Serdarusic calls move to Löwen off

Surprising news from Germany: Noka Serdarusic will not be the new coach of the Rhein Neckar Löwen. The club published the news on their website on Wednesday at midday.

Serdarusic had signed a three-year contract in December, but now he changed his mind. Due to his health problems – he was operated on his hips and knees – he will not return to coaching, Serdarusic said.

Now rumours spread who would be the successor of interim coach Wolfgang Schwenke. His contract will not be extended at the end of the season. On some German websites it was said that Ola Lindgren, current coach of Nordhorn, or Staffan Olsson, coach of Hammarby, could be the new coaches in Mannheim. In fact, these two coaches are working together with the Swedish national team.

From official club side there no comments up to now.

Serdarusic had won 25 national and international titles within 15 years in Kiel, but he was sacked after the last season. After he had signed his contract with the Löwen, players such as Olafur Stefansson also agreed with the club.

Stefansson, for example, said that he wants to have the chance in his career to work together with coach Serdarusic.

However, the biggest question – apart from the new coach – is what Nikola Karabatic will do. The world handball player of the year said that we wanted to leave Kiel at the end of the season to play for the team of Serdarusic. The coach is something like a father for him. Karabatic always said that he doesn’t want to change team for more money, only because of Serdarusic.

The two clubs – Kiel and Löwen – were negotiating in the last weeks and Löwen officially bid for Karabatic. Rumours say that Löwen should pay over a million Euro for the Frenchman, who has a valid contract until 2012 with Kiel.

No more news or rumours arrived in the last two weeks from either side, which can indicate that the Löwen knew already that Serdarusic would not be their coach.

Life goes on in Löwen

On Thursday evening Löwen will play in Karlsruhe against Celje in the CL. By beating the Slovenians Löwen could pave the way to the quarterfinals. On Tuesday the club published that the young German wing player, Uwe Gensheimer, has extended his contract until 2012.