Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Mathias Gidsel
Danish handball player (born 1999) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Mathias Gidsel (born 8 February 1999) is a Danish handball player who plays as a right back for Füchse Berlin and the Danish national team.[1] He is the first player to win the IHF World Player of the Year award two years in a row (2023, 2024),[2] a three-time IHF World Champion (2021, 2023, 2025), and an Olympic gold medalist (2024). At the 2025 World Championship, he was named MVP and top scorer with 74 goals, helping extend Denmark's streak to four consecutive titles.[3] Renowned for his exceptional shooting efficiency, high-volume scoring, and extraordinary stamina, Gidsel has been described as a "machine" by peers and coaches.[4][5]
Remove ads
Early life
Gidsel attended Oure Efterskole at the age of 15, where he focused on developing his handball skills. Although he initially planned to stay for one year, he remained for five years, during which he attracted the attention of top-tier Danish club GOG Håndbold.[6]
Career
Summarize
Perspective
GOG Håndbold
Gidsel joined GOG Håndbold in 2014 while still attending Oure Efterskole. In 2017, he was promoted to the first team, where he established himself as a key player. He finished as runner-up in the Danish Championship on two occasions.[7]
In 2021, he was awarded Årets Fund (Breakthrough of the Year), a prize given by the National Olympic Committee and Sports Confederation of Denmark, Team Danmark, and Politiken. He became the first handball player to receive the award since 1957.[8]
In January 2022, Gidsel suffered a knee ligament injury that kept him out for most of the season.[9] He returned in May and contributed to GOG winning the 2021–22 Danish Championship.[9]
Füchse Berlin
After debuting for the Danish national team, he joined German side Füchse Berlin,[10] where he signed a contract until 2028 with the club.[11] With the club, he won the 2022/23 EHF European League.[12] In the 2023–24 Bundesliga season, he scored the second-most goals overall with 263, but the most excluding penalties.[13] In 2025, he extended his contract until 2029.[14] The same year, he was named IHF World Player of the Year for the second time in his career.[15] In the 2024–25 season, he broke the record for most open-play goals scored in a single Bundesliga season with 264 goals.[16] That season, he won the 2024–25 Handball-Bundesliga, which was the first in club history.[17] The same season, he played in the 2024–25 EHF Champions League final, where Füchse lost to league rivals SC Magdeburg.[18] He plays in number 19 because of his admiration of the French player Luc Abalo.[19]
National team
Gidsel debuted for the Danish national team on November 7, 2020 against Finland, where he scored 3 goals.[20] His first major tournament was at the 2021 World Cup where he became a world champion with the Danish team.[21] His first match at a major tournament was against Bahrain, where he scored 10 goals, which was the record for the most goals for a major tournament debutant ever for the Danish national team,[22] although he did only hold the record for 6 days when Emil Manfeldt Jakobsen scored 12 against Japan. In that tournament, he was included in the All Star team and the Danish handball expert Lars Krogh Jeppesen called him the best Danish player at the tournament.[23]
At the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Gidsel won the MVP award, while winning silver medals with the Danish team.[24]
He won gold medals at the 2023 World Championship with the Danish team. He was the top scorer at the tournament with 60 goals.[25]
At 2024 European Championship he was the joint top scorer together with Portugal's Martim Costa with 54 goals, and was in the all star team.[26]
At the 2024 Olympics he won Olympic gold with the Danish team and won the MVP once again.[27] Additionally he was the top scorer with 62 goals, which is the record for most goals at an Olympic tournament, beating the record of his teammate Mikkel Hansen[28]
At the 2025 World Championship he won his third World Championship gold medal in a row, and was top scorer at the tournament.[29][3]
Remove ads
Honours
- German League:
- Winner: 2025
- Danish League:
- Winner: 2022
- Danish Cup:
- Winner: 2019
- EHF European League:
- Winner: 2023
- DHB-Supercup:
- Winner: 2024
- Individual awards
- IHF World Player of the Year – Men: 2023, 2024[30][15]
- All-Star Right back of the World Championship: 2021[31]
- All-Star Right back of the European Championship: 2022,[32] 2024[33]
- Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Olympic Games: 2020, 2024[34]
- Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the World Championship: 2023,[35] 2025[36]
- Top Scorer at the Olympic Games: 2024
- Top Scorer at the World Championship: 2023 (60 goals), 2025 (74 goals)[29]
- Top Scorer at the European Championship: 2024 (54 goals)
- Handball-Planet – Best young player in the world: 2021[37]
- Top Goalscorer of the EHF Champions League: 2025
- Danish Player of the year: 2021[38]
- Danish National team Player of the year: 2022[39]
- EHF Excellence Awards MVP: Season 2024/25[40]
- EHF Excellence Awards Best right back of the season: Season 2022/23,[41] 2024/25[42]
- Handball-Planet – Best World Handball Player: 2023,[43] 2024[44]
- The One Upskill Handball – World Best Player: 2024
- Bundesliga MVP: 2025[45]
League statistics
Note: Games Played and Goals include Play-offs[46][47][citation needed]
Remove ads
Major tournament statistics
Remove ads
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads