Niclas Ekberg, the right-back, opted out of both the European Championship 2020 and the World Championship 2021 due to family reasons, but returned to the national team at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
When Ekberg announced in the autumn of 2023 that "the time has come", it sounded like his farewell was definitive after a total of 210 international matches.
But now he's sitting here, sunk into a sofa at the national team's hotel in Malmö. The clothes are blue and yellow, the hair is bleached blonde. And his sights are set on a new championship, the 14th in a row for the Ystad-born player who turned 36 years old the day before Christmas Eve.
Twelve years in Kiel
His qualities as a handball player are undisputed. During twelve years at THW Kiel, he became an immortal icon, a reliable winger and penalty shooter who snatched the club's goal record from Magnus Wislander. Last summer, he moved back home to Sweden and Ystads IF, but before everything was over in Kiel, the Germans bid farewell to their "Eki" with a farewell match.
It was big and emotional. A nice farewell, to be hailed and feel that you've done something great in such a big and venerable club.
The move home is also one of the main reasons why Niclas Ekberg said yes when the World Championship question came up. Fewer matches have both reduced the physical strain and given more time for family and the three children.
I usually don't make any hasty decisions, and back then when I quit, it felt right. Then the desire has grown more and more as the circumstances have changed.
"Pure disaster"
Three years have passed since the European Championship gold in Budapest, where Niclas Ekberg became an unlikely hero in an equally unlikely championship. The coronavirus omicron variant was raging, and player after player was put in quarantine after testing positive.
Ekberg was no exception. He even got cleared to play before being quarantined for the second time. Only to be released again just in time for the final – and score the winning goal on a penalty in the last second.
The championship itself was a pure disaster. I flew in and out of quarantines, it was a pure circus and a lot of things that had nothing to do with handball. But it became a fairy-tale ending to a chaotic journey.
Now it's a somewhat battered national team that Niclas Ekberg is returning to. The Olympic Games last summer ended in the quarterfinals, new national team coach Michael Apelgren has had little time to put his mark on the team after Glenn Solberg's unexpected departure. And as if that weren't enough, both Felix Claar and Oscar Bergendahl, two key players, are missing.
There's still a lot of potential in this team. If we get all the pieces together, we can play really good handball, says Ekberg.
Carl Göransson/TT
Facts: Niclas Ekberg
TT
Born: December 23, 1988.
Position: Right-back.
International matches/goals: 210/841 (debuted in 2008).
Previous championships: 13 (European Championship 2010, World Championship 2011, European Championship 2012, Olympic Games 2012, European Championship 2014, World Championship 2015, European Championship 2016, World Championship 2017, European Championship 2018, World Championship 2019, Olympic Games 2021, European Championship 2022, World Championship 2023.
Awards: Six Bundesliga titles and one Champions League title with Kiel. European Championship gold, European Championship silver, and Olympic Games silver with Sweden.
Club: Ystads IF.
Sweden will begin the World Championship in Oslo on January 16. Japan, Chile, and Spain await in the first group stage. The two best teams will advance to the intermediate round.
The blue and yellow team began their World Championship preparations in Malmö on Epiphany and will rehearse against Iceland in Kristianstad on Thursday and in Malmö on Saturday.
