Pytlick lands in Skopje

It did not take a long time for Macedonian champions Vardar to find a replacement for consultant coach Kim Rasmussen, with whom the club decided to terminate the agreement two weeks ago.

Former Danish women’s national team coach Jan Pytlick will join the third placed team at last season’s Women’s EHF FINAL4 in an advisory position.

Pytlick led the Danish national team twice, first in the period from 1998 to 2006 and then 2007 to 2014. Under his leadership Denmark has numerous successes including the two Olympic gold medals in 2000 and 2004, gold from the EHF EURO in 2002 and two silver medals from EHF EURO 1998 and 2004.

For the next two-and-a-half years Pytlick will have the role of consultant coach in Vardar while Indira Kastratovic remains as head coach of the team.

“We all know who Pytlick is and his achievements in the world of handball are amazing. We can only gain maximum benefits from his engagement in our club.

“He will be a consultant in Vardar and I believe that his advice and our teamwork will be productive for the club,” says Vardar head coach Indira Kastratovic.

One week ago, the Danish coach followed the Women's EHF Champions League match between Vardar and Krim and soon after the game the club started negotiation for his possible engagement in the club.

Pytlick arrived in Skopje on Wednesday and he already attended one training for both men’s and women’s teams. The Dane is looking forward with optimism in this new role.

“Vardar is a great club and it is consisted of many good players and that is why I believe that it will be very interesting to work with this team in the future.

“As a consultant coach I shall work with the other coaches – Indira Kastratovic as head coach and the other assistant coaches. All of us should work together and try to develop a great and successful team,” says Pytlick

In their two main round matches to date, Vardar have produced two very different performances. The disappointing defeat at Leipizg was mitigated with a high-scoring victory at home against Krim last weekend.

Ahead of the clash this Sunday in Volgograd against Russian champions Dinamo, who currently hold second position in Group 1, main coach Indira Kastratovic believes that her team is capable of achieving victory in Russia.

“The first game for us is always difficult because we don’t have many friendly matches and this affects our performance on the court. I hope that the match in Leipizg will not be repeated in the future.

“We will strive to play better from match to match. Against Krim we showed that everything we trained  turn out well on the court and the players finished the job professionally.

“We will not have an easy match in Russia as Dinamo are second in our group. They play at home, but out task will be to concentrate on ourselves and play to our best,” says Kastratovic.

When asked about expectations of this new club, Pytlick explains: “So far I have only seen one training session with the team. Regarding the games I only saw last week’s Champions League match against Krim. The team was fantastic in this match and the players and coaches did a great job which resulted with a great victory.

“It is difficult at this point to say where will we concentrate the work in the next period as I have to spent some time with the team in order to see what are the strong and weak sides of the team, but I hope that we will good results are ahead of us,” concludes Pytlick.