It looked as if they had hastily darkened the room in Trondheim, switched on the sparse spotlights and quickly put a few tables together. The white tablecloths weren’t properly ironed, nor were they flush at the ends. A couple of paper cups were stacked on top of it, next to them were plastic bottles with water. The Norwegian club Kolstad wants to be the new, really big number in European handball – this appearance still seemed quite puristic.
Of course, the decisive factor was who took a seat on the chairs behind the wrinkled tablecloths – and Kolstad, who currently plays in the mediocre Norwegian premier league, made six big, fat statements. On Sunday, Sander Sagosen, Torbjörn Bergerud and Magnus Röd first stepped out through a side door – three Norwegians who will wear the Kolstad jersey in the future. Goalkeeper Bergerud will come from Gudme in Denmark in 2022, backcourt player Sagosen from THW Kiel and circle runner Röd from SG Flensburg-Handewitt will join them in 2023. Sagosen can be assigned to the absolute world class, Bergerud and Röd at least to the extended top class.
You will all be in Kolstad from now on, really?
And that’s not all, because the club was also able to confirm the commitment of Magnus Gullerud (SC Magdeburg), Janus Smarason (Frisch Auf Göppingen) and Sigvaldi Gudjonsson from KC Kielce from Poland for 2022. Four Norwegians, two Icelanders, that makes, if you will, almost a first seven that could compete with the best clubs in the Champions League.
“Norway’s toughest sporting experience will be created,” announced the general manager
How is that possible? The answer is: with a lot of money. And a lot of pathos. Kolstad from the south of the city of Trondheim has never been a Norwegian champion, but has set itself exactly this as its first goal. The premise is a top club for Norway. There is enough money for this huge project since the food company Rema 1000 has acted as the main sponsor.
Sagosen and Co. could have continued to play consistently in the Champions League with their current clubs, but are deliberately taking a step back with Kolstad in order to build something new. Together they will create “Norway’s toughest sporting experience,” announced General Director Jostein Sivertsen. “A unique opportunity,” enthused goalkeeper Bergerud.
Also under contract soon with Kolstad: Magnus Rød from Flensburg.
(Photo: Jörg Lühn / Holsteinoffice.de/Imago)
Norwegian clubs have so far been more good at training great talents before they switched to the more prominent addresses. This should be over now. In a first step, the club is bringing some of the best national players home, which in the case of Sagosen even represents a first-class return home: After nine years in Aalborg, Paris and Kiel, he will return to the club in 2023, for which he was from 2012 to 2013 has already played one season, and on top of that his father Erlend is a member of the coaching staff. “It’s been a dream for me since I left Trondheim,” said Sagosen. He did not decide against Kiel, but in favor of his family. He just has to try it.
The German Handball Bundesliga (HBL) hits this shopping tour hard, losing some of its greatest attractions in one fell swoop. Sagosen, Röd, Gullerud and Smarason play prominent roles in their clubs; The officials from Kiel and Flensburg emphasized in unison that they had made the best possible offers to the players, and some of the contracts were ready to be signed.
However, the clubs could not do anything about the home factor. In Kiel in particular, the shock should sit deep, the THW wanted to build up its team of the future around Sagosen. But the Norwegian canceled after weeks of deliberation. When his change became public, the THW lost embarrassingly at the newly promoted TuS N-Lübbecke. “Inexcusable” was one of the friendlier words that came up in the analysis that followed.
The program of the German first division clubs is notorious
In Trondheim, on the other hand, the euphoria is great and palpable. It is quite possible that, in view of the personal details made so far, other top executives will join the project. The Flensburger Röd also noted another interesting aspect. He will soon have to play significantly fewer games at Kolstad; the program of the German first division team is notorious, nowhere else in Europe is the handball bodies asked so much, the players have to travel every three days in the bus across the whole country and half of Europe. So rather a bit more relaxed in Norway. “That can mean that I have a longer career at the highest level,” said Röd.
So the mass exodus of the Norwegians can also be interpreted as a warning: to the German associations, who persistently refuse to make the game plan more bearable.