Record player Robert Weber resigns from ÖHB

The Austrian national handball team will have to do without record player Robert Weber from now on.

The 38-year-old will announce his retirement from the team on Saturday after playing 228 matches for ÖHB and scoring 990 goals – the second most in history.

Weber said on Instagram: “After 20 years in the national team, now is the time to say hello and officially announce my resignation from the Austrian national team.”

A key player on the team for decades

He looks back with a “laughing and tearful” eye on “a very long and beautiful time” with “many happy, exciting and successful moments”.

After making his debut on 19 November 2004 in the winning 30:20 test match against Italy in Innsbruck, the winger almost did not miss any international matches and was mainly in the major events – 2010 European Championship, 2011 World Cup, 2014 European Championship, 2015 European Cup World Cup, European Championship 2018, World Cup 2019, European Championship 2020, World Cup 2021, European Championship 2022 and most recently the European Championship this year – a key player in the team.

In the latter in Germany, where Austria finished eighth, Weber was also elected to the All-Star team.

“An era is coming to an end”

“Robert has shaped the right wing position in the national team for more than two decades. Robert always wore the team shirt with pride and always left his heart for Austria on the field. His name has helped shape the last 20 years. The era is coming,” says Patrick Fulser, Sporting Director. In ÖHB: “To the end. “His commitment and commitment to the national team.”

No player has played more than Weber; Only Andreas Dieter, who scored 1,089 goals, has scored more. “The family and I made this decision together. It's the right time,” the left-hander confirms.

Not the end of a complete career

At club level, the ÖHB player celebrated his biggest successes in Germany in 2014/15, where he became top scorer in the Magdeburg-Dress League, in 2016 he won the DHB Cup, and in 2023 he also won the EHF European League. The second most important European cup, with the Foch Berlin competition.

More professional stations initially included Hard, in Germany also HBW Balingen-Weilstetten and HSG Nordhorn-Lingen and in Greece for half a year Olympiakos SFP.

With 2,510 goals, he ranks fifth on the list of all-time Bundesliga top scorers. His football career is not over yet, as Weber currently plays in the Swiss Second League with SG Fides/Otmar St. Gallen.

Austrians in Germany Handball Great