Following the sensational victory in the European Championship with the German handball team in Poland in 2016, coach Dagur Sigurdsson was hailed in the German media as the “father of success” – he was the architect of the German handball miracle. Dagur Sigurdsson (born 1973 in Reykjavik, Iceland) looks back on an extremely successful career as a world-class handball player, during which he made 25 international appearances for the Icelandic national team and won numerous titles. Even during his active career, he took on responsibility as player-coach at Wakunaga Hiroshima and A1 Bregenz. From 2008 to 2010, Sigurdsson served as coach of the Austrian national handball team, which he led to an outstanding ninth place at the 2010 European Championships on home soil. From the summer of 2009, he also coached Füchse Berlin, transforming them into a top team in the Handball Bundesliga and leading them to victory in the 2014 DHB Cup and the 2015 EHF Cup. In August 2014, Dagur Sigurdsson took on his biggest challenge to date and became coach of the German national handball team, at a time when it was in the midst of a deep sporting crisis. In just 18 months, he turned a group of young, inexperienced players into a successful team. The team achieved the impossible, winning the European Championship title in Poland in 2016 as underdogs and, just a few months later, the bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Rio. In 2017, Sigurdsson turned his attention to his next role as head coach of the Japanese national team. In February 2024, he stepped down as coach of the Japanese national team and has since been in charge of the Croatian national team. Dagur Sigurdsson has received numerous honours for his outstanding sporting achievements: in 2016, he was voted “World Coach of the Year” and, following their victory at the 2016 European Championships, German Chancellor Angela Merkel honoured the team for their European Championship gold medal. As well as praising the team’s incredible determination, Merkel singled out Sigurdsson in particular, noting that his unique way of motivating the players had made a decisive difference. In addition to his exciting career as a professional handball player and coach, Sigurdsson is a successful entrepreneur in the catering, automotive and IT sectors. Among other things, he is known as the co-founder of the successful Icelandic Kex Hostel in Reykjavik.