Kai Häfner (born 10 July 1989) is a German

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 for TVB Stuttgart and the German national team. He participated at the

2019 World Men's Handball Championship The 2019 IHF World Men's Handball Championship was the 26th event hosted by the International Handball Federation and held in Denmark and Germany from 10 to 27 January 2019. It was the first IHF World Men's Handball Championship to include more t ...

Club career

Häfner began his handball career at hometown club TSB Schwäbisch Gmünd, before moving to 2. Bundesliga side

TV Bittenfeld TVB 1898 Stuttgart is a handball club from Waiblingen, town of Bittenfeld, Germany. that plays in the Handball-Bundesliga. History TV Bittenfeld played in the 2nd Division German Handball Championship from the 2006/07 season to the 2014/15 se ...

in 2006. Having switched to

Frisch Auf Göppingen Turn- und Polizeisportgemeinschaft Frisch Auf Göppingen e.V. is a sports club from Germany, located in Göppingen, Baden-Württemberg. The club's men's handball team plays under the name FRISCH AUF! Göppingen in Handball-Bundesliga. Nine-time c ...

the following year, Häfner would spend four seasons playing for the Swabians, with whom 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 2011. The German switched to fellow Bundesliga club HBW Balingen-Weilstetten in 2011. After three years, Häfner was once again on the move, switching to

TSV Hannover-Burgdorf TSV Hannover-Burgdorf is a handball club from Hannover, Germany, and is competing in the Handball-Bundesliga. History The team is known as DIE RECKEN. The origins of the club lie with the sports association Freie Turnerschaft Burgdorf, which ...

ahead of the 2014 season. He went to

MT Melsungen MT Melsungen is a German handball team from Melsungen, Germany, that plays in the Handball-Bundesliga. History From 1992 to 2005, the team played in the 2. Handball-Bundesliga and finished third twice (in 1997/98 and 2003/2004). In the 20 ...

in 2019, where he spent four seasons. Having been captain until 2023, Häfner left shortly after his role was allocated to Timo Kastening. In 2023, Häfner returned to the now renamed TVB Stuttgart.

International career

Häfner won the silver medal with the German junior national team at the 2008 European Championships. A year later, he won gold at the Junior World Championships. On 15 April 2010, he made his debut for the men's national team in a match against Denmark. At the 2016 European Championships in Poland, he was called up for the last game of the main round (against Russia) after Steffen Weinhold was injured. The team won the title against Spain, to which Häfner contributed with a total of 15 goals in three games. These included the winning goal in the final seconds of the game in the 34:33 victory over Norway in the semi-final. At the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, he won the bronze medal with the German team. He was awarded the Silver Laurel Leaf by the Federal President on 1 November 2016. He was called up to the 20-man squad for the 2018 European Championships by national coach Christian Prokop and took part in the preparations. He was called up to the final squad on 7 January and took part in the 2018 European Championships. Häfner also took part in the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Having scored eleven goals in the first two games, Häfner was ruled out of the tournament after a positive

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

test. At the 2023 World Cup, he and the team finished fifth, with Häfner scoring 28 goals.

Achievements

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

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2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

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2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

European Championship A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

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References

External links

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Kai Haefner
at the

Paris 2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hafner, Kai 1989 births Living people German male handball players Olympic handball players for Germany Olympic silver medalists for Germany Olympic bronze medalists for Germany Olympic medalists in handball Handball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 2024 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Handball-Bundesliga players Frisch Auf Göppingen players MT Melsungen players TSV Hannover-Burgdorf players TVB Stuttgart players Sportspeople from Schwäbisch Gmünd Handball players from Stuttgart (region) 21st-century German sportsmen