With their triumph in the Champions League, SC Magdeburg recently provided a handball highlight. Now the defending champions and champions Kiel are back on the international stage.
Defending champion SC Magdeburg starts the premier class full of anticipation, while THW Kiel is slightly unsettled after two recent Bundesliga defeats.
Despite the different moods, Germany’s top handball clubs are striving for a common goal in the new Champions League season: Cologne, where Magdeburgers sensationally triumphed almost three months ago.
National coach Alfred Gislason trusts his former clubs to have an important say in the hunt for the most important club trophy this time too. “Both teams have a good chance of reaching the final tournament,” said the 64-year-old Icelander. The last time two German teams were in the Final Four was in 2014, which will take place again in the cathedral city on June 8th and 9th, 2024.
The only way to look forward in Magdeburg is to look forward
SCM coach Bennet Wiegert doesn’t want to think that far ahead of the opening duel with Hungary’s top club Telekom Veszprem this Thursday (8:45 p.m.). “The title win is over, the race in the preseason is over. We are proud to be able to call ourselves Champions League winners, but now the competition is starting again,” said Wiegert modestly.
A week later, the Magdeburgers went straight to record winners FC Barcelona, whom the German runners-up eliminated in a seven-meter throw in a dramatic semi-final at the Final 4 tournament. “These are all great things that make handball hearts beat faster. I like these challenges and I’m happy that we can play in the Champions League again,” said Wiegert.
Kiel: Normal form “pretty far away”
While his team seems prepared for the international challenges, the Kiel team lost their rhythm of success early in the season due to the recent defeats in Flensburg and against Melsungen. “This is a situation that we didn’t want, but that we will now face,” said THW trainer Flip Jicha defiantly.
The European journey begins for the German record champions this Thursday (6.45 p.m.) at the Croatian series champions HC Zagreb. “We definitely want to get back on track after the recent disappointing results,” said backcourt player Nikola Bilyk, formulating the goal.
However, the THW is currently losing its self-image, which is why Bilyk suspects: “The opening game in Zagreb will be anything but easy for us.” Circular player Patrick Wiencek also sees the four-time Champions League winner, who was in the final four times, as “pretty far away from normal” at the moment.
Jicha and his protégés are looking for the winning gene that has always distinguished the Kiel team in the past. For Gislason, the THW is still one of the big favorites for the title – if it competes with the best line-up and top form. National player Rune Dahmke gave the slogan before the trip to Zagreb: “We have to start from scratch again.”