing feeling and I would like to have that again. But it’s handball, we have to do our thing. We don't have much time to analyse everything. We won't have training tomorrow, we will do our stuff, our game plan and then go in.”

In what is sure to be an emotional match for Austrian sports fans back home and around the world, the players themselves will have to focus on the job in hand, but also know what the opportunity represents.

“It's like a fairytale for us, we are fighting against Germany, in Germany for the Olympic Games. I think there can’t be a better written story,” said Austria’s Tobias Wagner.

“I'm pretty good with my emotions, I can suppress them while the game is happening, but outside of the game I'm pretty emotional and pretty loud. In the 60 minutes we will try to do our best, but in the end it's just handball.

“We have the chance now to qualify for Paris,” he added. “In one week I will be 29 so, technically, I still have the chance for Los Angeles 2028, so it's not our last chance with this team that we have now, but it is a big chance to go to the Olympic Games.

“We have to think about it. I think it's the first time for years that an Austrian team sport would go to the Olympic Games - we can achieve it.

“This – the Olympic Qualification Tournament – is already a big step. This is already history and already a really, really good achievement, but if we win, I will be emotional.”

And riding that crest of emotion with the team on the court will be a minority of Austrian supporters who have made themselves heard at the ZAG-Arena, not least by the players on court.

“It's amazing to hear to those fans in this big of an arena,” said Nigg, who plays his handball in Austria for Fivers. “It's an amazing feeling and I thank all the fans that came here. The noise is amazing. When I hear them and when I score a goal I try to scream to them so they know that we see them and hear them.”

That 22:22 draw with Germany at the EURO also came in Germany – at the LANXESS Arena in Cologne – and Pajovic is looking to bring that same energy from 57 days ago to Hanover.

“We showed at the European Championship that if we have a good day and if our goalkeepers have a good day, we can win against Germany and the big teams,” said the 45-year-old.

“The Germans are the favourites in this game but you have seen that my guys have found their motivation and are going to give everything possible to win, but what's important for me is that we have this team spirit from the European Championship and bring it right here to Hannover. That's going to help us.”