Christian "Blacky" Schwarzer (born 23 October 1969) is a now-retired professional

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

player and present-day coach. As a member of the

Germany men's national handball team The Germany national handball team is the country's national men's handball team and represents Germany in international tournaments in men's handball and is one of the most successful handball teams in the world, having ...

, he won the world championship in 2007 and the

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

at the

2004 Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

. He was awarded the

Silbernes Lorbeerblatt Silbernes Lorbeerblatt (, ), the highest sports award in Germany, was endowed on 23 June 1950 by the German President Theodor Heuss. It is awarded to athletes and teams of exemplary character that have won medals at Olympic and Paralympic Games ...

for his win in the 2007 World Championship. He was included in the

European Handball Federation The European Handball Federation (EHF) is the umbrella organisation for European handball. Founded on 17 November 1991, it is made of 50 member federations and two associated federations (England and Scotland), and is headquartered in Vienna, Au ...

Hall of Fame in 2023. Schwarzer also played beach handball, where he won the German Beach handball championship in 2003.

Career

Born in

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( ; from Low German , local dialect: ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...

, Schwarzer played for VfL Fredenbeck from 1987 to 1991; Schwarzer's first game for the German national handball team was on 21 November 1989, against the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

Wilhelmshaven Wilhelmshaven (, ''Wilhelm's Harbour''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Willemshaven'') is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmsha ...

. Schwarzer played for TV Niederwürzbach from 1991 to 1999. While playing for

FC Barcelona Handbol Futbol Club Barcelona Handbol is a professional Spanish handball team based in Barcelona, Catalonia. It is a part of the FC Barcelona multi sports club, and was founded on 29 November 1942. The club competes domestically in the Liga ASOBAL and ...

from 1999 to 2001, the German handball player of the year 2001, won the Spanish Championship, the

Copa del Rey de Balonmano The Copa del Rey de Balonmano ( English: '' King's Cup of Handball'') is an annual cup competition for Spanish handball teams. Organized by the Liga ASOBAL. It was originally known as the ''Copa del Generalísimo'' and was renamed ''Copa de SM El ...

and the

EHF Champions League The EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the men's com ...

in 2000. Since 2001, he has played for

TBV Lemgo TBV Lemgo is a handball club from Lemgo, Germany, and is competing in the Handball-Bundesliga. History The ascent to one of the best German handball clubs was slow but steady. In the year the Bundesliga was founded, the club was still in the O ...

, with which he won the

DHB-Pokal The DHB-Pokal (English: German Handball Federation Cup) is an elimination handball tournament held annually in Germany. It is the second most important handball national title in the country after the Handball-Bundesliga championship. DHB-Pokal ...

in 2002, the

Handball-Bundesliga The Handball-Bundesliga (HBL) is the top German professional handball league. From 2007 to 2012, the league was sponsored by Toyota and was officially called the ''Toyota Handball-Bundesliga''. In 2012 the Deutsche Kreditbank AG (DKB) became t ...

in 2003 and the

EHF Cup The EHF European League is an annual men's handball club competition organised by the European Handball Federation (EHF) since 1981. It is the second-tier competition of European club handball, ranking only below the EHF Champions League. Previo ...

in 2006. He is considered part of the Lemgo 'golden generation' together with Daniel Stephan, Volker Zerbe, Florian Kehrmann and Stefan Kretzschmar, who won the European Championship together. During his career, Schwarzer took part in six

World Men's Handball Championship The IHF Men's Handball World Championship has been organized indoor by the International Handball Federation since 1938. In the twenty-nine tournaments held, twelve national teams have won the title. France is the most successful team with six ...

s, five

European Men's Handball Championship The European Men's Handball Championship is the official competition for senior men's national handball teams of Europe and takes place every two years since 1994, in the even-numbered year between the World Championship. In addition to crowning ...

s and three Olympic Games. He has participated in 310 international matches, with 949 goals. In 2004, he retired but was reactivated for the

2007 World Men's Handball Championship The 2007 World Men's Handball Championship was the 20th edition of the tournament that took place from 19 January to 4 February 2007 in Germany. 24 national teams played in 12 German cities. It was the 20th edition of the World Championship in t ...

. After becoming World champion, he stepped down again and became a handball coach.

Coaching career

In 2009, he become the Junior coordinator at the Deutscher Handballbund and the Handball-Verbandes Saar. In 2011, he became the coach for the German youth team, replacing Martin Heuburger. He was in this position until 2015.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schwarzer, Christian 1969 births Living people German male handball players German expatriate handball players in Spain Olympic handball players for Germany Olympic medalists in handball Olympic silver medalists for Germany Handball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Braunschweig Handball players from Lower Saxony West German male handball players TV Niederwürzbach players FC Barcelona Handbol players TBV Lemgo players Rhein-Neckar Löwen players German handball coaches Beach handball players