14.01.2010, 04:44
”Miss Viborg” sticks to champions

Financial recession cannot stop middle back Rikke Skov as she signs a new contract at her beloved Danish team.

”Miss Viborg” sticks to champions

Former Danish international Rikke Skov has extended her contract with Champions League winners and Danish champions Viborg HK until the summer of 2013. Her current contract is valid until the summer of 2011, but the parties have chosen to extend is with two more years already now.

29 year old Rikke Skov has played for 15 years in Viborg and has participated in 300 matches in the league team. These facts have earned her the nickname “Miss Viborg”.

“You might say that we could have waited to extend Rikke’s contract. But she is such an important player for us, on as well as off the court, that it was pretty easy for us to make an agreement. At the opportunity it showed that was in Rikke’s interest as well as in ours,” Viborg HK’s managing director Peter Cassøe said.

“Apart from being a backcourt player at the highest possible international level, Rikke has practically got green blood in her veins (referring to the fact that Viborg play in green shirts, ed.). That reflected very well in the negotiations for this new agreement. Of course we have been talking with her along the way, but when we finally called her in for a real contract negotiation, it probably did not take more than half an hour until we had reached an agreement. Rikke showed huge understanding for the club’s financial situation, and still she chose to contribute wholeheartedly. You do not find many players like that at top level these days,” Peter Cassøe added.

In no doubt

Rikke Skov herself was in no doubt that her career should continue in the club, where she has celebrated so many triumphs already.

“Of course I have pondered how long I wanted to go on playing, but as long as I am fit and feel the same joy at the game as I always did, I would like to help out in Viborg. Like so many other clubs, Viborg HK has been hit by financial recession, but I would like to help to bring focus back to the handball. In my opinion, Viborg is still the flagship in Danish women’s handball, and the club still has a lot of ambitions which I would very much like to help them fulfil,” Rikke Skov said.

She has played 107 internationals for Denmark before quitting the national team a year ago. Recently she reopened the door a bit for a possible comeback into the national team.

TEXT: Peter Bruun