Handball: DHB summit: What’s next for Christian Prokop and Bob Hanning?

The DHB Presidium will hold a special meeting on Monday at the “Maritim Airport Hotel” in Hanover. It is about the future of national team coach Christian Prokop. Vice President Bob Hanning is also expected to draw the consequences of the decision. The announcement of the results is expected at 4 pm. Here you can find out everything you need to know.

The DHB Presidium has convened a special meeting at which the head of the association discusses the whereabouts or dismissal of national coach Christian Prokop.

Christian Prokop was called to the national team by Vice President Bob Hanning in 2017 for a record-breaking half a million euros from the German national league team DHfK Leipzig and signed a five-year contract.

At the last European Championship, in which the DHB team disappointed as defending champions and already retired in the main round, Prokop made a name for itself with controversial management decisions. He did not even nominate the two European champion heroes Finn Lemke and Rune Dahmke at the beginning of the tournament. The game system and how Prokop interacts with its players are also discussed.

In addition, not only were the performances inadequate, large parts of the team are said to have failed with their coach. It is said that the majority of the players have turned against him after the tournament.

Officially, the special session talks about an “open discussion”. But there is much evidence of a separation between the two parties. League President Uwe Schwenker says,”Keeping Prokop is extremely difficult.”

The former handball star and current sky expert Stefan Kretzschmar also sees no future for the DHB coach:”The circle of those behind him has become relatively small. This is a populist decision, not just a sporting one. This makes it relatively difficult to hold onto Prokop,”he said in the context of Sky’s live handball coverage.

According to information from t-online, Hanning is said to have announced a possible resignation in the event of a Prokop committee meeting with several players and members of the board.

After all, Hanning is the one who guided Prokop as his favourite candidate to the DHB team and stood in front of his coach until the end:”He admitted all mistakes, analysed them and went to the players. He sees his coach as the victim of a campaign:”This is all groundless, politics is being made.”

T-Online wants to know that Hanning, who is not only DHB Vice-Chairman, but also Managing Director of the Bundesliga club Füchse Berlin, would like to hire Prokop as coach in the event of dismissal.

Before the final decision has been made, no discussion has yet been held on possible successors. However, Christian Baur, who had been a candidate for the national team before Prokop’s appointment, would be on the market. TVB Stuttgart parted ways with Baur on Sunday, who was a junior coach at the DHB from 2012 to 2016.