German update

Two weeks without Champions League, but a lot of news from the German CL participants. Eurohandball.com summarises all the happening before the “second halftime” of the Champions League Group Matches that will start on Wednesday with Hamburg vs FCK and Kiel vs Drammen.

Both Hamburg and Kiel have a chance to already qualify for the main round with victories, just as Rhein Neckar Löwen on Sunday against Szeged.

Lund missing

Kiel and Hamburg have to miss important players in the upcoming weeks. Norwegian Börge Lund will not be able to play for five or six months after an Achilles injury against Barcelona. THW tried to substitute Lund by another Norwegian. They asked Glenn Solberg to join the team, but Solberg will not come to Germany due to family reasons. He retired from Drammen last season.

“We stay in touch with different players, but all have contract with other clubs,” Kiel manager Uwe Schwenker said. He still hopes to find a substitute for Lund, especially in defence.

Lund isn’t the only injured THW player. The young Swedish goalkeeper Andreas Palicka suffers from a meniscus injury and he also had to be operated. THW coach Alfred Gislasson hopes that Palicka will be able to play again in about three weeks. In the meantime Florian Hossner from the second THW team will be the reserve of Thierry Omeyer.

Similar problems

HSV Hamburg will also miss a key player in the next six weeks: pivot Bertrand Gille, who will retire from national team duties after the World Championship, suffers from a foot injury. Pascal Hens and Oleg Velyky are also not available and Thorsten Jansen couldn’t play for the national team at the first EURO qualifiers.

After a shoulder operation the Icelandic backcourt player Alexander Petterson will miss all the matches until March in SG Flensburg Handewitt.

Satisfied Szmal

His club will meet another German CL participant in the top match of the last 16 of the German Cup on 16 December, Rhein Neckar Löwen. The “Lions” extended contract with their Polish goalkeeper, Slavomir Szmal.

“I had other offers, especially from Poland, but I like playing for Löwen,” Szmal said about his new contract.

RNL will have to change their hall for the top match in the Champions League against RK Zagreb. SAP Arena of Mannheim is will be closed on 13 November, so they will play in the Europahalle of Karlsruhe. The “Lions” have sold more than 11.000 tickets for this match.

Rhein Neckar Löwen, similarly to HSV Hamburg, showed much better performances in the Champions League than in the Bundesliga. Currently HSV (11:7 points) are ranked 8th in front of the Rhein Neckar Löwen (10:8).

After their first defeat of this season against Magdeburg, Flensburg are fourth with 15:3 points. The number one are still THW Kiel with a series of nine victories in a row after the draw against Dormagen in the opening round. Kiel have 19:1 points, second Lemgo with 17:3.