The Füchse Berlin also win their fifth game in the Handball Champions League. The capital city team struggled for a long time against Norway’s champions Kolstad, but were ultimately able to celebrate a confident 38:27 home win.
The Füchse Berlin are still on the road to success in the Handball Champions League.
Coach Nicolej Krickau’s team beat the Norwegian champions Kolstad Handball 38:27 in front of their home crowd on Thursday evening. With five wins from five games, the Foxes are top of Group A. Their next opponent is the Hungarian club One Veszprem on October 23rd.
In the handball Bundesliga, the Berliners will be guests at TVB Stuttgart next Sunday.
“We have a team that can win everything”
Nicolej Krickau has been the Füchse Berlin coach since September. In the interview, the Dane talks about the bumpy start, his close relationship with Mathias Gidsel, his goals with the Foxes and 16-hour working days.more
Hui at the front, yuck at the back
Almost befittingly, the game began with Berlin taking the lead. Tobias Grondahl and Mathias Gidsel were Berlin’s first goalscorers. Kolstad started motivated and didn’t want to be left behind too early, but revealed similar offensive problems as in the last few games. There was always a lack of penetration or cold-bloodedness – the Foxes, on the other hand, acted confidently without shining too much.
After eight minutes, a pleasant combination led to the first point for Lasse Andersson and the 5:2 – the first three-goal lead for the capital city team. The self-confidence from eight wins in a row was clearly noticeable. They used the entire width of the field, were pass-safe and cool when throwing. Only the defense kept revealing holes. Goalkeeper Dejan Milosavljev also had to be warmed up. So after twelve minutes it was 6:4 for the Foxes against courageous opponents.
Füchse acts like a top team – Lichtlein comeback
Above all, the individual quality of the foxes always made the difference. If Gidsel, Grondahl or Fabian Wiede made the game quick, Kolstad had little to counter them. The home team appeared too nimble, technically strong and confident in combinations. The longer the first half lasted, the greater the difference in class became – after 20 minutes the Foxes were comfortably leading 12:7. Reason for Kolstad to take the first time out. However, this should only change the game dynamics slightly.
After 23 minutes, the Fuchsbau celebrated once again, but not because of a goal: Nils Lichtlein celebrated his comeback after a long injury break. At Kolstad, Simen Lyse, who will be moving to PSG, partly single-handedly ensured that the Norwegians did not completely collapse and forced Füchse coach Nicolej Krickau to take the first time-out after 25 minutes in order to sharpen his players’ senses again at the end of the half.
Thanks to an increasingly strong Milosavljev and the first goal from the returnee Lichtlein, the Berliners went into the half-time break with a solid 19:14 lead.
Right in the middle again: Füchse professional Nils Lichtlein
Like a good horse
The second round followed on from the first: the foxes remained the better team, but without completely dominating Kolstad. The Norwegians didn’t give up and kept posing problems for the home side. The foxes sometimes acted like the good horse that only jumps as high as it has to. Just when Kolstad could have developed something like momentum, an ice-cold advance from Berlin maintained the balance of power.
The Norwegians’ defensive holes also ensured that the Füchse lead never really wavered. After 40 minutes it was 25:20 for the capital, who often had an easy game. Kolstad’s defensive overload was also reflected in several two-minute penalties.
Ludwig, counterattack and seven meters
Nevertheless, Füchse coach Krickau was not particularly satisfied and kept shaking his head at the German champions’ too many messy moments. The Berlin game stalled a bit, the other players hardly followed Gidsel’s ideas. In addition, goalkeeper Lasse Ludwig prevented anything from getting worse defensively with a few saves. After 45 minutes, Krickau took another time out and warned that his team was playing too complicated.
The speech was at least somewhat fruitful. The Foxes played more directly, but remained shaky in defense. After 50 minutes it was 30:24 – a decent lead, but still nothing the Foxes could rest on. It was mainly keeper Ludwig, counterattacks and seven meters that carried the Berliners into the final phase of the game.
Jugend forscht – debut goals for Schröder and Günther
But then Kolstad ran out of steam, so that it became unexpectedly clear again in the last ten minutes. The Foxes wanted to offer their fans something more, took advantage of the ever-increasing spaces and gave U19 player Tim Schröder his professional debut in safe waters.
The homegrown player was even able to contribute his first goal to the fireworks of the last few minutes. Young fox Max Günther also had a special evening with his first Champions League goal. The excited Foxes overran the now scattered Kolstad towards the end and ultimately won what had been a very close encounter with 38:27.
Broadcast: rbb inforadio, October 16, 2025, 10 p.m
