03.04.2013, 10:00
THW captain Ahlm quits playing handball

Three times VELUX EHF Champions League winner returns to Sweden in summer – but his future will be away from sports.

THW captain Ahlm quits playing handball

Marcus Ahlm had announced nearly two years ago that he will not extend his contract at defending VELUX EHF Champions League champions THW Kiel – and the club could react, signing already Ahlm’s successors for the current season: Rene Toft Hansen and Patrick Wiencek. At the side of the THW captain they can learn to take over his job.

But Ahlm’s future was uncertain, except the fact that he will return to his home-country Sweden. Now he revealed his plans in an interview with the newspaper Kieler Nachrichten.

“I will not play handball anymore. I am planning to go to Malmö with my family and will have a job far away from professional sports in another business,” he was quoted.

Ahlm had joined THW ten years ago and became  - in many departments – the successor of Kiel’s legends Magnus Wislander and Stefan Lövgren: as a line player and as a team captain. In 2007, 2010 and 2012 Ahlm won the VELUX EHF Champions League, additionally he was EHF EURO champion in 2002 with the Swedish national team.

Some years ago he quit playing for the “Tre Kronor” team, focusing only on the club side. But Ahlm is eager to finish his career highly successful with THW. “I am still hungry for success and I will really enjoy my final months in Kiel,” he said.

He hopes that his international career will end at the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in Cologne – but before Kiel need to qualify in the quarter-finals against MKB Veszprém KC.
 

TEXT: Björn Pazen / br