Abbingh’s game: "I don't think so much about consequences on the field"

“We knew each other so well, not only as handball players, but also as persons,” says BV Borussia Dortmund back Lois Abbingh, reflecting on one of the most unique elements of her career — a national side being centred around players who had come through the Dutch handball academy, living and training together, and therefore knew each other from their early teens. In the space of four years, they took five medals together. 

“When I now look back at the national team, how we had it there, we knew each other so well, but we were also not afraid to tell each other the truth — even though sometimes the truth was ugly. I think we were really good at being honest with each other, but don't blame each other for it or something, because of these really strong bonds that we had on and off the field. 

“We could really, in the important moments, look each other in the eyes and knew what we wanted or knew what we were thinking, because we knew each other so well. This is also something that we talk about with all the girls who were there, even now still, many times — that these moments I think really defined our success.” 

“We could actually really feel that we were getting closer to the top”

Before Abbingh and her teammates took their first medal, at the 2015 World Championship, the best result for the Netherlands was fifth at the 2005 edition of the global event — and that fifth place was quite an outlier. The Netherlands had also never qualified for the Olympics before 2016, when they made it to the Games in Rio. 

The 2015 IHF World Championship was a breakthrough tournament, and from one day to the next, the Netherlands became one of the biggest teams to beat.  

“We had some games in the years before, where we could actually really feel that we were getting closer to the top,” says Abbingh, recalling some wins in qualification stages where the Dutch took the court as underdogs. 

“Sometimes we had this moment where we could feel like, OK, we can play with them and beat them. And then this belief also, I think we just started from the beginning, like we wanted to win a gold medal, and this is kind of what we always talked about. That was really a big goal of ours, to win a medal at a championship, even though we were really far from that. But we kind of believed that if we would work really hard and get better and better, that we could actually achieve that.”

“Outside the field I’m completely different, but on the field, I kind of live in the moment”

They took the medals and even raised one trophy, with Abbingh the one to secure that title at the 2019 IHF World Championship. With the score at 29:29 inside the last 30 seconds, a penalty for the Netherlands was called, and Abbingh stepped up to the line with the chance to score the trophy-winning goal — which she did. 

The definition of a crunch-time moment. What led Abbingh to being able to deliver in that situation? 

“I think it's a mix of experiences that I had before and also probably my personality — that I don't think so much about consequences, at least, not on the field,” she laughs. 

“Outside the field I’m completely different, but on the field, I kind of live in the moment, so then, of course, I had some experiences. I missed a penalty in Rio in 2016, in the group phase, in the last seconds, which I was really sure I was going to score as well, so I was really surprised that I missed. And then I had some other moments where I had the ball in one of the last seconds and I scored, so I also gained some confidence in actually finishing the game in this moment. 

“It was this mix of experiences that I failed but I also succeeded,” continues Abbingh, explaining that in the Rio 2016 situation, she felt the weight of the moment, in part due to seeing the tension in the audience, too much. “That's the only thing that I really took with me. Like ‘OK, don't look up. Just focus on the seven-metre-line and just walk there and bounce the ball and make a penalty.’” 

Abbingh is no stranger to delivering on her shots. Now 33, she has seen the game change through her career, including her role as a back. 

“Until I was maybe like, 25, it was really like left backs are the shooters at least, or the right backs. They are there for the shots and we have to prepare the shots for them,” says Abbingh. 

“Then it was a little bit more like, OK, we have maybe a higher scoring percentage when we are free in front of the goal, so trainers and coaches developed more of this game of the one-against-ones and the breakthroughs and didn't want, I think, so many shots anymore from outside.

“Now you don't have, maybe, so much shooters only anymore. It's a lot of players who can do either both or more one-against-one or breakthrough, so I feel that maybe some years ago, it was more when you had typical back players who were maybe the only shooters. But I feel that this disappeared a bit out of the handball game.”

“I developed from a shooter to a more complete player over the years”

Through that development of the game, Abbingh was on her own journey, as her career took her on a great international adventure — from the Netherlands to Germany, Romania, France, Russia, Denmark, Norway and now back to Germany. Through all the different clubs and leagues, with all her coaches, Abbingh’s game expanded. 

“When I played in Germany in my first years, then I was just the shooter. Shooting a lot from nine metres and having only maybe the breakthroughs, but later on, I really learnt how to play defence,” recalls Abbingh. “With Ambros Martin at Rostov, I learnt a lot about defence and the way that he wanted to play it. I think it’s really similar to how everyone plays it now, these days. And then in Denmark, I learnt so much more about the tactics. They are so much more structured in tactics, for example, than the other countries, I think. 

“I developed from a shooter to a more complete player over the years, and also having all these influences and all these trainers to teach me something else, I think I also became the player that I am today, that I can do many things. I can not only do one thing, but I can do many things and play on different positions, as well in defence as in attack.” 

While Abbingh came to prominence as a left back, she has been primarily a centre since her arrival at Vipers Kristiansand in 2023. She left the Norwegian side in January 2025 to join Dortmund, where she remains in the playmaker position. 

“I was always involved in tactics, but it was more because, of course, especially in the national team and then clubs, I was really used as a shooter, because this was my quality,” says Abbingh of why she was used as a left back before transitioning to centre back.  

“I got this feeling a bit later on that it would be nice to also be a bit more of a centre back, to have more of the leading role, to decide what to play. Of course, I feel like when you're playing in backs in the top teams, you always have this communication, so it's never only the centre back who’s like deciding everything. But it just kind of grew like that. When I came to Vipers, they also asked me, because they really needed a centre back.”

“I'm not a player who really goes full one-against-one”

It is the role of the playmaker that is currently Abbingh’s biggest focus in her continued development. 

“It's finding the balance between playing as a centre back, but still also playing more as a left back. This is something I feel I'm developing every day, to be better at, because I think I can do both, but I should not forget that I also have this great shot that I can use a lot. Sometimes I forget that, when I'm too tactical and too much of a centre player. So, this is, I think, something, especially in the last years, that I’ve been working on and this is something that I'm focusing on also every day in training.” 

That is what she is working on. But what about her strength? Her favourite part of the game? 

“A few years ago, I would say my shot, but I think now it's really different,” says Abbingh. “I think mostly now these days I'm good at seeing, recognising the moment, if I maybe go a bit one-against-one — not full. I'm not a player who goes really full one-against-one, but if I go one-against-one and then I can see that the help is coming from the defender, then to pass the ball in the right moment and then to free somebody else.”

Abbingh’s biggest role model reflects her view of the game — how she has enjoyed developing into a complete player capable of delivering variety in different places on the back court and aims to continue growing as a centre back in particular. 

“I watched many YouTube videos from Anita Görbicz when I was young,” says Abbingh. “She, of course, was such a versatile player — she could do many, many different things. And I think it's actually funny to see that in the end then she played even as a left wing, and she could do that well. I think that's really nice, when you know so much about the handball game that you can actually play almost on every position. So she was definitely a role model for me.”

Photos © Kevin Clement; Hans Lie; Stummbillig; Cedosa380; Kolektiff Images; Vipers Kristiansand