Danish handball icon Mikkel Hansen has announced his retirement from the sport, set for this summer, marking the end of an illustrious nearly 20-year career. At a press conference held by his current club, Aalborg Håndbold, the 36-year-old revealed that while he still enjoys playing, he believes this is the right time to retire. Hansen mentioned that he made this decision some time ago, though he has no concrete plans for his post-handball life.
Hansen expressed a desire to participate in the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympic Games, for which Denmark qualified by winning the 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship. Additionally, Aalborg is in the quarter-finals of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League, and the club’s sports director, Jan Larsen, expressed hope that Hansen could end his career with more titles, though Hansen is currently recovering from a groin injury.
Hansen began his handball journey in his hometown of Helsingør and joined GOG as a junior in 2005, marking the start of his senior career. His career included stints with Barcelona and Copenhagen before he joined Paris Saint-Germain in 2012, where he spent a decade becoming one of the sport’s biggest stars. He returned to Denmark in 2022 to join Aalborg, where he has played 68 matches and scored 356 goals, despite missing part of the last season due to mental health issues.
Throughout his career, Hansen has accumulated numerous domestic titles, including nine French championships and three Danish championships. While he reached the EHF FINAL4 with PSG three times and was a runner-up in the EHF Champions League in 2017, the prestigious trophy has eluded him.
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