World Cup opener for the DHB men

When you take part in a World Cup, you don’t necessarily have to travel halfway around the world. The shorter the distance to the venue, the shorter the journey and the faster you get acclimatized. The way to Denmark is not a big problem for the silver medalist of the Summer Olympics in Paris. However, our Germany vs. Poland tip shows that the journey for the DHB men’s opener is not particularly exhausting either.

In general, however, this applies to all teams in this Group A. Actually, you look forward to being able to play against more exotic opponents at the World Cup. That won’t happen in the preliminary round, because in addition to Germany and Poland, this pool is completed by two other European teams with the teams from Switzerland and the Czech Republic. So the German team will only face neighboring countries in the group stage.

If it is up to Stefan Kretzschmar, the three group games are only a formality for the German handball men. With the necessary focus, there is a good chance that Alfred Gislason’s team will get the perfect 6-0 points in the preliminary round and thus already reach the quarter-finals.

In the opening game between Germany and Poland, there is no way around betting on a German victory. As is so often the case in the group stage, there are no odds that promise interesting value for the tips for 1/X/2.

Germany – Statistics & current form

German handball is on the rise, not without setbacks, but steadily. The U21 World Championship title is a clear indication that the future of the senior team can be bright. Alfred Gislason’s team has set another example by winning the silver medal at the Olympic Games. Accordingly, a medal round is considered the minimum goal. However, there are also voices that speak of the World Cup title.

Last defeat in the Olympic final

In the last international matches, neither the players nor the national coach were fully satisfied. However, this is an indication that the bar is also being raised internally, because in the last nine international matches, there was only one defeat in the Olympic final against world champions Denmark. However, the 26:39 defeat was so clear that it must be considered a thrashing.

Since then, however, they have recorded four wins again, including in the European Championship qualifier against Switzerland, who were opponents in the World Championship group. In the immediate preparation, the German team played two internationals against Brazil. First, there was a seven-goal victory in Flensburg. Two days later, they only managed a 28:26 victory in Hamburg in the final phase. This victory and, above all, the performance were widely seen as a warning shot before the start of the World Cup.

However, we would currently tend to rate the Brazilians as stronger than the Polish team. Therefore, in the first World Cup match between Germany and Poland, we are mainly looking at the odds for a German victory. We can also imagine a handicap victory in a medium range. We consider a victory for the DHB men with a difference of five to six goals to be quite realistic.

Expected line-up for Germany:

• Goal: Späth, Wolff
• Backcourt: Lichtlein, Witzke, Knorr, Köster, Stutzke, Grgic, Uscins, Semper
• Left wing: Dahmke, Mertens
• Right wing: Zerbe, Kastening
• Circle: Golla, Fischer
• Coach: Gislason

Poland – statistics & current form

The glory days of the golden Polish handball generation came to an end with the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The only relic from the great days of that team is the current national coach Marcin Lijewski, who had his best days as a player in Flensburg and at HSV Hamburg and won medals at the World Championships with the Polish team in 2007 and 2009.

Poland has overcome sporting lows

Currently, the Polish team hardly has the class of those days. In 2018, they even missed out on the European Championships and a year later the World Championships took place without Polska. When the Poles have made it to major tournaments in recent years, they haven’t exactly set the world on fire. We don’t expect that in the group phase in Herning either and rather assume that we will be successful between Germany and Poland with a tip on a German handicap victory.

It may be a good idea to use a free bet for this tip at AdmiralBet. At least there are rays of hope in the development, which, according to coach Marcin Lijewski, is also in the foreground at the World Cup. The Poles have now been unbeaten in six international matches. The last defeat was in May 2024 in the World Cup playoffs, when they lost 28:29 at home to Slovakia. In the second leg, the Poles turned things around with a clear eight-goal victory in Bratislava and still managed to get their World Cup ticket.

Ahead of the World Cup, the Poles invited teams from three other nations to a four-nation tournament in Plock. They won all three matches against Austria, Japan and Tunisia. The only problem was against the Japanese. Marcin Lijewski later told journalists that his team did not make a lasting impression on him in these three games, but at least he was not disappointed by his team either.

Provisional line-up for Poland:

• Goalkeeper: Ligarzewski, Jastrzebski, Morawski
• Back row: Jedraszczyk, Olejniczak, Adamski, Bedzikowski, Papina, Przytula, Pietrasik, Widomski
• Left wing: Czuwara, Czaplinski
• Right wing: Moryto, Marciniak, Szyszko, Wojdan
• Circle: Bis, Syprzak, Gebala, Rogulski
• Coach: Lijewski

Germany – Poland Head-to-head / H2H record

Germany and Poland are geographical neighbors, which naturally means that there are many international matches between the two countries in most sports. In handball, there have been 68 matches to date. In direct comparisons, the German team has done very well. The DHB men have won 41 of these matches, while 21 have been lost. Six more matches have ended in a draw.

The biggest match between these two neighbors was the 2007 World Cup final, which Germany won relatively clearly by 29:24 in Cologne. The Polish handball team has not won against the German team in eight games. The last victory was in June 2014 in the World Cup qualifiers. The last encounter ever took place in the preliminary round of the 2022 European Championship in Slovakia. At the tournament, which was significantly influenced by Corona, Germany won 30:23.

Germany – Poland Tip

We don’t need to bet on a normal match outcome in this match, unless you are leaning towards a Polish victory. However, we won’t get carried away by that, because the signs point clearly to a victory for the German team. That said, Poland’s recent results have been very respectable. Their last defeat was a good eight months ago.

Germany, on the other hand, is also in good form, having only lost once in their last nine internationals. Another similarity is that both coaches are not always satisfied with the performances their teams deliver. It is difficult to predict whether this will change on Wednesday. However, we think that the winning streak of the Poles will come to an end, and would therefore place a tip on the Betway app between Germany and Poland that has something to do with a German victory.

We think that a German victory with a total of more than 57.5 goals is a fairly likely outcome of this match. However, because the number of goals is currently trending slightly downward, we have decided to orient ourselves towards a handicap in this game. We are offering betting odds on a German handicap victory (-5.5 goals) in the World Cup game between Germany and Poland.