Not everything went according to plans against VfL Gummersbach, the team that surprisingly defeated HSV Hamburg by 35:27 the day before. It was 7:10 for Gummersbach and THW received a couple of two-minute suspensions early in the game. “It frusrtrated our players,” said team captain Stefan Lövgren. “We had to resort to extra energies,” said coach Alfred Gislason. “Everyone knew well that we would have to give all we can right until the end.”

In the second half THW made no more mistakes. “As soon as THW feel secure, they have a machinery that you cannot stop,” said Gummersbach coach Sead Hasanefendic.

Stefan Lövgren made it 27:17 with seven minutes from the end when Kiel could already prepare for the awarding ceremony. The players received the trophy, the “MVP” award (Filip Jicha) and the top scorer award (Vid Kavticnik).

Alfred Gislason could not only celebrate his first double success of his career, but he was also satisfied with the improvement shown from Saturday to Sunday. “This was a world class performance,” he said.

In the semi-final THW were far from this and they had to suffer fort he victory against Rhein-Neckar Löwen. Just as the final whistle came, Filip Jicha scored the winning goal (36:35). While the players celebrated the Cup title, Alfred Gislason already had the Champions League Final in his mind:

“We have just started the preparations for that game”, the Icelandic coach said. “Those will be two games where the better form on the given day will decide.”