07.02.2014, 11:20
Three more years for Midtjylland coach

NEWS REPORT: Helle Thomsen stays another three years as coach in FC Midtjylland.

Three more years for Midtjylland coach

Danish women's champions FC Midtjylland have extended their contract with head coach Helle Thomsen for another three years.

40-year-old Helle Thomsen has been with the club for three and a half year, first as assistant coach and since the spring 2012 as head coach – a job in which she is now going to continue at least until the summer of 2017.

“It was no difficult choice for us to offer Helle a new contract. In her own way she has developed our team into what it is today,” FC Midtjylland's sports director Hans Peter Riis said about the prolonged cooperation with the head coach.

“She has emphasised the necessity of working as a team – that the team comes before the individual, and this attitude has brought us far. She has achieved fantastic results, and it was quite natural that she was going to continue that work,” Hans Peter Riis added.

The treble in her first season

In Helle Thomsen's first season as head coach in the club, FC Midtjylland won the Danish treble – the championship, the Cup and the Super Cup – and this season the team won their group in the group stage of the Women's EHF Champions League and opened the main round with a 25:24 home win against Swedish champions IK Sävehof this past weekend.

Helle Thomsen, who is the only female head coach in the Danish league at present, is looking forward to three more years with the current number one in Denmark.

“It is nice to have this settled. I am looking forward to being here three more years, and I have a really good feeling after we reached an agreement for an extension.

“I hope we can maintain the position we are in, and I am really looking forward to continuing what we are doing already,” she said.

“I love to be in FC Midtjylland and to work with these players. I love to coach some of the world's best players and to experience the approach and professional attitude they have to their sport,” Helle Thomsen added.

New challenges waiting

After the extension of Helle Thomsen's contract, the next challenge for the FC Midtjylland management will be forming the team for next season.

It is already a fact that back court players Lærke Møller and Trine Troelsen will be leaving the club at the end of this season, and it is still unknown if goalkeeper Sabine Englert and line player Louise Svalastog Spellerberg are going to stay when their contracts expire this summer.

TEXT: Peter Bruun / br