 EHF Cup countdown, part 5: Team Tvis Holstebro (DEN)
Team Tvis Holstebro is one of the rare examples in the current EHF European Cup season to have both male and female teams still in the competition, and both play in the EHF Cup. The women were finalists in 2011, and the men are in their third international campaign.
Klavs Bruun Jørgensen, a former top star of the Danish national team who took over the team before this season as successor of Claus Uhrenholt, and his team had a high hurdle to clear in the third qualification round, but managed it unexpectedly easily.
Thanks to the 35:19 first leg victory against French powerhouse Saint-Raphael Var Handball, they made it to the Group Phase of the EHF Cup, the biggest international success history of Holstebro men’s team.
The Danish team are considered one of the main contenders to reach the Finals in Nantes, but the first goal of club director Jacob Jørgensen and team captain Mads Christiansen is to proceed to the quarter-final. Holstebro will face one of their last season’s players, Serbian international Petar Nenadić, in their duels with Wisła Płock.
Three questions to coach Klavs Bruun Jørgensen:
What are your expectations for the Group Phase of the EHF Cup - concerning your objectives and your group opponents?
Klavs Bruun Jørgensen: First of all I look forward to play six additional European Cup matches. We have a young and - in an international context - inexperienced team, so the extra-experience we can get through those matches will definitely help both our team but also the club in our efforts to become more successful and perhaps one day to qualify for the VELUX EHF Champions League.
The group is exciting for us. It will be a great experience for us to compete with teams from Slovenia and Norway, which we hope to beat, and the Polish runners up Płock. With a little luck and our skills, we hope to advance from the group.
What does the participation in the Group Phase of the EHF Cup mean to you and your club?
Klavs Bruun Jørgensen: As previously mentioned, the experience that we can get by participating in this tournament is priceless in terms of the goals for our future.
What teams are your personal favourites to reach the final tournament of the EHF Cup?
Klavs Bruun Jørgensen: I expect to see RK Cimos Koper, Rhein-Neckar Löven, Orlen Wisła Płock, and KIF Kolding at the Finals.
 Team Tvis Holstebro (DEN) - Group C
The road to the Group Phase:
Round 2: 26:29, 30:24 against Tauron Stal Mielec
Round 3: 35:19, 32:35 against Saint-Raphael Var Handball
Coach: Klavs Bruun Jørgensen, since July 2012 (before: Claus Uhrenholt)
Newcomers: Magnus Bramming (Nordsjælland Håndbold), Klaus Thomsen (Lemvig Håndbold), Allan Damgaard (Viborg Håndboldklub), Jakob Thoustrup (Århus Håndbold)
Left the club: Petar Nenadić (Wisła Płock/POL), Morten Nyberg (Nordsjælland Håndbold), Joacim Ernstsson (Ystad/SWE), Heino Holm Knudsen (Viborg
Håndboldklub), Thomas Skoglund, Søren Nørgaard (Lemvig Håndbold), Mads Paulsen (Lemvig Håndbold)
International success
EHF Cup Winners’ Cup: 1 appearance – quarter-finalists 2009/10
EHF Challenge Cup: 1 appearance – Round 4 2002/02
Domestic achievements:
Danish Cup: Winners 2008
Profiles:
Coach
Klavs Bruun Jørgensen
Born on 3 April 1974
As a player he was in the successful squads of AG København, GOG Svendborg, FC København, Virum and German side Wallau Massenheim and became four times Danish champion and four time cup winner. Jørgensen played 186 matches for the Danish national team. His coaching career started at Nordsjælland Håndbold and then AG København, where he became Danish champion and cup winner.
After leaving AG in the autumn of 2011, he had another brief stint as a playing assistant coach in Nordsjælland, where he was in charge of the attacking play. In the summer of 2012 he left for Jutland and become head coach in Team Tvis Holstebro. He still spends as much time as possible with his family who still live in the Copenhagen area, almost 400 kilometres from Holstebro.
Key players
Mads Christiansen
Born on 3 May 1986
Right back, 49 matches for the national team, silver medallist with Denmark at the 2011 World Championship in Sweden and EHF EURO champion 2012 in Serbia.
Former clubs: TMS Ringsted, Aalborg Håndbold, Danish champion with Aalborg, under the name AaB Håndbold, in 2010. Joined Team Tvis Holstebro in the summer of 2011. The 26 year old left-handed backcourt player recently announced that he will be leaving Team Tvis Holstebro after this season to join current VELUX EHF Champions League participants Bjerringbro-Silkeborg.
Patrick Wiesmach
Born on 23 March 1990
Right wing, former club: Aalborg Håndbold, Danish champion with Aalborg, then under the name AaB Håndbold in 2010. Due to lack of match practice, he left the Aalborg club to join Team Tvis Holstebro.
Wiesmach, who was European champion with the Danish U20 team in 2010, is one of the fastest players in the Danish league, and with his ability to read the game in the defence, he makes a lot of interceptions which makes him even more valuable in the team´s fast breaks.
Find more information on Team Tvis Holstebro here
The schedule of the Men´s EHF Cup Group Phase can be found here
TEXT: Björn Pazen, Peter Bruun / cor
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