Christian Prokop becomes new German national team coach

The German Handball Federation has named 38-year-old Christian Prokop as new head coach of its men's national team and successor of Dagur Sigurdsson.

The contract of the current German Bundesliga coach for SC DHfK Leipzig will start on 1 July 2017, the German Handball Federation announced on Friday on the eve of the Bundesliga's All-star Game. 

The All-star Game was also the place for the official farewell for Dagur Sigurdsson who had led the team for the past 29 months, steering them to gold at the EHF EURO 2016 and to bronze at the 2016 Olympic Games.

At the end of 2016, Sigurdsson had announced that he would return to his native Iceland for family reasons and also take over the Japanese men's national team.

Besides Christian Prokop, former German international and 2007 world champion Markus Baur had been seen as a potential successor for Sigurdsson.

The challenges for new coach Prokop will come quickly. Provided a successful qualification, Germany will defend their title at the EHF EURO 2018 in Croatia.

For the World Championship 2019 Germany are already qualified as co-hosts together with Denmark, but the pressure to perform in front of an expectant home crowd will be huge.

Photo: Sascha Klahn