And at the current World Championship in Poland and Sweden, which threw off on Wednesday with the match between Olympic champion France and co-hosts Poland in Katowice, numerous HBL players are among the big medal favorites. The Scandinavian teams in particular rely on quality Made in Germany. Even though Mads Mensah Larsen from Flensburg was tested positive for Corona on Tuesday, there are still eleven HBL pros in the Danish squad who are aiming for their third world title after 2019 and 2021. Four current HBL players, the Landin brothers Niklas and Magnus (both THW Kiel), as well as the two Flensburg Mensah Larsen and Simon Hald, were part in both World Championship titles of the Danes. And at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, which Denmark finished with silver, the new Füchse Berlin star Mattias Gidsel was even the tournament MVP. 

Füchse right wing Hans Lindberg, who, like Niklas Landin, has the complete mega trophy collection with titles at the Olympic Games, World Championships, European Championships, the Champions League and in the LIQUI MOLY HBL, definitely has the biggest routine in the Danish squad. In Malmö, the Danes got what was probably the easiest group H with Belgium, Bahrain and Tunisia.

The eight Swedes from HBL clubs at the 2023 World Championship also include the next MVP of a major tournament: Jim Gottfridsson from SG Flensburg-Handewitt, who was named best tournament player at the 2018 and 2022 European Championships each. This week it was also announced that the playmaker had won the traditional online voting for the world's best handball player of the year by the internet portal www.handball-planet.com for the first time. Kiel's Niclas Ekberg, who scored the decisive last goal against Spain in the 2022 European Championship final in Budapest, was awarded for his 200th international match in Sweden's last World Championship test against Serbia. Co-hosts Sweden will play their preliminary round group C against Brazil, Uruguay and Cape Verde in Gothenburg - also a more than feasible task.

Dark horse Iceland - last weekend's last German test match opponent - relies primarily on the currently outstanding Omar Ingi Magnusson, who became top scorer at the EHF EURO 2022 and a short time later not only steered the SCM to the German championship, but also was awarded as the best HBL pro of the 2021/22 season. In addition to Magnusson and his club mate Gisli Kristjansson, there are six more HBL stars in Iceland's squad for the World Cup, where, unlike their Scandinavian neighbors, they have a hammer group with Portugal, Hungary and South Korea ahead of them.

Thanks to the in-time return of the THW superstar Sander Sagosen, Norway now optimistically announced the goal with the semi-finals. In the preliminary round they face North Macedonia, the Netherlands and Argentina - and if the German team advances, they will duel with the three best teams in this group. A total of eight HBL pros are in the Norwegian squad - with a clear focus on the northern clubs: THW Kiel is represented by  three players, SG Flensburg-Handewitt by two. Norway finished sixth at the 2021 World Championship and fifth at the 2022 European Championship - besides, Sagosen & Co. were twice in World Cup finals in 2017 - and each lost to the respective hosts France and Denmark. In 2016 they won the bronze medal at the European Championship in Poland.

That left those non-Scandinavian World Cup favorites: Spain including captain Gedeon Guardiola (TBV Lemgo) have two more HBL players in the squad - Agustin Casado (MT Melsungen) and Daniel Fernandez (TVB Stuttgart) - and were each third at the 2021 World Championship and the 2021 Olympics and runner-up at the EHF EURO 2022 - having previously won the European Championship twice in a row. The Spaniards are big favorites in group A against Montenegro, Chile and Iran - and would then lock horns with the current Olympic champion and record world champion France in the main round, who face Poland, Slovenia and Saudi Arabia in the difficult group B. The German quarter-final opponent would come from this main round group if Germany would finish at least second in their main round group.

France is the only top team that does not rely on stars from the LIQUI MOLY HBL. But the 18-strong World Cup team includes the only player who has never played for a French club: Kentin Mahe, who grew up in Germany and after his time in Gummersbach, Hamburg and Flensburg, transferred to the Hungarian top club Veszprem in 2018. In addition to veteran Nikola Karabatic (until 2009 at THW Kiel), Romain Lagarde, who played for the Rhein-Neckar Löwen from 2019 to 2021, also has a Bundesliga experience. And a future HBL player is number one in goal: Vincent Gerard, who will arrive from Saint-Raphael at THW Kiel this summer.

Of course, the German team with its 17 HBL stars are also one of the extended favorites - and that's why you can already bet how many players from German clubs will be on the field at the World Cup final in Stockholm on 29 January.

Photo: Imago/Bildbyran