Major transition at Füchse Berlin

Füchse Berlin announced the biggest transition in their club history, with six players set to leave after this season, and six newcomers to replace them in the squad. The announcement was made at a press conference in the 207 metre Berlin TV Tower.

“It is time for a major change,” explained Füchse manager Bob Hanning: “We needed to do something, and now the right time has come for those changes.”

The structure of the team will change in particular, with a number of young players coming into the team, mostly from Scandinavia.

Departing the team that reached the VELUX EHF FINAL4 last season will be; right wing Johannes Sellin, who will transfer to German side Melsungen, Danish team captain Torsten Laen, who will return to Denmark, while the contracts of Börge Lund, Evgeny Pevnov, Mark Bult, and Ivan Nincevic will not be extended.

“To keep our level high, we need a new spirit in our team. It must be something special to be part of the Füchse family,” Hanning added.
Hanning’s comments suggest that expectations for the newcomers are high.

Three Swedish players will join the Füchse squad: Wing player Fredrik Petersen arrives from VELUX EHF Champions League participant HSV Hamburg, where he has scored 12 goals in the competition.

Mattias Zachrisson will join from Swedish EHF Cup Group Stage participant IF Guif, and line player Jesper Nielsen arrives from Swedish champions IK Sävehof, Neilsen has scored 21 goals so far in this season’s VELUX EHF Champions League.

“With our Icelandic coach Dagur Sigurdsson, we want to continue our Scandinavian style of playing,” said Hanning.

The fourth newcomer is Czech international Pavel Horak from German EHF Cup winner FA Göppingen.

Additionally two players from Füchse’s youth team will be brought into the first team:  Jonas Thümmler and Fabian Wiede.

“It is always our aim to strengthen our youth program by integrating youngsters into our professional team. And we will go on in this way,” explained Hanning.