Media Guide VELUX EHF Champions League Season 2012/2013 Group Phase
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Media Guide VELUX EHF Champions League Season 2012/2013 Group Phase Group B TABLE OF CONTENTS GROUP B – expert´s view 3 THW Kiel 4 BM Atlético de Madrid 7 MKB Veszprém KC 10 IK Sävehof 13 RK Celje Pivovarna Laško 16 HCM Constanta 19 Schedule of matches 22 2 TEAMS: 1. THW Kiel 2. MKB Veszprém KC 3. BM Atlético Madrid 4. IK Sävehof 5. Celje Pivovarna Laško 6. HCM Constanta Expert Francois-Xavier Houlet says: What a group this is! Kiel, Madrid (formerly known as Ciudad Real) and Celje have won seven of the last nine Champions League titles! Furthermore, Kiel and Madrid are last year#s finalists. And despite many changes in their respective rosters, both “giants” belong to the top favourites. Kiel’s main challenge is the integration of five new players into the team. Especially, new top- shooter Marko Vujin faces the very difficult task to follow the big footsteps that Kim Andersson left. Atlético Madrid had to cope with the departures of, among others, Dinart, Strbik, Chema or Abalo. But after having signed Barrachet, Gojun and Superstar Balić there is no doubt that Madrid will continue to be one of the top teams. Veszprém are for many people the dark horse that could surprise the favourites. With Ugalde, Chema Rodriguez or coach Ortega speaks, the Hungarian champion now plays with a Spanish accent. I believe, this bunch of players can go very far in the competition. Celje, Sävehof and Constanta will likely compete for fourth place in Group B. Celje and Constanta have signed some strong players and can rely on their home crowd support, which is why it will be difficult for Sävehof to repeat last season’s feat when they won the qualification tournament and then finished third place in the group. But who knows what else is this team is capable of. 3 THW KIEL (Germany) Qualification for the 2012/13 VELUX EHF Champions League season: German champions Season Preview: Club Address: Five titles in one season, a record for eternity in THW Kiel German Bundesliga with 34 victories in 34 Ziegelteich 30 matches and their third trophy in the VELUX 24103 Kiel, Germany EHF Champions League: The season 2011/12 was a remarkable milestone in the successful Contact numbers: history of THW Kiel. The German record Tel. +49-170-4021775 champions took the title in May in Cologne Fax. +49-431-6703930 after beating Atlético Madrid in the final – and Email: [email protected] after winning this major club competition Club website: www.thw-provinzial.de already in 2007 and 2010. Arena: But now the “Zebras” have to cope and to Sparkassen-Arena-Kiel adapt with major changes in their squad: Key Europaplatz 1, 24103 Kiel player Kim Andersson (SWE) left to KIF Kolding Capacity: 10000 in Denmark after he had originally signed a contract at later-on bankrupt Danish side AG Media contact: København. And Andersson, silver medallist at Christian Robohm the Olympic Games in London, was one of the +49 1635306300 key figures at THW. His successor in the right [email protected] back position is Serbian Marko Vujin, arriving from MKB Veszprém (HUN), additionally Kiel Online: signed three strong former København players. Club website: www.thw-provinzial.de Twitter: @thw_handball The transfers of left wing Guðjón Valur Facebook: thwhandball Sigurðsson (ISL) and Rene Toft Hansen (DEN) ehfCL.com had been confirmed in an early stage of the previous season. Before the start of the new Club achievements: season, Kiel signed Olympic Games top scorer EHF Champions League: Niclas Ekberg (SWE). Participation (incl. 2012/13 season): 16 Winner (3): 2007, 2010, 2012 With this renewed squad coach Alfred Gislason Final (3): 2000, 2008, 2009 is aiming high again: “It is always the objective Semi-final (2): 1997, 2001 of THW Kiel to win all possible titles. Our major Quarter-final (5): 1999, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2011 aims are to qualify for the VELUX EHF FINAL4 Group Phase (2): 1995, 1996 and to become German champions again”, he said. Even before the start of the VELUX EHF EHF Cup: Champions League season - they defended 3 titles: 1998, 2002, 2004 their title of the German Super, however failed to repeat last year´s success at the IHF Super German champions: Globe in Doha, Qatar, after Atlético took 17 titles: (1957, 1962, 1963, 1994, 1995, 1996, revenge for their recent defeat in the final. 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 und 2012) German Cup winners: 8 titles 4 The squad No. First Name Family Name Nat. Position Date of Birth Weight Height 13 Marcus Ahlm SWE Line player 07.07.1978 106 200 15 Jannick Boldt GER Right wing 10.01.1993 82 186 19 Rune Dahmke GER Left wing 10.04.1993 80 189 18 Niclas Ekberg SWE Right wing 23.12.1988 86 191 21 Tommy Fängler GER Left back 28.11.1990 103 192 31 Momir Ilic SRB Left back 22.12.1981 104 200 39 Filip Jicha CZE Left back 19.04.1982 105 201 33 Dominik Klein GER Left wing 16.12.1983 85 190 16 Moritz Krieter GER Goalkeeper 05.02.1994 89 193 8 Tjark Müller GER Centre back 02.06.1993 88 188 25 Daniel Narcisse FRA Centre back 16.12.1979 92 189 1 Thierry Omeyer FRA Goalkeeper 02.11.1976 92 191 12 Andreas Palicka SWE Goalkeeper 10.07.1986 88 189 24 Aron Palmarsson ISL Centre back 19.07.1990 100 193 9 Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson ISL Left wing 08.08.1979 82 187 11 Christian Sprenger GER Right wing 06.04.1983 90 190 7 Rene Toft Hansen DEN Line player 01.11.1984 103 200 14 Marko Vujin SRB Right back 07.12.1984 100 200 13 Patrick Wiencek GER Line player 22.03.1989 110 200 20 Christian Zeitz GER Right back 18.11.1980 95 186 New signings (including former club): Left the club (including new club): • Guðjón Valur Sigurðsson (AG • Henrik Lundström (Redbergslids Kobenhavn, DEN) Göteborg, SWE) • Rene Toft Hansen (AG Kobenhavn, • Kim Andersson (KIF Kolding, DEN) DEN) • Tobias Reichmann (HSG Wetzlar, • Niclas Ekberg (AG Kobenhavn , DEN) GER) • Patrick Wiencek (VfL Gummersbach, • Daniel Kubeš (MT Melsungen, GER) GER) • Milutin Dragičevič (HCM Constanta, • Marko Vujin (MKB Veszprém, HUN) ROU) 5 Key players Thierry Omeyer: No current player of all VELUX EHF Champions League clubs has collected more titles than the French goalkeeper: three times world champion, twice Olympic champion, two times EHF EURO champion, four times VELUX EHF Champions League champion, world handball player of the year and nearly 20 domestic titles are on Omeyer’s tally. His reflexes between the sticks make him the first choice for the French national team and THW Kiel – and he like the ‘big matches’. Filip Jícha: The left and centre back was the first Czech player ever to be world handball player of the year. Jicha – two times EHF Champions League winner in 2010 and 2012 – was twice top scorer of this competition, too. He is a danger to all defence sides with his one-against-one action and his tough shots, he is also a strong defence player. Markus Ahlm The THW team captain is playing his last season in Kiel after winning the VELUX EHF Champions League three times. The line player is the core of the THW defence and has been a constant threat from the six metre line for more than a decade. Coach Alfred Gislason The Icelander (53) is the only current coach, who has won the VELUX EHF Champions League with two different clubs - in 2002 with SC Magdeburg and in 2010 and 2012 with THW Kiel. His current team has become four-time German champions, three-time German cup winners, four-time German supercup winner, two-time EHF Trophy winners, collected an EHF Cup along with an IHF Super Globe title. In his active career Gislason played 190 international matches for Iceland and became German champion twice with Essen. After retiring he stayed in Germany, his first club as a coach was Hameln, followed by Magdeburg and Gummersbach – and he also coached the Icelandic national team until 2007. In 2008 he became coach of THW Kiel. 6 BM ATLÉTICO MADRID (Spain) Qualification for the 2012/13 VELUX EHF Champions League season: Spanish runners- up Season Preview: Club Address: The amount of changes in the squad of Atlético BM Atletico Madrid Madrid was far greater than in the past few Estado Vicente Calderón years, but thanks to strong reinforcements Paseo Virgen del Puerto 67 Madrid hopes to lift the trophy in Cologne. 28005 Madrid, Spain They have lost a lot of their big stars since the Contact numbers: last final of the VELUX EHF FINAL4. Croat Jakov Tel.+34-629-691092 Gojun will replace long-term defence specialist Fax.+34-913-624322 Didier Dinart, who made his way to Paris [email protected] alongside right wing Luc Abalo – however, they [email protected] still have French representation, since Xavier Barachet has signed for the Spanish side from Arena: Chambery. Palacio Vistalegre C/ Utebo 1 Big stars like Isaias Guardiola (Rhein Neckar 28025 Madrid Löwen) and Chema Rodriguez (MKB Capacity: 14,000 Veszprém) have left the Spanish capital – however, in August the three times VELUX EHF Media contact: Champions League winner made a huge Angela Pons signing by picking up two times world handball +34 690228518 player of the year Ivano Balić as a new [email protected] playmaker. Online: Just before winning the IHF Super Globe in Club website: www.bmatleticodemadrid.com Doha in a final victory that saw the Spaniards Twitter: @AtletiBalonmano come out on top against THW Kiel, Madrid top Facebook: BM-Atlético-Madrid goalkeeper Arpad Sterbik transferred to arch ehfCL.com rival from Barcelona – his successor is young Norwegian Magnus Dahl, on loan from Paris Club achievements: Handball.