Christian Schwarzer

Christian "Blacky" Schwarzer is a German handball coach and former player. As a member of the Germany national team, he won the world championship in 2007 and the silver medal at the 2004 Olympics.
He was awarded the Silbernes Lorbeerblatt for his win in the 2007 World Championship. He was included in the European Handball Federation Hall of Fame in 2023.
Schwarzer also played beach handball, where he won the German Beach handball championship in 2003.

Playing career

Born in Braunschweig, Schwarzer played for VfL Fredenbeck from 1987 to 1991; Schwarzer's first game for the Germany national team was on 21 November 1989, against the German Democratic Republic in Wilhelmshaven.
Schwarzer played for TV Niederwürzbach from 1991 to 1999. While playing for FC Barcelona Handbol from 1999 to 2001, the German handball player of the year 2001, won the Spanish Championship, the Copa del Rey de Balonmano and the EHF Champions League in 2000. Since 2001, he has played for TBV Lemgo, with which he won the DHB-Pokal in 2002, the Handball-Bundesliga in 2003 and the EHF Cup 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 Championships, five European Men's Handball Championships 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. After becoming World champion, he stepped down again and became a handball coach.

Coaching career

In 2009, Schwarzer became 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.