THW Wins Again

Triple winner, THW Kiel, have won the first title of this season in Germany. The team defeated Mannheim with a fantastic performance: 41-31 in the Super Cup Final.

The new season started as the last one finished: THW Kiel are celebrating another title. Tuesday evening, team captain Stefan Lövgren raised the German Super-Cup. 10.500 spectators in the Munich Olympiahalle celebrated the first victory of the triple winner from Germany’s northern end.

The CL winner won the trophy after an extraordinary 41-31 (19-12) against the runner-up in the German Cup, Rhein-Neckar Lions Mannheim (former name: SG Kronau-Östringen). It was the fourth time Kiel won this cup after 1995, 1998 and 2005. With this victory, the team of coach Noka Serdarusic are the record holders.

Four days before the Bundesliga start, Kiel were – all the way through – the better team and showed spectacularly why whole “Handball Germany” says that Kiel are clear favourites for the title again. Best scorer for THW was their new player, Filip Jicha with ten goals.

Clear victory

After only six minutes, Kiel were in the lead with 7:3 and showed speed handball in its best form. Only former Kiel goalkeeper, Henning Fritz, who signed for Mannheim before the season, fought against a clear defeat. “For me it was a special match against my old club, but in the end we did not have a chance,” Fritz said afterwards.

After Mannheim had reduced the difference to 11:15, Kiel again finished the first halftime furious and were leading by 19:12. Especially Jicha and Börge Lund (a new signing from Nordhorn to Kiel) made a great match and pivot Marcus Ahlm (5 goals) who made his “official” comeback after four months of injury. The pivot showed that he is on the best way back to his old strength.

First trophy collected

In the second half, Kiel controlled the match and achieved a ten-goal difference by the final whistle. So the words of Manager Uwe Schwenker came true for the first time:

“A season without title is a lost season,” he said in an interview given to ehfcl.com. Now his plans are to win two to four possible titles. “I think Kiel are a class of their own,” said Bob Hanning, former assistant coach of the national team. At the end, all the pictures looked the same as in May or June: Kiel are celebrating and all the others have to congratulate and accept the facts.

Toyota Handball Bundesliga

Before the Super Cup, the new Bundesliga name sponsor was presented: the car manufacturing company, Toyota, signed a two-year contract for approximately two million Euro. For the first time in history, Bundesliga has the name “Toyota Handball Bundesliga”.