The new German Handball Bundesliga season begins in less than three weeks for Mathias Gidsel and Fuchse Berlin. Yet, he has not forgotten the end of the previous season when Füchse lost the Champions League final for the second time in a row. In his newsletter, "The Gidsel Circle," Gidsel now offers a glimpse into his inner state of mind, revealing just how heavily that disappointment weighed on him, according to German media outlet "Bild".
He writes: "I had to be honest with myself. I even told Nicolej Krickau that I really didn't know if I had the strength to chase a victory at the Final4 for another year." As the newly crowned German champions had already lost the Champions League final to Magdeburg (26–32) in 2025, a repeat followed a year later through a defeat against FC Barcelona (34–37).
Gidsel is completely open about it: "Another year of pouring absolutely everything into the season, fully aware that eleven months later, I could be left facing yet another disappointment."
Gidsel was also deeply affected by an online comment in the wake of the final. "Around that time, I read a comment online where someone wrote that they weren't sure if 'Gidsel' had what it takes. That hurt to read."
But the 27-year-old doesn’t stop. Pre-season training began just four weeks after the defeat in Cologne. “That isn’t much time to put such a huge disappointment behind you, but that is exactly when the hard work starts all over again.”
During interval runs, he chose not to give up, but to keep going. “Not to win one specific match. Not to lift a specific trophy. But simply to keep going. To keep going when you’ve lost. To keep going when you’re being criticized—and even when you’re being praised. To keep going when you really don’t feel like it, simply because that is the kind of person I want to be.”
During his pre-season preparations—which even included a side trip to the Formula 1 race at Spa—he has set personal records in performance tests. Gidsel is motivated once again: "Perhaps that is what truly drives me in the end. Not just the dream of winning a trophy in ten months, but the quiet desire to be able to look in the mirror every single day and know that I put in the work. That I lived up to the standards I set for myself."
Füchse Berlin officially start their 2026/2027 season on 22 August, with a high-stakes match against SC Magdeburg in the German Handball Super Cup