Poland sign successor for Wenta

Michael Biegler has signed a four year contract with the Polish Handball Federation (ZPRP) to become the new coach for the men's national team from October 1, 2012.

The 51-year-old German will replace Bogdan Wenta who quit after his team had failed to qualify for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Wenta had been in charge of the team for eight years.

Wenta's former assistants Daniel Waszkiewicz and Damian Wleklak led Poland to two victories in the play-off against Lithuania in June and the team successfully qualified for the World Championship 2013 in Spain.

"The main objective of the new coach will be to prepare the national team for the EHF EURO 2016 which will be played in our country," a ZPRP spokesperson said on the federation's official website.

"This contract means a lot for me. It is a great honour and pleasure to take over this team, Poland is a country with tremendous handball tradition with numerous successes. I am sure my new team will belong to top six or eight countries of the world," Biegler said.

"The continental championships in four years will be a massive challenge and therefore I would like to call upon all people involved in Polish handball. I am only one part of the 'EURO 2016 machine'. I wish the whole country would be inflicted by the same handball fever like it was in Germany at the World Championships in 2007," the new coach added.

When asked about the possibility to call Karol Bielecki or Gregorz Tkaczyk back to the national team, Biegler stated: "I would like to underline that I am not locking the door in front of any player. I am going to have personal talks to any potential candidates for the national team and we all will see what will come out from these talks in several weeks."

Biegler spent almost whole coaching career in Germany where he worked with several Bundesliga clubs. From 1993 to 1996 he worked also as the assistant coach of the German national team.

His predecessor Wenta steered Poland to two medals – at the World Championships 2007 in Germany his team won silver and two years later in Croatia ended up with bronze.

Wenta is now focusing solely on his club engagement with the VELUX EHF Champions League participant Vive Targi Kielce.