The Swedish national handball team has moved into a hotel very close to the hall in Gothenburg for the 2023 World Cup.
Nevertheless, the way to the games is covered in the bus.
Munich – The Handball World Cup in your own country should be a big hit for Sweden's selection.
The Scandinavians have left nothing to chance.
In order to win the fifth world championship title and the first since 1999 at the tournament, which was held together with Poland, the quarters were set up in the immediate vicinity of the hall where coach Glenn Solberg's team would play their three preliminary round games and also the three main round games.
The distance between the Hotel Opalen and the Scandinavium, where Brazil, Cape Verde and Uruguay will first face the “Tre Kronor”, is only 300 meters.
Almost a stone's throw.
The question could arise: cycle or walk to the hall?
But far from it.
As the Norwegian coach, who once played for HSG Nordhorn and SG Flensburg-Handewitt in the Bundesliga, revealed, the short distance is covered by bus.
Handball World Cup: Sweden's team travels 300 meters by bus - "Television wants to have pictures"
"It has to do with television," Solberg explained to the puzzled journalists: "They want pictures of us getting off the bus." Well, along with results, pictures are what sticks in the mind of sporting events.
Whether it's the enthusiastic fans in the stands.
Or the spectacle on the record.
Special pictures are the salt in the soup - even if they are posed.
So before each game, the team and the team behind the team are loaded with bags and baggage to be delivered to their destination a few minutes later.
Where it is then a matter of providing memorable pictures, also in sporting terms.
After all, if one of his players misses the descent, the coach doesn't have to worry.
The hall cannot be overlooked from the hotel.
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Sweden's handball players take the bus for short distances at the World Cup: "Focus on the essentials"
With his statements, Solberg confirmed a report by the Swedish newspaper
Aftonbladet
.
The 50-year-old also emphasized the advantages of the extremely short journeys.
Because this enables the team "that we can focus on the essentials".
Playmaker Jim Gottfridsson, who earns his living in Flensburg, agreed, because after all they "didn't have time for 55 selfies".
After all: "Autographs and photos are no problem after the games." Then and also during training sessions, the players of the European champion should cover the distance between the hall and the hotel on foot.
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The walk should lead more directly to the destination than the bus ride, because due to the traffic rules, a small detour has to be built into the tour between the hotel and Scandinavium to the south.
Of course, the three traffic lights during the 300-meter drive could be switched off or switched on for the handball players.
The questionable bus rides, which will certainly not only make Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg despair, can also serve as a good omen.
At last year's European Championship, the team even lived in the building in which they played the preliminary and main round games in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava.
Nevertheless, the way there consisted of a bus ride around the block each time - so that the TV could capture nice pictures.
In the end there was the fifth European Championship title - no one could complain about that.
(mg, dpa)
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