Rutger ten Velde: “We are always thinking of making new steps”

In 2024, with a new set of goals, they arrived in Germany and had a successful start to the competition, defeating Bosnia and Herzegovina and Georgia.

While for many the first name that comes to mind when mentioning the Netherlands is Luc Steins, one player shone so far at the Men's EHF EURO 2024 - Rutger ten Velde. The left wing opened the account with 15 goals in the first two games and helped the team to gain more confidence at the start.

“It was important to start the European championship with two wins because we knew we wanted to go to the main round. The first two games were the opponents we had to win and we did exactly that. It is a bit unfortunate that we couldn't get any points from the Sweden game because we played very well in that game. We hoped for a little but more but now it is important to have three more good games,” says ten Velde.

Humble as he is, it is hard to get ten Velde to talk about his performance and the fact he is the current EHF EURO 2024 and Dutch top scorer with 28 goals in four matches.

“It is nice to be on the list and to show what you can, but I also know I missed some important shots against Sweden. That was the key game for us. I am critical about my performance and there is still more growth in it. I will try to keep working hard, keep on going and try to be the best player in the next game again,” he says.

In Mannheim, it all came down to the game against Sweden in a fight for the first spot and two important points for the main round. In a tight and physically tough game, the Netherlands had to accept the defeat on the narrowest margin (29:28). Emotionally empty and with a tough schedule, two days later they were already in a clash with powerhouse Denmark, losing 27:39 after a well-balanced 40 minutes.

“Games against Sweden and Denmark are difficult to compare. Sweden game was tight until the last second and when we look back we made some mistakes but in the end it was the shooting percentage that was the difference and Andreas Palicka, who had three saves in the three minutes, making it really hard for us to win,” ten Velde thinks.

“Against Denmark it was different. We threw away four or five balls in three minutes I think, and it went from one or two to seven goal difference and it was really tough to beat a team like Denmark, to come back,” explains ten Velde.

Many players from other teams say the Dutch back court line at full strength – with Kay Smits, Luc Steins and Dani Baijens – is one of the best in modern handball. With the addition of ten Velde on the wing, experienced Bobby Schagen and others, the Netherlands already proved in the Men's EHF EURO 2024 Qualifiers they would be a hard nut to crack, coming on top ahead of Croatia, Greece and Belgium.

However, the Dutch side had some bad luck so far. In October 2023 Tom Jansen had an ACL injury; two months later the news of Kay Smits' heart-related problems shocked the world; in the game against Sweden, Samir Benghanem also tore his cruciate ligament; and against Denmark the same happened to Thomas Houtepen. The player rotation problem for the Netherlands keeps getting bigger and bigger.

“Through the last years, we became a bigger team, but now without Kay Smits, ACL injuries of Tom Jansen, Samir Benghanem and Thomas Houtepen, it's not helping us at all. The team is getting a bit thinner and we have to fly in some players that never played for us before like Martijn Kleijkers against Denmark. It's difficult and we know it will take strength and power now to win the next games. We need to keep strong mentally,” says ten Velde.

Still, they are not giving up. They are getting ready for the second game of the main round in Hamburg against the third Scandinavian team in a row – on Friday 19 January they will pit sides with Norway.

“We don't think about losing against Norway. We want to win that game. We see they don't play the greatest tournament. It will be really tough to play against us in this kind of situation for them. They know we will run for 60 minutes and we won't stop until the last whistle. We will do the same thing as we did in two previous matches against Scandinavian teams, good defence and run, run, run. We will if they will have the energy to keep up with us,” adds ten Velde who plays in the second German division for TuS N-Lübbecke.

Playing in Germany for three years now, the Dutch left wing knows the passion Germans have for handball. He also recognises all the fans that were keeping the atmosphere in packed arenas at the tournament so far.

“Players always love to play for bigger crowds. The nicest thing is to have fans in the hall. We had a nice group of fans in Mannheim, the whole corner in orange clothes and I hope they will also come to Hamburg for the weekend,” says ten Velde.

Staffan Olsson - four-time European champion and one of the best Swedish players ever – took over coaching the Netherlands in 2022 and prolonged his contract until 2026 ahead of the Men's EHF EURO 2024. How does the winger feel about working with such a legend?

“He is working on the details. If you are coming closer to the top, it is all about the details. Our team is gaining effort out of playing together and having a nice feeling inside the team. Staffan is the best man I have ever seen to put a team together, laughs with us as well. It is really calm inside the team and that is the reason we can focus only on handball and nothing else,” says ten Velde.

With at least three more games to go at the EHF EURO 2024, against Norway, Slovenia and Portugal, the Netherlands have new goals set.

“We are always thinking of making new steps. For us, the main goal for this European championship was to have a good group phase and progress to the main round. When we won the first two games we thought maybe something bigger was possible and we wanted to win the game against Sweden.

“We set new goals after that game and at the moment, the group in Hamburg looks a bit different. We are fighting for the last Olympic Games qualification spot, and that is our main goal now. To try and win all the matches we have,” concludes the Dutch left wing.

Photos © Kolektiff Images