Denmark were no new entry to the top rankings in international handball when they celebrated their first Olympic gold medal in 2016, having played the semi-finals at 18 major tournaments prior to that. But they had only raised a trophy twice before 2016, at the EHF EURO in 2008 and 2012.
So Denmark ended a long series of semi-finals without a title at the major championships outside the EURO, but had started a drought at the EHF EURO.
“It’s 12 years since we won, so of course it means a lot for all of us that this time we managed to go to the final in the EURO,” says Hansen, commenting on Denmark’s 29:26 win against Germany in the semi-final in a sold-out LANXESS arena on Friday night.
“We’ve had some trouble in going all the way the last couple of years. So for all of us it’s a great feeling and especially playing against Germany in Germany and winning.”
Five players in the current squad were part of the EURO title-winning team in 2012: Hansen, Niklas Landin, Henrik Møllgaard, Mads Mensah Larsen and Hans Lindberg. Naturally the team has evolved in the 12 years since, and now the highly experienced players are joined by fresh new talents come to the fore in recent years, such as MVP of the 2023 World Championship Mathias Gidsel and All-star Team left back at the same event Simon Pytlick.
“It’s been amazing to see always new guys getting into the team. I’m just amazed about how intelligent they are. They’re so young but still have so much handball IQ,” says Hansen.
“It’s pretty amazing, I would say, to compare it with myself when I started like back in the days in the national team. Like how great they are in the game: they’re good one-against-one, they manage to shoot from outside, they can pass the ball, see the game, at a very young age.”