Tomas Ryde takes on a new challenge in Romania

A sequence of underwhelming results for the Romanian women’s national team in the last three years meant it was high time for a change.

Former head coach Gheorghe Tadici had already resigned in January after Romania finished only ranked 9^th at the EHF EURO 2014 in Hungary and Croatia.

The hunt for a new coach took almost two months, but it has come to an end with the Romanian federation appointing Tomas Ryde, the Swedish coach who won the Women’s EHF Champions League in 2006 with Danish side Viborg HK.

"We are happy to announce that Tomas Ryde accepted our offer and will be Romania’s new coach.

"The federation wanted an experienced coach, with a winning mentality. Our team’s talent has to be brought to light by a modern tactical gameplay," said Alexandru Dedu, the Romanian Handball Federation’s president.

"After a five year break, I thought it was time to return to handball. I think very highly of the Romanian players, but I think they have to be more aggressive in defence," said Ryde.

"Our clear objective is to qualify for the World Championship in June, but we also have to employ a new behaviour to manage our objectives."

Ryde will make his debut on the bench at the Carpathian Trophy, which will also feature Germany, Sweden and Brazil, and takes place on 20 and 21 of March in Cluj-Napoca.

The 55-year old Swede’s first challenge will then be the World Championship Play-offs in June, against Serbia.