Werder Bremen once tried to sign current handball international Juri Knorr for football. This is revealed in a new biography of the 26-year-old playmaker. While the club was searching for talent back then, they are now embroiled in a tight title race, sitting in fifth place with 15 points, just three points behind leaders Bayern München.
Former Werder managing director Frank Baumann contacted Knorr's father after the player's departure from Hamburger SV to explore a potential move. Baumann "built bridges for the Knorrs, was polite, cautious, empathetic," the book states. Father and son briefly considered a switch to the Bundesliga club but ultimately decided to fully commit to a handball career.
Knorr played football in his youth from the U12 to U14 levels at Hamburger SV, alongside future professionals like Jann-Fiete Arp and Josha Vagnoman. At age 13, however, he turned down entry into the HSV academy. "I had good vision, played good passes, a bit like in handball," Knorr said about his footballing qualities. The club demanded he quit handball, which his father found absurd. The workload and pressure in the performance-oriented youth setup were too much for the family.
After this experience came the approach from Werder Bremen. Talks with Baumann were positive, but the decision was already made. Knorr stuck with handball, moving from Rhein-Neckar Löwen to Aalborg Håndbold in Denmark in 2025 and winning a silver medal with the German national team at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The biography "Juri Knorr. Der Spielmacher, die Biografie" by sports journalist Frank Heike spans 200 pages and is available from Arete Verlag for 20 euros. While Werder was searching for young talent back then, the club now sits in a solid fifth place in the standings with 15 points from 8 games, having recorded four wins, three draws and one loss. Coach Ole Werner's team won their last home game 2-0 against TSG Hoffenheim on October 31, with goals from Niclas Füllkrug and Eren Dinkci. This was part of a recent run of two wins and two draws from their last five matches, which also included a 3-2 win at Mainz and a 3-2 defeat at Dortmund where Füllkrug scored twice. The striker is currently the team's top scorer with eight goals this season, with the side having scored 17 and conceded 14 overall. Their next fixture is an away match against 10th-placed VfB Stuttgart on Saturday 7 November.
This story first appeared at Bild
