The Germany men’s beach handball senior side concluded their 2025/26 season in style as they were presented with the prestigious ‘Silver Laurel Leaf’ (Silbernes Lorbeerblatt) at Bellevue Palace (Schloss Bellevue) in Berlin earlier this month.

The award was in recognition of their gold medal-winning performances at the 2025 EHF Men’s European Beach Handball Championship in Turkiye and The World Games 2025 in China.

Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier hosted a reception at his official residence for coach Marten Franke and his players as well as other sporting athletes who received the award which is the highest sports award in the country and awarded to athletes and teams of exemplary character who won medals at Olympic and Paralympic Games, or important international titles. 

Previous handball-related recipients have included the 2007 world championship-winning men’s national team, Alexander Novikovic’s 2022 multiple medal-winning women’s national beach handball team amongst others.

“We are incredibly happy about these achievements, which represent an absolute highlight in the history of German men's beach handball,” said Franke to DHB.de at the reception. “We are all the more pleased that this accomplishment is being recognised with the highest honour an athlete can receive in Germany."

The 10 athletes who represented Germany at The World Games received their laurel wreaths individually, accompanied by words from the Federal President. After the ceremony there was a small reception followed by lunch in the German Parliament (Bundestag).

The Silver Laurel Leaf is based on the laurel wreath that winners in ancient Greece used to receive at the Olympic Games and can only be awarded once in a lifetime.

Self-confidence key, building for the future

Three of the key people in the success of the German men’s team – coach Marten Franke, captain Robin John and goalkeeper Robin John took time after the ceremony to reflect on what their side had side had achieved in 2025 to ihf.info.

“Our self-confidence was a decisive factor in our success. We had worked intensively with our sports psychologist throughout the year and focused on mental strength,” explained Franke.

“The additional confidence we gained from winning the European Championship four weeks earlier to The World Games was the icing on the cake, and we had the composure to remain fully focused even in critical situations. This was impressively demonstrated by the fact that we had to go to shoot-out in all six games in China and were able to prevail, especially in the three knock-out games against the best teams in the world.”

 

And with the men’s team finally joining the women’s team at the top of the podium, Franke is well-aware about what this success can mean for the sport at home.

“In recent years, the perception of beach handball in Germany has understandably been strongly influenced by the successes of our women's team. We have always acknowledged this and been delighted for them. At the same time, however, it has made us all the more hungry for such successes,” he explained.
“The fact that we have now won the highest title in our sport with The World Games gold medal makes us incredibly proud and helps us on our way to making beach handball even more prominent in the German sporting landscape.

“From another perspective, this medal win is literally worth its weight in gold, because winning a medal at The World Games means we receive better government funding, which benefits the development of beach handball.”

“From youth development to the senior national teams, there is a clear philosophy and a shared understanding of what it means to compete at the highest level,” added captain Robin John about the secret to his sides’ success.

And goalkeeper Moritz Ebert could only echo the thoughts of his coach and captain.

“For many years, Germany were the strongest team in women’s beach handball. They were the team to beat and played at a very high level, winning medals at all major tournaments over the last years. Now, we have followed their path and built on the success of the women’s team. That makes us incredibly proud,” he said. 

“But we are not finished yet. Both the men’s and women’s teams want to continue this journey in the coming years – and, of course, with a special focus on the home The World Games in 2029 in Karlsruhe.”

Beach represented at the German Handball Awards 2025

Earlier this month the 2025 edition of the German Handball Awards took place, with the sandy version well-represented.

A total of approximately 262,000 votes were cast across 11 categories by the readers of handball-world and Bock auf Handball to decide the winners.

National team players Lars Zelser and Emma Pilz won the men’s and women’s Beach Handball Players of the Year award respectively, with the men's national beach handball team only narrowly missing out on the overall team award, losing to EHF Champions League winners SC Magdeburg.

Former women’s national beach handball team player Katharina Filter took the overall ‘Women’s Player of the Year’ award, the goalkeeper’s performances at the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship for silver medal winners Germany helping her beat Antje Döll and Emily Vogel to the award.

National teams ready for 2026

Current IHF Women’s World Championship title-holders Germany have started their preparations to defend their title at the upcoming 2026 IHF Women’s World Championship in Croatia with their first training camp of the year. 

Coach Alexander Novakovic nominated 17 players the camp which will take place in Budapest, Hungary from 2 to 6 March.

The U16 women recently held their own camp at the traditional Germany beach handball base at the blue:beach indoors sand courts in Witten.

Photo credit: Bundesregierung / Laurin Schmid