2024 IHF Male Player of the Year Gidsel: "I am not a superhuman over reality"

Perfection. Some try to chase it all their life, others make peace with the fact that it cannot be achieved. But in some moments, at least in handball, it comes in the shape of a beautiful goal. Or a breakthrough. Or some well-rounded action, which has been rehearsed in training a thousand times.

Individual awards tend to take something from the team nature of handball, but recognition for the best players in the world is necessary. And when the fans, the coaches and a panel of experts unanimously agree that one player is the chosen on, they cannot all be wrong.

2024 has been almost perfect for Mathias Gidsel. After a disappointment at the EHF EURO 2024, when Denmark lost the final against France, the Scandinavian side bounced back in time and swept their opponents with arguably the most impressive all-around performance from a team in the history of the Olympic Games, at Paris 2024.

Gidsel was the driving force behind that performance, earning the MVP plaudits for the second Olympic Games edition in a row. And now, here he is making more history, with back-to-back wins in the IHF Male Player of the Year award, the first player securing the title in consecutive years.

“Of course, it is an honour to be named the IHF Player of the Year for the second time and be recognised by so many. I think 2024 has been a good year, a great one even, at my club, a fantastic one with the national team. And I think in 2024 I grew even more as a person and as a player,” says Gidsel.

Indeed, the eye test proves that Gidsel has become more confident on the court. For a player with a robotic efficiency for his workload – he had a 75% scoring efficiency with 62 goals from 83 shots at Paris 2024, he has literally been human: smiling, winking, basically enjoying handball in the purest state.

Like a kid with a ball.

“I have to say that I am not a superhuman over reality. I am still with my feet on the ground. I could not have done this alone, I had my teammates, both at Füchse Berlin and for the Denmark national team. Therefore, I am still grounded in reality, but I think I have worked more for my mental health, because in handball, I think it is 40% about talent and skill and 60% about mental strength,” says Gidsel.

Talking about mental health is something that Gidsel finds very important, prioritising it over other subjects. Take two of his teammates in the Denmark national team – Thomas Sommer Arnoldsen and Mikkel Hansen – who spent time away from the court to improve their mental health and came back even stronger, contributing to the Scandinavian team’s success over the past years.

And now, with the trophy cabinet filling with individual awards, Gidsel can be considered a role model for young boys and girls who are just taking the first steps in handball. It is a situation he knows fully well, as his first steps were not easy and needed to fight for his place, strengthen his inner core and work harder and harder to become the best.

“With social media now, it is difficult to remain fully focused. If you have a bad game, a bad performance, there will be an avalanche of messages criticising you. So, one needs to be strong, one needs to build this inner peace, to cope with it and become better. Of course, we realise it ourselves that we were not at our best, but I think everybody should prepare for it, especially with what is going on in the world,” adds the right back.

This mindset helped Gidsel feel more at ease with himself both off and on the court. And the results have been nothing short of remarkable, as he was the top scorer at both major international events he played for Denmark, earning a place in the All-Star team at the EHF EURO 2024 and at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

“I have these words in my mind, city upon a hill. We are somewhat like that, because we are, at the top, playing almost 80 matches a year. So we have to be ready for every match, for every attack, for every time we defend. We are scrutinised and analysed with whatever we do on the court. Sometimes, it is difficult. You need to be at the top every time, or else… Or else it will not be good. But, in the end, it is what I love to do, what I enjoy and what I dreamt of,” continues Gidsel.

And he does it good. Or so everyone connected to handball, every constituency which voted for the IHF Player of the Year awards – fans, coaches and experts – thinks so.

Gidsel was the only player in the four categories – male, female, young male and young female – who managed to build a bridge towards all constituencies, sweeping the vote in each one of them, on the way to a comfortable win.

This is the second time when the Danish right back secured the IHF Male Player of the Year award, becoming the first player in history to clinch the title in consecutive years. Only fellow Denmark goalkeeper Niklas Landin Jacobsen won back-to-back titles, but in 2019 and 2021, with the trophy being cancelled in 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the halt brought to handball.

Therefore, Gidsel is now in an esteemed company. He is the sixth player in history to clinch this title at least twice, following in the footsteps of Talant Dujshebaev, Ivano Balic, Mikkel Hansen, Nikola Karabatic and Niklas Landin.

“Wow, when saying all these names, it is somewhat incredible. It is fantastic to be in this company, to be fair. I have played against or with some of these players and they are fantastic. I can speak a bit about Mikkel and Niklas, because they were my teammates and they were such good players. Fantastic ones,” says Gidsel.

“I think Mikkel Hansen and Nikola Karabatic are the greatest of all times. They are idols for many. Role models for plenty.”

Hansen and Karabatic are the only players to have won the IHF Male Player of the Year three times. Hansen did it in 2011, 2015 and 2018, while Karabatic secured the title in 2007, 2014 and 2016. But now, the honour is Gidsel’s.

“When I think I am only 26 years old, I think I have a lot of handball to play ahead. And I developed a lot over the last years, looking forward to what will happen next. Meanwhile, I will still enjoy playing handball,” smiles Gidsel.

That next title could come as early as this year, one which Gidsel has started phenomenally. The right back was the fulcrum of Denmark’s sublime performance at the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship, where the Scandinavian side secured their fourth world title in a row, once again without dropping any match.

He was the top scorer of the world handball flagship competition, with 74 goals, the player with the largest number of assists, 45, and was, almost without a shadow of a doubt, named the MVP of the competition.

His team, Füchse Berlin, is currently second in the Bundesliga and with a step into the EHF Champions League Men quarter-finals. So there is more glory to be secured by Gidsel.

“At the European Championship, where we lost against France in the final, our coach, Nikolaj Jacobsen, said that we played at 80%. We needed to unlock that extra 20% and with all due respect for the other sides, when we did, we were unstoppable. So it is all about this, about finding new goals and improving,” concludes Gidsel.

One could argue that Gidsel’s chances are still strong to secure a three-peat and make more history next year. Chances are he will not stop and just become better. And Gidsel makes it look easy.

Photo credit Gidsel at Füchse Berlin: Köppen / Füchse Berlin