One match that set the tone for the rivalry took place on an icy, cold Sunday morning in St. Petersburg when, on 18 December 2005, current Germany national team goalkeeper coach Debbie Klijn steered the Netherlands took a surprise 28:26 win over Germany in the match for fifth place at the World Championship in Russia.
Back then, already many members of the Dutch team played for German clubs. So, they knew each other very well, and even celebrated fifth and sixth place together.
Klijn still lives in Germany and joined Germany’s coaching staff together with Groener in 2018. She also works as goalkeeper coach at German club Buxtehuder SV and was ‘on loan’ with the Dutch team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Three years after Groener and Klijn arrived at the German federation in 2018, another Dutchman joined them. And right in his first tournament as the youth national team coach, Gino Smits steered Germany to the silver medal at the W17 EHF EURO in Podgorica.
Smits, who previously coached BV Borussia 09 Dortmund, is the father Inger Smits, who plays for SG BBM Bietigheim in the German Bundesliga and is part if the Dutch national team.
A few weeks ago, Smits’ son Kay – a back court player for SC Magdeburg – was the driving force behind Netherlands’ stunning run to the main round at the Men’s EHF EURO 2022 in Hungary and Slovakia.
“This result was surprising, but Dutch men’s handball in general has been continuously improving,” Groener said.
“That is good for handball in general in Netherlands, where only the women have been in the limelight so far. But with players like Smits in Magdeburg or Luc Steins at PSG, the men have also improved considerably in terms of quality.”
Germany is my home country and I play for the national team here. But the Netherlands is something like my second home. And when we are not playing against them, I keep my fingers crossed for the Dutch women’s team.
