As of: October 7th, 2025 11:43 a.m
Handball record champion THW Kiel has to cope with a personnel setback before the 113th state derby on Saturday at SG Flensburg-Handewitt. The Danish backcourt player Emil Madsen will be out for several months.
Kiel’s top goalscorer last season will “in all probability no longer be able to help the league leaders this year,” the THW announced on Tuesday.
Madsen was recently unable to train or play due to knee pain that occurred under full load. The symptoms were due to a cartilage injury in the right knee, as team doctor Philip Lübke diagnosed.
“Emil is a world-class man. If he can’t play, it will be a brutal loss for us.”
THW trainer Filip Jicha
No surgery for Madsen
The 24-year-old’s treatment was carried out “conservatively” and “without surgical measures” in coordination with doctors from the Danish national team and other experts, as the club further announced. “Our priority is to ensure that Emil’s knee regains its full strength as gently as possible,” explained Lübke.
For the Kiel team, who will still have to do without the long-term injured Gonzalo Perez de Vargas and Hendrik Pekeler, the loss of their key player is once again a personnel setback. “Emil is a world-class man. If he can’t play, it will be a brutal loss for us,” said THW coach Filip Jicha, who now only has one experienced left-hander in the squad, Harald Reinkind.
THW is not planning to bring in a Madsen replacement for the time being
Managing director Viktor Szilagyi is ruling out a short-term follow-up commitment for the time being: “We will of course closely monitor Emil’s treatment progress and take action if necessary.”
On Saturday the “Zebras” will be guests at SG Flensburg-Handewitt for the state derby (3:40 p.m., live on Erste and in Live stream on sportschau.de). Before the game, only one point separates both teams in the table.
