Kudlacz-Gloc and Gensheimer secure EHF Players of the Month for September 2016

After the summer break, the EHF club competitions for both men and women are back for their 24th season.

Follow the first rounds of the VELUX EHF Champions League and the Women’s EHF Champions League qualification events and the start of the EHF and Challenge Cup for both genders, a panel consisting of EHF correspondents across Europe voted for their ‘EHF Players of the Month’ for September 2016.
 
The results both came from Champions League clubs as Karolina Kudlacz-Gloc ‘defended’ her EHF Player of the Month title after taking the last one awarded, back in June.

That time she was honoured for her performances with the Polish national team and now it is for steering her club HC Leipzig, to the group matches of the Women’s EHF Champions League.

In the male category, the third German since the start of those awards back in January 2016 tops the ranking as the new arrival to Paris Saint-Germain, Uwe Gensheimer, takes the honours.

Gensheimer has had a great start in the French capital and is currently their VELUX EHF Champions League top scorer which included 10 strikes at Kiel on the first matchday. Fellow countrymen, goalkeeper Andreas Wolff (January) and THW left wing Dominik Klein (April) had been the previous German awardees.

Amazing Kudlacz-Gloc

“Though handball is a team sport and individual merits do not count that much for me, I really feel honoured to get this award,” said Kudlacz-Gloc who is currently with the Polish national team preparing for the Women’s EHF EURO 2016 to be held in December, in Sweden.

In the Women’s EHF Champions League Qualification Tournament held in San Sebastian, the centre and left back was the outstanding player for Leipzig, first scoring seven goals in the semi-final against Gomel (Belarus), then netting nine times in the thrilling final against Hypo Niederösterreich (31:30), which secured the qualification for the group matches.

“Karolina is a great player and has proved this at both club and national team level for many years,” said Leipzig manager Kay-Sven Hähner. “We are extremely happy that she was awarded by the EHF experts again.”

Women’s EHF Champions League dominate female ranking

In the women’s ranking of the award, Kudlacz-Gloc was ahead clearly of the remaining players, three of whom imprinted the Champions League qualification too.

Second ranked is 23-year-old Norwegian Emilie Christensen, who was one key factor for the first-ever qualification of her club Glassverket IF to the group stage as her nine goals in the final of their qualification tournament on home ground against former Women’s EHF Champions League winners Podravka Vegeta (Croatia) were crucial for the 28:19 win.

But neither Leipzig’s nor Glassverket’s berth for the group matches was the biggest surprise of this qualification round, as the 28:27 win by Italian champions Indeco Conversano against internationally experienced and favoured Polish champions Lublin in the semi-final of the third tournament saw Laura Celeste Rotondo as the match winner for the Italians, scoring nearly a third of their goals in the 28:27 thriller and subsequently voted third in the award. Rotondo faced the fourth-ranked of the September award, French player Laura Kamdod, in the final - and she was the top scorer with seven goals in Krim’s easy-going 37:16 win to proceed to the group matches.

Fifth-ranked is Czech Veronika Galuskova, who netted a total of 14 times for Slavia Praha against Skuru (Sweden) to make it to the next qualification round of the Women’s EHF Cup.

EHF Players of the Month – September 2016: Female
1. Karolina Kudlacz-Gloc – HC Leipzig
2. Emilie Christensen – Glassverket
3. Laura Celeste Rotondo – Indeco Conversano
4. Laura Kamdop – Krim Mercator
5. Veronika Galuskova – Slavia Praha

Uwe shows the way

In the men’s award for September, the joint second-best scorer tops the number one spot as Uwe Gensheimer received the most votes from the EHF experts, while Macedonian Filip Taleski (Metalurg Skopje) finished second. In the top scorer ranking of the VELUX EHF Champions League it is the opposite way around, as Taleski has 17 goals on his tally after two matches, and Gensheimer (plus Vardar’s Alex Dujshebaev) has netted 16 times for PSG.

“I am really happy that my good start at my new club was appreciated by the EHF experts,” said Gensheimer, who will celebrate his 30th birthday on 26 October. “I hope that our development as a team will continue in the same positive way.”

His extraordinary performance at Kiel was praised by the EHF panel, which saw the Rio 2016 Olympic Games bronze medallist score 10 goals from 12 attempts. After Brazil, he moved from Mannheim to Paris after 13 years playing for Rhein-Neckar Löwen.

Macedonian future?

20-year-old Taleski is the biggest talent in Macedonian handball right now and proved his significance for Metalurg already at the start of the season. With 35 points, the left back is far ahead of the third-ranked player and only goalkeeper – Spanish stopper Rodrigo Corrales, who is the cornerstone of the strong Wisla Plock defence (16 points).

Kentin Mahe (Flensburg) and Miha Zarabec (Celje) complete the top-five ranking in the male category.

EHF Players of the Month – September 2016: Male
1. Uwe Gensheimer – Paris Saint-Germain Handball
2. Filip Taleski – HC Metalurg
3. Rodrigo Corrales – Orlen Wisla Plock
4. Kentin Mahe – SG Flensburg-Handewitt
5. Miha Zarabec – Celje Pivovarna Lasko