Dreaming of returning to Cologne

Before Vive Tauron Kielce leaped onto the winner’s podium in May 2016, the Champions League triumph of SG Flensburg-Handewitt in 2014 had been the biggest surprise ever at a VELUX EHF FINAL4 event. After the team of Ljubomir Vranjes missed another ticket to Cologne in 2016 by only one goal in the quarter-final at Kielce, they now dream of another berth at the LANXESS arena in the 2016/17 season.

“We played a great season and we increased our consistency. From this, we will try everything to qualify for the VELUX EHF FINAL4. But in a group such as ours, the first goal is to proceed to the Last 16, as even that will be anything but easy,” Vranjes said.

SG Flensburg finished second in the Bundesliga, below Rhein Neckar Löwen, but ahead of THW Kiel. For the new season, the ticket for the VELUX EHF Champions League is Flensburg’s main objective on domestic ground. The Vranjes’ squad basically did not change at all – as only one Croatian player (Kresimir Kozina) left and another (Ivan Horvat) arrived. The rest of the roster remains the same for the ultimate season of left winger, Anders Eggert, in a Flensburg jersey, as he will return to Denmark in 2017.

Before SG can experience true and top handball, as manager Dierk Schmäschke says, Flensburg must be perfect. “This is the toughest group ever in the Champions League history. Every single match …

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