The German Handball Federation (DHB) celebrated its 75th anniversary on Friday, 11 October, with a ceremony hosted in Mülheim an der Ruhr, its founding location.

The DHB was founded on 1 October 1949, and became a member of the International Handball Federation in 1950, now counting over 4,000 clubs, over 736,000 members and over 22,000 teams.

During the ceremony which took place in Mülheim an der Ruhr, the DHB representative for handball history, Professor Dr. Detlef Kuhlmann, had a 30 minute lecture, focusing on the first years of the DHB, focusing on its growth throughout the years until becoming the true current handball powerhouse.

Throughout Kuhlmann’s lecture, a video honouring Germany handball achievements was played, starting from the early days of the DHB up until to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, when the men’s team secured the silver medal, after conceding a loss in the final against Denmark.

Moving on to the present, two players took the stage, with Michael Hegemann, a member of the team which won the 2007 IHF Men’s World Championship, a current coach, and Christian Wilhelm, a member of the golden team at the 2023 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship presented their own experiences in these competitions.

Another panel during the celebration focused on women’s handball, with former national player, Saskia Lang, who now works for the DHB, primarily in the organization of the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship, talking about the focus on the growth for women’s handball in Germany, a country which hosted two editions of the IHF Women’s World Championship between 2017 and 2015.

"This historic handball symbolizes the tradition and history of our association. It is a great idea that has also been implemented visually. It is important to remember your own history. You have to know where you come from so that you know where you are going. Handball stands for dynamism, speed of thought, a certain amount of toughness, but always fairness too. And of course handball lives at all levels from personalities who put themselves at the service of the team. In addition, one of our values is that women and men have always been treated equally and that handball has a unifying effect on nations," said Andreas Michelmann, the President of the German Handball Federation.

Germany will be the hosts of three events organised under the aegis of the International Handball Federation in the next years. First, the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship will be co-hosted by Germany and the Netherlands, while Germany will be the host for the 2027 IHF Men’s World Championship. Two years later, the world handball men’s flagship competition will return to Germany, which will be co-hosting the event with France.

Photo credit: DHB / Marco Wolf