# Mathias Gidsel

Mathias Gidsel (born 8 February 1999) is a Danish handball player for Füchse Berlin and the Danish national team. A three-time winner of the World Championship with Denmark, and two-time winner of the Handball-Planet – Best World Handball Player, and a winner of The One Upskill Handball – World Best player, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time.
At the 2024 European Championship, Gidsel became joint top scorer of the tournament with 54 goals and was included in the All Star Team as the best right back, with Denmark reaching the final but losing out to France in extra time.

## Early life

Mathias Gidsel went to Oure Efterskole when he was 15, where he started practicing handball at a level, where the ambition became to become professional. Initially he only planned to be at the school for 1 year, but ended up staying for 5 years, which led to joining Danish top club GOG Håndbold.

## Career

Gidsel started playing for GOG Håndbold in 2014, while he was at Oure Efterskole. In 2017 he was promoted to the first team, where he quickly broke through. He came second with the club in the Danish Championship twice.
In 2021 he won the 'Årets Fund' (breakthrough of the year) in Danish sports awarded by National Olympic Committee and Sports Confederation of Denmark, Team Danmark and Politiken, the first handball player to do so since 1957.
After debuting for the Danish national team he joined German side Füchse Berlin, where he signed a contract until 2028 with the club. With the club he won the 2022/2023 EHF European League. In 2025 he extended his contract until 2029.
He plays in number 19 because of his admiration of the French player Luc Abalo.

### National team

Gidsel debuted for the Danish national team on November 7, 2020 against Finland, where he scored 3 goals. His first major tournament was at the 2021 World Cup where he became a world champion with the Danish team. His first match at a major tournament was against Bahrain, where he scored 10 goals, which was the record for the most goals for a major tournament debutant ever for the Danish national team, although he did only hold the record for 6 days when Emil Manfeldt Jakobsen scored 12 against Japan. In that tournament, he was included in the All Star team and the Danish handball expert Lars Krogh Jeppesen called him the best Danish player at the tournament.
At the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Gidsel won the MVP award, while winning silver medals with the Danish team.
He won gold medals at the 2023 World Championship with the Danish team. He was the top scorer at the tournament with 60 goals.
At 2024 European Championship he was the joint top scorer together with Martim Costa with 54 goals, and was in the all star team.
At the 2024 Olympics he won Olympic gold with the Danish team and won the MVP once again. Additionally he was the top scorer with 62 goals, which is the record for most goals at an Olympic tournament, beating the record of his teammate Mikkel Hansen

## Honours

* Danish Handball League:
** Winner: 2022
* EHF European League:
** Winner: 2023

### Individual awards

* IHF World Player of the Year – Men: 2023
* All-Star Right back of the World Championship: 2021
* All-Star Right back of the European Championship: 2022, 2024
* Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Olympic Games: 2020, 2024
* Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the World Championship: 2023, 2025
* Top Scorer at the Olympic Games: 2024
* Top Scorer at the World Championship: 2023 (60 goals), 2025 (74 goals)
* Top Scorer at the European Championship: 2024 (54 goals)
* Handball-Planet – Best young player in the world: 2021
* Danish Player of the year: 2021
* Danish National team Player of the year: 2022
* EHF Excellence Awards Best right back of the season: 2022/23
* Handball-Planet – Best World Handball Player: 2023, 2024
* The One Upskill Handball – World Best Player: 2024

## League statistics

| Season | Club | League | GP | Goals | 7-Meter | OPG |
| 2017–18 | GOG Håndbold | Håndboldligaen | 04 | 04 | 0/0 (-%)0 | 04 |
| 2018–19 | GOG Håndbold | Håndboldligaen | 34 | 028 | 0/0 (-%)0 | 028 |
| 2019–20 | GOG Håndbold | Håndboldligaen | 24 | 051 | 0/0 (-%)0 | 051 |
| 2020–21 | GOG Håndbold | Håndboldligaen | 35 | 173 | 3/3 (100%) | 170 |
| 2021–22 | GOG Håndbold | Håndboldligaen | 22 | 116 | 1/1 (100%) | 115 |
| 2022–23 | Füchse Berlin | Bundesliga | 26 | 139 | 0/0 (-%)0 | 139 |
| 2017–2023 | combined | combined | 145 | 511 | 4/4 (100%) | 507 |
Note: Games Played and Goals include Play-offs

## Major tournament statistics

    As of conclusion of 2025 World Men's Handball Championship
| Tnmt | GP | Gls | Sh | G% | 7G | 7S | As | AG | St | Bl | 2M | RC | Pl |
| 2021 WC | 9 | 39 | 49 | 80 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 66 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1st |
| 2020 OG | 8 | 46 | 57 | 81 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 80 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2nd |
| 2022 EC | 7 | 38 | 43 | 88 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 73 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3rd |
| 2023 WC | 9 | 60 | 80 | 75 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 102 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1st |
| 2024 EC | 8 | 54 | 66 | 82 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 89 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2nd |
| 2024 OG | 8 | 62 | 83 | 75 | 0 | 0 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 1st |
| 2025 WC | 9 | 74 | 107 | 69 | 1 | 1 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 1st |