After the Champions League celebrations in Viborg HK had come to an end, eurohandball.com had a talk with the Danish team's extremely successful Swedish coach Tomas Ryde; whose tactical manoeuvres played an important part in Viborg's 44:43...

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After the Champions League celebrations in Viborg HK had come to an end, eurohandball.com had a talk with the Danish team’s extremely successful Swedish coach Tomas Ryde; whose tactical manoeuvres played an important part in Viborg’s 44:43 aggregate win over Krim Ljubljana in the finals.

Eurohandball.com: When looking back on this season’s Champions League tournament, where you defeated ruling champions Slagelse as well as former champions Krim, what do you see as the reason, why it was your team, who went all the way and won the trophy?

Tomas Ryde. It was a question of good planning, but also of luck. We were able to plan our season in a way, so that we were in extremely good shape towards the end of the season; furthermore, we got our injured players fit at the right time. For instance, we got Chao Zhai and Isabel Ortuño fit in time for the 1/4 finals against Slagelse.

However, we also had the necessary luck, particularly in the finals, which were extremely close. In the second match, for instance, I remember a situation towards the end, where Krim winger Tanja Oder was free, but hit our goalkeeper Valerie Nicolas in the head instead of scoring. A goal in that situation would have sent us three goals down and made it extremely difficult for us to win on aggregate.

Eurohandball.com: You have won two out of three titles with Viborg this season - the Champions League and the Danish championship. The Danish Cup final was the only one, you lost. Has this been your greatest season as a coach so far?

Tomas Ryde: Actually, I once had a season in Sweden, where I won three titles within the same season, however of course, winning the Champions League is the greatest triumph you can achieve!

Eurohandball.com: The Women’s Champions League has now been won by Danish teams for the last three years in succession, as Slagelse won the competition in 2004 and 2005. What do you see as the reason, why the greatest club tournament of all has been won by Danish teams three years in a row now?

Tomas Ryde: The main reason is the fact that the people, who claim that the Danish league is the world’s strongest women’s league, are absolutely right. It is therefore no wonder that the Champions League winner comes from that league.

Furthermore, in order to have success in the Danish league, you have to have a large and strong squad, and you obviously benefit from that in the Champions League, too.

Next season Tomas Ryde will have almost the same squad at his disposal, as he was so successful with this season. The only change is substitute left winger Ann Grethe Nørgaard joining Randers HK, and being replaced by Gitte Aaen from Frederikshavn.


Interview: Peter Bruun
Photos: Per Soerensen