THW Kiel arrived in Cologne aiming for their first 'double-triple'

When the official team bus stopped at the team hotel on Thursday afternoon at about 5:45 pm after the short way from Cologne airport, one did not only see, but hear, who has arrived. “Ole, hier kommt der THW” (Ole, here comes the THW) sounded in full volume from the bus of THW Kiel.

Another sign is the confidence the defending champions have in their luggage with their clear message - 'we want to be the first German team to win the 'double triple' of titles'.

In 2012 they won the VELUX EHF FINAL4, the German championship and the German Cup. One year later they added the German championship and the German cup to their tally.

“All our players are fit and eager to win both matches in Cologne,” THW manager Klaus Elwardt told ehfCL.com, when stepping out of the team bus.

After a short 45-minute flight from Hamburg, Kiel are the third VELUX EHF FINAL4 participant who have checked-in at the team hotel close to the LANXESS arena after HSV Hamburg and Vive Targi Kielce, with FC Barcelona Intersport due late on Thursday night (30th May).

“Short flight, everything ok,” was the comment from coach Alfred Gislason, who can win his fourth personal Men's EHF Champions League trophy on Sunday but before this for the defending champions is the all-German semi-final against HSV Hamburg.

Thierry Omeyer, Daniel Narcisse, Marcus Ahlm and Momir Ilic will all leave Kiel after this season were also relaxed at their arrival at the hotel.

THW had had their final training session on 'home ground' at Kiel on Thursday morning followed by a common lunch in a sports hotel at Kiel, before leaving for Hamburg airport.

And Kiel have something special in their luggage - especially designed new shirts for the VELUX EHF FINAL4 – with black stripes and golden stars showing their previous EHF Champions League titles.

Take a look at the rest of Kiel's arrival in the Facebook gallery.