Viborg coach: CL? A fantastic chance!  

It came as a very nice surprise for Viborg Håndbold Klub to hear that the men’s team will also play in the Champions League. It is the first time ever that Viborg’s men will take part in the competition and it means that both Viborg squads will take part at the prestigious tournament. Eurohandball.com asks Viborg coach, Søren Hildebrand, about the news.

Eurohandball.com: What was your reaction to the news that your team can play in the Champions League qualifiers?

Søren Hildebrand: As everyone else here, I was really happy. It is a great chance for us to go to the Champions League instead of the Challenge Cup. In a way, I think we deserved it. Just take in consideration that we managed to win silver medal in the Danish championship this season.

Eurohandball.com: Are your team ready for it?

Søren Hildebrand: I think we played great handball towards the end of the past season, but of course our team is undergoing a lot of changes for the upcoming season. We said goodbye to many players and will have to integrate 10 new ones into the team. That will obviously take some time, but I think we managed to get some really strong players to replace those leaving.

Eurohandball.com: You club director, Peter Cassøe, indicated that it may be necessary to buy more players for the Champions League…

Søren Hildebrand: I won’t deny the possibility of at least one more new player, although I cannot tell you names or positions now. But first of all, we have to get the new players function as a team and I think we have some really great ones among our new players. A handballer such as the Swedish playmaker, Lukas Karlsson, played in fantastic form in the Swedish league last season, while Gábor Császár was the great star in the Hungarian national team at the World Championships this winter. So I think we have a strong team already.

Eurohandball.com: You are going to play qualification matches in the two first weekends of September. This comes earlier than the Danish league starts. Does it influence your preparations for next season?

Søren Hildebrand: They will be shorter, at least, than otherwise. We can have only six weeks of pre-season trainings before the first qualification game. Of course, it is not a long time to make an almost new team work together…