German player Paul Drux revealed to IHF.info that the home advantage at Germany/Denmark 2019 could be influential for his side.

Back in 2007, Germany won gold at home in the IHF Men’s World Championship, with the host nation fans propelling Heiner Brand's team to glory and Drux knows how important the extra support could be in 2019.

“If we play good, and the fans can generate the atmosphere then this championship could be a great journey for us – they can be hugely important for us,” said the 22-year-old after his side beat the unified team of Korea 30:19 at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin.

“It was amazing [to finally start the championship] - we had to wait a long time until we could play and were desperate to play, but we are happy with the result. The match was not very easy like we may have thought before, but I think we did a great job and deserved to win.”

Drux also admitted that the German team was nervous ahead of opening the global event in front of a home crowd in a match which made history as a unified team of Korea competed at a handball world championship for the very first time.

But it was also a very local affair for Drux, who plays his club handball for Füchse Berlin, a club he has been at since he was a youth player.

“It was great to play in Berlin,” he said. “It was hard to get tickets, but I had my girlfriend and a lot of friends and family at the match, plus there were a lot of fans from my hometown club. 

“I thought about the historical importance of the match a few days before but not on the day of the match itself,” he added. “I think it is great to find a way in sports to play together - you know, there are so many discussions in politics, but in sports, everyone is the same – we just want to play handball.”

Germany play their second match of the 26th IHF Men's World Championship against Brazil at 18:15 (local time) today