“I always joke with him, saying: hey Papa, how often have you won gold medals?”. In his extraordinary career, Stefan Kretzschmar has never won a title with the national team. He was a silver medalist at the Olympic Games, European and World Championships – and was injured when his team won EHF EURO gold in 2004.
But Lucie-Marie Kretzschmar is not only successful on sand, but also in indoor handball, like the German goalkeeper Katharina Filter, who is number one in both teams. After her start at Magdeburg, Kretzschmar played for HC Leipzig, then moved to Neckarsulm and transferred to HSG Bensheim/Auerbach in 2022. With this club, she followed in the footsteps of her famous EHF Champions League winning father this season, having her debut in the EHF club competitions.
HSG Bensheim/Auerbach qualified for the German Cup final. Facing German champions SG BBM Bietigheim there, they knew before that they made club history, as the finalists had a guaranteed spot in the EHF European League. “We were so happy and proud to make it to the EHF European League, maybe we were even happier than Bietigheim after winning the cup,” says Kretzschmar, who had missed this cup final due to a knee injury.
“We now feel this euphoria in the city and the region, because for all of us it is something very, very special to play on the international stage. This is all new land for us.” HSG Bensheim/Auerbach eagerly awaited the draw event – and then Bensheim was placed in an all-German duel against VfL Oldenburg in the second qualification round. “We were so disappointed. We thought that if we lost this, it would be the worst and shortest ever European experience we could have, not even leaving our country. We had dreamt of cool clubs and cities like Malaga or Reykjavik, which were in the pot,” says Kretzschmar.
Finally, Bensheim/Auerbach beat their domestic rivals twice – and the European Cup debutants had made it to the group phase, knowing that they would have an extended journey through Europe with at least six more matches. Last Sunday, Kretzschmar and her team finally had their first “real” international match, playing at the EHF European League 2020/2021 winners Neptunes de Nantes in France.
“Though the result was anything but funny, I enjoyed this match. I had goosebumps when we were entering the sold-out arena, facing a team that has a squad for the EHF Champions League. I will definitely remember this match all my life,” says Kretzschmar. For her, the 27:39 defeat was “too high for sure”, but she added: “Nobody expected us debutants and underdogs to win at Nantes.”
