Czechia — planning long-term, but an immediate threat

EHF / Courtney Gahan

18 November 2024, 14:00

The 2024 edition of the Women’s EHF EURO will see Czechia return to the competition after missing the 2022 event. Although they ranked 15th at their last two EHF EURO participations, Czechia have every reason to hope for a strong result this year.

One year ago, Czechia played an exceptional World Championship, where they equalled their best result of eighth. And they were knocked out in the quarter-final stage by none other than France, who went on to take the title and add an Olympic silver medal to their collection nine months later. A strong team performance from Czechia overall, and, putting the icing on the promising cake, a number of standout individuals.

Among those young players is Cholevová, who was one of three nominees for the IHF Young Player of the Year award for 2023 as well as the Best Young Player nod at the World Championship itself. Still just 22, Cholevová has shown she can have a big impact on the international scene. In just under 100 caps ahead of the EHF EURO 2024, Cholevová has already scored over 400 goals for the national team. And, while a standout player, she is not alone in terms of the young talent coming through Czechia’s ranks.

“They are one year older. They get more experience. They can play a little bit more relaxed. They know what to do. So, I think it's positive,” says Dahl of the young players developing in the team.

“Also, Natálie Kuxová, our young playmaker in our team — she's developed a lot in Banik Most, so, I can see improvement every day. They are working hard, and they want to come quite long in their career in handball. I'm supporting and helping them as best I can.”

Dahl is a highly experienced coach. Hailing from Norway, he has led clubs in his native country as well as Siófok in Hungary, the U20 Norway team, and the Italian national team. He was assistant coach for Romania for from 2021 to 2022, and analyst for Russia from 2012 to 2016, to name just a few of the notable positions.

Dahl has been head coach of SCM Ramnicu Valcea since 2021. Having experience working in so many countries and also with players of so many different nationalities, how did he bring his own approach into the Czechia team to combine it with the strengths already present there?

“They have been very, very open for some new ideas. But I also respect their own culture, so that's the base, I think. I always work from there and then I implement my philosophy — if you can call it — the team philosophy, step by step. So, I don't turn everything upside down,” says Dahl.

“The most important is to learn them to accept that they also have ownership. I call it ownership. They need to understand that it's not a coach who will decide everything. But now, after the first day to now, we have taken huge steps in this kind of involvement. So, I think that's the most important — that they understand that they need to take care of their own career and their own development. When they start to understand this, it's easier for me to put the system, the playing system, and how we want to play.”

Dahl adds that the ownership imparted on players also helps them to accept what is required of them to reach the highest level, mainly in terms of the training regime. They need to be committed themselves to gym sessions and more running, for example.

In terms of the actual style of play, Dahl says there is no big secret.

“Everybody knows that we are playing fast. We want to run a lot. We are an explosive team. We want to have a high speed in every match we are playing. We don't change too much if we play against France, Norway or we play against Slovakia or Iceland or something. We want to have our own style of playing anyway. I don't know if I can call it the modern style of handball, but it's quick, fast and based on the defence, and also running a lot, so it's a mix,” he says.

Czechia are one of five co-hosts for the Women’s EHF EURO 2026, alongside Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Türkiye. That means the team are certain to play the next edition of the event.

And that path is important, as, although the hope is of course for the best results possible in the immediate future, there is an outlook towards the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. Therefore, up to 2028, Czechia want to be part of all the major tournaments, and the year behind them is already part of that.

“We want to compete in these big tournaments and we will see — it will be with ups and some downs. We haven't reached the top level yet,” says Dahl. “We hope to come a little bit closer to the top teams in the world.”

Czechia will look to take that next step in becoming one of the top teams at the upcoming EHF EURO, where they will start in preliminary round group B, taking on Romania, Serbia and Montenegro. It is perhaps the most competitive group at the EURO, where no single team stands out as either sure to progress or inexperienced.

“First, I was thinking wow, that is a tough one,” says Dahl of the group. “You cannot say before the tournament the typical favourites or who will go through or not. If you see from the last years, Montenegro is maybe the favourite. Serbia will always have a good team. They have a good coach with young players but also some good, experienced players. Romania, they have good players, and they also have young players who want to achieve something, so it's interesting and a tough one.

“We will see who will stay and who will go home, but it's open. I think every team in this group is thinking to get the spots to the next round. It will be a tough race from the beginning to the end of these three games.”