THW Kiel announced the most important news of the summer on a sunny and windy day on the Baltic Sea. The sun shone particularly brightly in the Baltic Sea resort of Damp, Filip Jicha had to put on dark sunglasses when he announced that he would not sit down in a comfortable beach chair in Damp, but would work as the head coach of Kiel until 2026.
He played as a professional for THW for eight years and is now entering his third season as a coach. He carries the club “deep in his heart,” said Jicha. And yes, he still has a lot planned for the team. From what we hear, the contract talks with CEO Viktor Szilagyi weren’t particularly complicated. Jicha and Kiel, that fits.
Not everything went well at THW last season. So the championship did not go to Kiel, but to Magdeburg, because the SCM stormed to win the title in an unreal chain of furious games with only two defeats. The primary goal of the incited Kielers is to snatch this title away from Magdeburg. There will be an initial idea of the balance of power on Wednesday evening when champions Magdeburg and cup winners Kiel meet in the game for the German Supercup (7 p.m. in Düsseldorf, live on Sky).
At Kiel, two of the best players are out for several months
Basically, it’s not a particularly important game, but a win against the champions would be good for THW, especially since it is becoming apparent that the first half of the season will otherwise be difficult for the record champions. No team in the world can replace two of the best handball players on the planet in the long term, especially not when their names are Sander Sagosen and Hendrik Pekeler. Norway’s Sagosen has suffered an ankle fracture, Pekeler a torn Achilles tendon; it is questionable whether both will still appear in the 2022 calendar year.
New in the Bundesliga: Almost all top teams wanted to sign Mathias Gidsel (middle), he now plays for Füchse Berlin.
(Photo: Julius Frick/Jan Huebner/Imago)
The Kiel additions make sense from a handball point of view, but the really big names are missing. In Tomas Mrkva came a goalkeeper from Bergischer HC, who is scheduled to be the second man behind Niklas Landin. Petter Överby, brought in from HC Erlangen to replace Pekeler, shouldn’t need much time to get used to the circle. Whether that applies to the two Swedish backcourt players Eric Johansson (Elverum HB) and Karl Wallinius (Montpellier HB) is uncertain. Both are European champions and highly talented, but the struggle in the Bundesliga with games every three days is new for both of them.
Kiel’s plan should look like this: first get through the period without Sagosen and Pekeler as best as possible, then attack in the second half of the season. “If someone writes us off, that’s a mistake,” Jicha has threatened.
In the fight for the championship title, a situation is emerging that other sports envy handball players for. At least four serious title aspirants can be listed, in addition to Kiel (champion 2020 and 2021) and local rivals SG Flensburg-Handewitt (champion 2018 and 2019) as well as Füchse Berlin, who managed to sign Mathias Gidsel, one of the most sought-after handball players in Europe . And of course Magdeburg, which has the best-established selection. He doesn’t want to see last season’s title “as a one-hit wonder,” said coach Bennet Wiegert, but it’s hard to confirm such a performance. Heiner Brand trusts the SCM to do this. “I would put my money on Magdeburg,” said the former national coach.
Two new rules should make the game even faster
Maybe it all comes down to who is the smartest at adapting to this summer’s rule changes. Handball usually doesn’t have to be accused of not doing enough in the 60 minutes – but now the game should pick up speed again. If time play is displayed, only four instead of the previously permitted six passes are now permitted. Even faster degrees are in demand; the teams will come up with something.
The players also have to rethink when throwing in after a goal. The old principle “One foot on the middle line” that everyone knows in children’s handball no longer applies. Instead of a throw-off point, there is now a zone four meters in diameter; if a player enters this zone with one foot, the referees may blow the whistle immediately. The throwing player no longer has to stand still, but can carry out the throw at full speed. In the game, “a different pace is possible”, judged the German Olympic referee Robert Schulze. The effects on tactics are high, you will “experience new situations in the fast middle”.
Even more speed in the game could be an advantage for the long-distance runners from Magdeburg or Flensburg. Or for an outsider? When the fast center was introduced at the beginning of the millennium, the top teams initially had a hard time. Surprisingly, the 2003 championship title went to the team that had adapted most consistently to the new rule: TBV Lemgo.