Handball: Liga President Schwenker on Prokop’s decision:”Gut geht vor schnell” (good goes before fast)

President Uwe Schwenker of the Handball Bundesliga (HBL) sees no rush in deciding on the future of the ailing national coach Christian Prokop.

“We are all well advised to take the time necessary to get an overall picture,”Schwenker told the SID on Thursday:”I wouldn’t want to fix this now in days and weeks, but I just say:” Good is fast before fast.

Schwenker will be presenting the league’s stance on Prokop at a regular meeting of the German Handball Association’s (DHB) Executive Committee on Friday at the Allstar Games in Leipzig. According to Schwenkers, this is “complex”.

After leaving the main round of the European Championship in Croatia, the headwind for Prokop (39) is considerable. DHB Vice President Bob Hanning had previously announced an extensive analysis in the next four to six weeks.

Schwenker agrees:”We will take the time we need. I will not let anyone put me under pressure,”said the former managing director of THW Kiel.

Previously, HBL Managing Director Frank Bohmann had demanded in Sport Bild that “a decision on the continued employment of Christian Prokop should be made much sooner” than Hanning had estimated.

Schwenker denied that the discussions of the league and the federation should be about Prokop’s qualities as a trainer:”Under no circumstances will it be a question of sporting competence, but rather of the atmospheric disturbances that have occurred. This has simply also come to light, everyone noticed that. We will work on that now,”said the 58-year-old.

Prokop had been criticized above all for his failure to nominate defensive chief Finn Lemke before the European Championship and some tactical decisions. In addition, there is said to have been disagreements with the coach within the team.