Grimm’s new adventure

Heiko Grimm had a long and quite successful career in the German Bundesliga – last club HSV Hamburg – and in the German national team. Now the 31-year old playmaker and left winger started a new handball life – at Swiss champion GC Amicitia Zürich. He succeeded Swiss international Andy Schmid in the playmaker position this season.

The season has not been a holiday for Grimm and his new team who suffered big defeats at their first two group matches – at home against FC Barcelona Borges and away to Danish champions KIF Kolding. Eurohandball.com talks to Grimm.

Eurohandball.com: Your team suffered the second defeat in two matches – 35-27 away against Kolding. How do you see that game?

Heiko Grimm: It was our plan to try and keep the match open as long as possible, and I think we succeeded with that for some time. However, Kolding showed the great qualities in the deciding parts of the match, where we made quite a lot of mistake, which enabled Kolding to get a number of fast breaks, that tired us even more, and so we lost the match rather big after all!

Eurohandball.com: After two clear defeats, do you think your chances to go on from the group stage vanished?

Heiko Grimm: No, I really do not think that anything changed. I don’t expect Barcelona and Kiel to lose many matches, so in order to reach the fourth place in this group, which is still our goal, we will have to make a surprise somewhere else, apart from the fact that we will, of course have to win at home against Kolding, as well as both our games against Skopje. I really think that everything is still open!

Eurohandball.com: After a big defeat in Kolding, you will need a rather comfortable home win against them…

Heiko Grimm: Not if we get more points than Kolding in the group. As I said, we will probably have to make a surprise somewhere – maybe in Leon, maybe at home against Leon, or maybe in both matches against them, while we will have to hope that Kolding lose against Leon. Anything is still possible!

Eurohandball.com: What has it been like for you personally to change from the Bundesliga to the Swiss League?

Heiko Grimm: So far I feel very well in Zürich. At the moment we have a few problems, as we have had to replace a few players, while our left back Edin Basic is injured. However, I really enjoy it here, and I am sure that the team will be much better within the next four weeks or so!

Eurohandball.com: Lately we have seen Swiss teams do remarkable well in the various European Cup competitions. How do you see the future for Swiss handball?

Heiko Grimm: I am sure that teams such as Kadetten Schaffhausen and Amicitia Zürich will continue to do well in Europe – probably not at the top of the Champione League, but in the Cup Winners Cup and the EHF Cup. The quality of the teams beneath those two teams is not impressive, but Kadetten and Amicitia will not have to feel ashamed, when it comes to European competitions!