Calm in his private life, a 'raging bull' on court

If any player has 78 internationals under his belt and had his debut in the national team more than eight years ago, you would usually expect him to have played at least one EHF EURO. Usually!

But the way Steffen Weinhold’s career panned out is anything but normal. In 2008 the left-handed right back made his senior team debut after he had become Men’s 20 EHF EURO champion in 2006 and silver medallist at the Junior World Championship 2007.

But then he disappeared internationally – apart from the season when he won EHF Cup with Nordhorn in 2008.

Weinhold transferred to Großwallstadt in Germany, and players like Christian Zeitz and Holger Glandorf were the ones that ‘occupied’ his position in the German national team.

It was only after the EHF EURO 2012 that Weinhold was nominated again, but this time he stayed and he has since become one of the team’s key players, with two milestones playing an important role in that development.

The raging bull

In 2012 Weinhold joined SG Flensburg-Handewitt where he was coached by Ljubomir Vranjes and played side-by-side with Holger Glandorf.

Thanks to his will, passion and power, Weinhold became better and better and an all-important player at the 2014 winners of the VELUX EHF Champions League.

Like in the national team he shared the right back position with Glandorf – and both worked like a well-oiled machine.  Weinhold was like the raging bull, going into the in-fight with the defence, strong in man-against-man-actions, while Glandorf was the classical shooter.

And when Glandorf missed the World Championship 2013, the time was there for Weinhold to shine. Already in his second match at a major tournament he netted seven times against Brazil – it was the throw-off for what was to become a brilliant tournament for Weinhold.

However, five months later when Germany lost 25:27 to Montenegro in the EHF EURO 2014 Qualification, it became clear that Weinhold would need to wait for his EHF EURO debut.

In the meantime his career on club level flourished. In 2014 he won the VELUX EHF Champions League with Flensburg; only weeks later he joined THW Kiel where he got even better despite having to share his position with Serbian ace Marko Vujin.

Weinhold fought hard to get sufficient time on court and being a much stronger defender than Vujin, his significance for Kiel was underlined more and more.

An important part of the puzzle

It is this strength in defence that also makes him vital for the German national team.

"Since I’m at the helm, he is one of our major key players," says head coach Dagur Sigurdsson. "He made so many huge steps ahead in a short time, gaining experience at Flensburg, Kiel and the national team. Nowadays he is an integral part of our puzzle."

At the EHF EURO in Poland, Weinhold will carry even more responsibility on his shoulders because experienced stars such as Patrick Wiencek and Uwe Gensheimer will miss the event due to injuries.

And Weinhold, who is very calm in his private life, will not only have to be like dynamite on court but also adopt a key role when it comes to integrating the young players.

"Due to his balanced mentality and his attitude, Steffen is an ideal person to learn from," says Sigurdsson: "Our young right back Fabian Wiede is eager to study at his side. Steffen is very open to pass on his knowledge and experience."

Talking about Weinhold’s strengths, the coach mainly focusses on attack: "His jump shots are powerful, his variety of shots is extremely wide and he is highly skilled in one-on-one situations."