Daniel Stephan (born 3 August 1973) is a retired

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. He was named IHF World player of the year in 1998. Born in

Rheinhausen Rheinhausen () is a district of the city of Duisburg in Germany, with a population of 78,203 (December 31, 2020) and an area of 38.68 km². It lies on the left bank of the river Rhine. Rheinhausen consists of the neighbourhoods: Rumeln-Kald ...

, he was a member of the German national handball team from 1995, winning the

2004 European Men's Handball Championship The 2004 Men's European Handball Championship was the sixth edition of the tournament and took place from 22 January to 1 February 2004 in Slovenia in the cities of Ljubljana, Celje, Velenje and Koper. Venues Qualification :1 Bold indicates ...

. He retired in 2005, after an injury series not wanting to end, which had let him never take part at a

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 ...

. Stephan was the World Player of the Year 1998 and the German handball player of the years 1997 to 1999. In the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

Stephan played for OSC Rheinhausen until 1994, when he changed to

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 ...

where he played until 2008. With Lemgo, he has won the National Cup of Germany in 1995, 1997 and 2002, the National Championship of Germany in 1997 and 2003, 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 as well as the

EHF Cup Winner's Cup The EHF Cup Winners' Cup was the official competition for men's and women's handball clubs of Europe that won their national cup, and took place every year. From the 2012–13 season, the men's competition was merged with the EHF Cup. Winners ...

in 1996. On April 5th 2005 in a match against

HSG Wetzlar HSG Wetzlar is a professional handball club from Wetzlar, Germany. It competes in the top-tier Handball-Bundesliga and in the DHB-Pokal, German Handball Cup. They have played in the Bundesliga since 1998 without relegation. History The modern ...

he scored 11 penalties out of 11 attempts, which is a Bundesliga record. He is considered part of the Lemgo 'golden generation' together with

Volker Zerbe Volker Zerbe (born 30 June 1968) is a former German team handball player and manager. He received a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens with the German national team Christian Schwarzer Christian "Blacky" Schwarzer (born 23 October 1969) is a now-retired professional German handball player and present-day coach. As a member of the Germany men's national handball team, he won the world championship in 2007 and the silver medal ...

, Florian Kehrmann and

Stefan Kretzschmar Stefan Kretzschmar (; born 17 February 1973) is a retired professional German handball player. He was a three-time Olympic athlete and winner of the Olympic silver medal with the German team in 2004. He is currently the sporting director at F� ...

, who won the European Championship together.

References

* 1973 births Living people Sportspeople from Duisburg Handball players from Düsseldorf (region) German male handball players Olympic handball players for Germany Handball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Germany Olympic medalists in handball Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics 21st-century German sportsmen TBV Lemgo players Handball administrators German sports executives and administrators 20th-century German sportsmen {{Germany-handball-Olympic-medalist-stub