What started as a calm, uneventful media day ahead of the EHF EURO semi-finals took a dramatic turn when Croatia’s head coach Dagur Sigurdsson finally got the floor. Asked a routine question about preparations, the Icelandic coach instead delivered a furious and unfiltered attack on the European Handball Federation.
The first semi-final press conference of the day was exactly what you would expect at this stage of a major championship.
Denmark’s head coach Nicolaj Jacobsen and backcourt star Mads Mensah sat alongside Iceland’s Snorri Gudjonsson and Ómar Ingi Magnússon. The tone was calm, professional, and predictably polite. Respect between teams, focus on details, confidence without bravado. In other words: a classic press conference.
Nothing unexpected. Nothing controversial. Nothing headline-worthy.
And then everything changed.
When it was time for Croatia and Germany to face the media, the room initially followed the same script. Until EHF press chief Thomas Schöneich asked Croatian head coach Dagur Sigurdsson a question about how he planned to prepare his team for the semi-final against Germany.
What followed was a classic rant by Sigurdsson.
Instead of talking tactics, Sigurdsson launched into a long, emotional rant aimed directly at the EHF – a speech that left the room stunned and instantly shifted the entire narrative of the day.
Below is Sigurdsson’s statement, published in full:
Dagur Sigurdsson, in full:
“First of all, I have to say that I haven’t had time to look into anything, because we just arrived here at 2:30. And then we have to come here – mandatory.
We are not even located here, so it’s a 35-minute drive to get here just to do this circus. Then another 35 minutes back. We will be back at the hotel around five or six o’clock.
We haven’t had a training session. We haven’t had a team meeting today.
And this is once again confirmation that the European Handball Federation does not care about the players or the teams. They are like a fast-food company, they don’t care about the players. They are just selling.
Actually, they are like an event company: ordering some artists, putting on a good show, a nice press conference. It doesn’t matter that we had a four-hour drive from Malmö this morning. It doesn’t matter.
We were in a group in Malmö and had two days less rest than some of the other teams in this competition to play seven games. And everyone who knows anything about sports knows that two days’ rest in a period of 12 days with seven games is not a hell of a lot.
We had to play games number six and seven within 22 hours. The next morning, they put us on a bus like frozen chickens and drive us here.
We are not even close to the training hall. And then we have to go to a press conference, come back to the hotel at six o’clock, check if the players are healthy, have a meeting, analyse ahead of tomorrow.
We are in the semi-finals. This is an absolute disgrace.
And then they put this logo up here saying ‘Pure Greatness’. Really? Is this pure greatness? Absolutely shocking.
Thank you. I will be very happy when I can leave. Just let me know when I can.”
And the rant went on
The press conference could easily have ended there. But it didn’t.
When Sigurdsson was later asked a question by Croatian media, he once again turned his frustration towards the EHF, this time doubling down on the issue of scheduling, rest days and competitive fairness.
Sigurdsson again, in full:
“We have no tools to change this situation, it was decided for us. The planning is unbelievable: playing two days in a row, having two days less rest, and then using our only rest day for travelling.
Other teams, some of them, are staying at the same hotel and therefore have much better preparation. This is disturbing, and I do not accept these kinds of things. I know it is difficult to organise a tournament like this, but when it starts to become unfair towards certain teams, it is not acceptable.
We didn’t complain when we started the tournament two days later. We didn’t complain about playing two games in a row. But when you wake up and are told you have to travel on the only rest day you have, that is unacceptable.
And then you come here and the first thing you are required to do is attend a press conference, making it impossible to have a proper training session. It’s impossible. And it’s not acceptable.
I hope the game will be fantastic. But they (the EHF) are only concerned about putting on a nice show. I am sure there will be dancers at half-time, they are very good at that.”
One thing was clear when the room finally emptied:
The semi-finals may still be played on the court – but Dagur Sigurdsson may already have delivered the most explosive performance of the weekend.