Handball: doubts, indiscretions, criticism: air for Prokop is getting thinner

Public doubts, various indiscretions, harsh criticism: After a desolate European Championship, the air for national coach Christian Prokop is getting thinner and thinner.

Christian Prokop’s view of the newspaper on Friday was probably not at all appealing to Christian Prokop:” Training sensation before the European Championships are over,”headlined the picture and asked in large letters:” Is the crack between coach and team still to be repaired?

The relationship between Prokop and the team has reached its lowest point due to the renewed indiscretion. After an open dispute with the team, Prokop is said to have left the arena a few hours before the all-decisive Spain game (27:31) enraged.

The German Handball Federation reacted on Friday with a press release. The unit on Wednesday took place “in the usual way”:”We disagree with other representations” DHB head of sport Bob Hanning did not want to comment the headlines on SID inquiry.

Meanwhile, in the handball scene there are growing doubts as to whether Prokop is still the right man in his own country one year before the World Cup “Internally, Tacheles has to be talked about. There is an urgent need for clarification. We need round tables with angular decisions,”said Wetzlars Kai Wandschneider, reigning Bundesliga coach of the season, Wetzlarer Zeitung:”I would never push for someone to vacate his post, but you have to sit down together – also with a view to the home World Cup in 2019.”.

The alleged incident in the final training session of the European Championship would not be the first of its kind. Already after the temporary disembarkation of defensive chief Finn Lemke just before the start of the tournament, cracks between the team and the coach had become apparent. Even during the tournament, Prokop players rattled with each other and questioned tactical guidelines.

“The risk of committing to an internationally inexperienced coach has not paid off at this European Championship,”said former world handball player Daniel Stephan, criticising the way in which Dagur Sigurdsson’s successor worked:”It is difficult to project a system – like the one in Leipzig, for example – onto the players. The “deficits in interaction” and “atmospheric disturbances” must be dealt with as a matter of urgency.

This will now be Bob Hanning’s primary task. And the DHB Vice President is under enormous pressure. It was Hanning who, a year ago, had set Prokop free from the SC DHfK Leipzig against a number of resistance and for the record sales of 500,000 euros. Now he has to find out in intensive discussions with the coaching team, but above all also with the Players’ Council, whether his formerly desired candidate is really still the right one for the most important position in German handball.

Immediately after the European Championships had ended, Hanning had assured that Prokop was still “the right one” for the World Championships at home. However, if the team speaks out against Prokop in the announced “hard analysis”, the coach is unlikely to be able to hold on.