Handball: Kretzschmar criticizes Hoeneß’ statements

Stefan Kretzschmar has sharply criticized Uli Hoeneß’ statements on the sport of handball. According to the former professional handball player, basketball is no more popular than handball.

“One has to ask why he thinks that basketball is a world sport – and not handball. This is certainly not wrong, but the only reason for this is the NBA professional league,”wrote Kretzschmar in his column at Sky.

Kretzschmar continues:”When we talk about German basketball and the Bundesliga, I don’t think that the sport has the edge over handball. And if you say that handball is not at all important outside of Germany, then that’s pretty arrogant and ignorant towards the Scandinavians or the French. (…) That’s very unfair to handball.”

So to say that handball is a purely German phenomenon – I think that’s petty and small-minded. In my opinion, someone didn’t really care and inform himself about the sport,”added Kretzschmar.

In an interview with the newspaper SZ, Bavaria’s president Hoeneß had stated that, unlike basketball, he was not interested in handball as a sport for his club (“Handball plays a role in almost no country except Germany”). After Frank Bohmann, the managing director of HBL, had already criticized these statements, Hoeneß apologized to Bohmann.