Handball: Prokop appoints Bitter to preliminary EC squad

National coach Christian Prokop has surprisingly put former World Champion Johannes Bitter in the provisional squad of the defending champion for the European Championship 2018 in Croatia (12th place). till 28. January).

The 35-year-old from TVB Stuttgart is one of four goalkeepers in the preliminary 28-player DHB squad.

Bitter, who played a major role in winning the title in Germany in 2007, is currently working on a torn muscle fibre in his left thigh. The keeper had left the national team in 2011 after the World Cup debacle in Sweden and returned three years later for the World Cup play-offs against Poland.

From the provisional squad, this will take place on 12 March. The team of the “Bad Boys” is to be definitively named and comprises a maximum of 16 players. During the European Championship 2018, a maximum of six changes with players of the extended 28-man squad are possible: two each during the preliminary and main round as well as two on the final weekend.

Prokop starts the preparation with a short course on 28. and 29. December in Kamen-Kaiserau. On the second. The DHB team will meet in Stuttgart on 1 January and play two international matches against Iceland (5th place). January in Stuttgart, 7. January in Neu-Ulm).

Germany starts on 13. January in Zagreb against Montenegro. Other opponents of Group C are Slovenia (15. January) and Macedonia (17. January). The first three teams of each of the four groups reach the main round. Possible opponents in the second phase of the tournament, where Varazdin will be staged, could be Spain, Denmark, the Czech Republic or Hungary. ARD and ZDF broadcast the matches of the EM 2018.

Goal: Silvio Heinevetter (Füchse Berlin), Andreas Wolff (THW Kiel), Johannes Bitter (TVB 1898 Stuttgart), Carsten Lichtlein (VfL Gummersbach)

Outside left: Uwe Gensheimer (Paris St. Germain HB/France), Rune Dahmke (THW Kiel), Marcel Schiller (Frisch Auf Göppingen)

Back area left: Finn Lemke (MT Melsungen), Maximilian Janke (SC DHfK Leipzig), Julius Kühn (MT Melsungen), Paul Drux (Füchse Berlin), Marian Michalczik (TSV GWD Minden)

Rear space centre: Niclas Pieczkowski (SC DHfK Leipzig), Steffen Fäth (Füchse Berlin), Philipp Weber (SC DHfK Leipzig), Tim Kneule (Frisch Auf Göppingen)

Rear right: Kai Häfner (TSV Hannover Burgdorf), Fabian Wiede (Füchse Berlin), Steffen Weinhold (THW Kiel), Franz Semper (SC DHfK Leipzig)

Outside right: Patrick Groetzki (Rhein-Neckar Löwen), Tobias Reichmann (MT Melsungen), Tim Hornke (TBV Lemgo)

District: Jannik Kohlbacher (HSG Wetzlar), Patrick Wiencek (THW Kiel), Hendrik Pekeler (Rhein-Neckar Löwen), Bastian Roschek (SC DHfK Leipzig), Erik Schmidt (Fox Berlin)