Baur out to surprise on European return

After a one-year-absence from the VELUX EHF Champions League, Kadetten Schaffhausen is back on track and waving the Swiss flag in Europe’s top flight.

In 2013, Wacker Thun had the better of them in the Swiss league, now Schaffhausen turned the tide to win the finals of the domestic league in style against Winterthur and even celebrated the double after winning the Swiss cup as well.

Now the team of coach and 2007 world champion Markus Baur, who just led the Germany to gold at the Men’s 20 EHF EURO in Austria and who has also been in charge at Kadetten since 2013, is aiming to return to the Last 16 after reaching the knock-out stage in the 2010/11 and 2011/12 seasons.

To reach their goals – including making it to the finals of Swiss cup and Swiss league – they even signed a former VELUX EHF FINAL4 participant Markus Richwien, arriving from Füchse Berlin.

Two further newcomers from Bundesliga have come in to improve Baur’s team: Manuel Liniger and Anton Mansson, as has Switzerland’s top goalkeeper Nikola Portner, son of the former Yugoslav international Zlatko Portner.

Schaffhausen will face Kielce, Dunkerque, Szeged, Aalborg and Zaporozhye in the group phase.

“It could have been worse,” says team captain David Graubner. “It is the main goal of our team to make it to the Last 16. I think Kielce is the strongest team and will dominate this group. All other teams are more or less on the same level. Therefore I expect a tough and interesting competition for us.”

Three questions to coach Markus Baur:

What are your expectations for the upcoming season of the VELUX EHF Champions League - regarding your objectives and your group opponents?

Markus Baur: We want to cause one or two surprises at home. It would be a great achievement if we could make it to the knock-out stage again.

What does the participation in the VELUX EHF Champions League mean to you and your club?

Markus Baur: After last season’s absence everybody in our club is happy that we again qualified for the Champions League, as it is a confirmation of our hard work. We are the top team of Swiss handball – this is what we want to prove.

Which teams are your personal favourites to reach the VELUX EHF FINAL4 and to win the title this season – and why?

Markus Baur: I think Barcelona, Kiel, Veszprem, Paris and defending champions Flensburg are the top teams this season.

Kadetten Schaffhausen (SUI)

Qualification for the 2014/2015 VELUX EHF Champions League season: Swiss champions

Newcomers: Nikola Portner (BSV Bern Muri), Markus Richwien (Füchse Berlin), Anton Mansson (MT Melsungen), Manuel Liniger (HBW Balingen)

Left the club: Nik Tominec (HC Kriens-Luzern), Florian Goepfert (RTV Basel), Julius Emrich (SG BBM Bietigheim), Arunas Vaskevicius (Pfadi Winterthur)

Coach: Markus Baur (since 2013)

VELUX EHF Champions League records:
Participations (including 2014/2015 season): 8
Last 16 (2): 2010/2011, 2011/2012
Group Phase (4): 2005/2006, 2006/2007, 2007/2008, 2012/2013
Qualification (1): 2009/2010

Other EC records:

EHF Cup:
Finalist: 2009/2010

Cup Winners Cup:
Semi-finalist: 2007/2008

Swiss league champion: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014
Swiss Cup winner: 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2014
Swiss Super Cup winner: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013