Kiel German champions again

Two days after reaching the VELUX EHF FINAL4 thanks to a victory against RK Zagreb, THW Kiel have reached their next objective: Thanks to a 32:27 win over EHF Cup semi-finalist SC Magdeburg on Tuesday night the "Zebras" have secured their 17th German championship.

Coach Alfred Gislason's team won the title with five games to spare, setting new records in Bundesliga history: Never before has a club won 17 titles, never before has a team taken the maximum 58 points, and never before has a team secured the title so early. "It is our objective to maintain our winning run until the end of the season and make it 34 games," said THW league and VELUX EHF Champions League top scorer Filip Jicha.

The series of wins for THW is incredible, after missing their two major goals last season when they lost in the quarter finals of the VELUX EHF FINAL4 to FC Barcelona and then losing the German championship against HSV Hamburg. But in pre-season friendlies Kiel won all 17 test matches then took the German Supercup against HSV Hamburg.

In the subsequent official matches of all competitions in 2011-12 they only lost one of 46 games: The VELUX EHF Champions League Round 2 encounter in the Group Stage at home against MAHB Montpellier. In national competitions – 29 league and three cup matches – the balance is clear with 32 victories. In the VELUX EHF Champions League THW is the most successful of all VELUX EHF FINAL4 participants with ten victories, three draws (in Leon, in Kobenhavn and in Zagreb) and the sole defeat against the already eliminated French champions.

"We did not have a big party, as there are still more titles to win and games to be won," manager Klaus Elwardt said on Tuesday.

Coach Alfred Gislason shares this opinion: "I do not celebrate now. I hope we have more titles to celebrate at the end of the season, not only the German championship. But of course I am satisfied with this title, especially with the way the team has played since the start of the season."

And as soon as Sunday THW could add another trophy to their cabinet: Already the record winner of the German Cup, Kiel can take an eighth Cup victory this weekend. But there are major obstacles in their way at the Final Tournament which is being played in Hamburg: THW will have to face host HSV Hamburg in the semi-final, the other semi is an encounter of EHF Cup Winners’ Cup finalist SG Flensbugr-Handewitt and TuS N-Lübbecke.

And the third objective of THW is to win the VELUX EHF FINAL4 again – and to take their second triple (German Championship, German Cup and EHF Champions League) after 2007.