Andersen: ”Winning CL is not a must!”

To Anja Andersen, coach of ruling Women´s Champions League winners Slagelse DT, it is not a must to win the tournament again this season. Anja Andersen, who has been head coach in Slagelse since 2000, has already won the competition three times during the last four years with her team, but since winning their latest title this spring, the Danish champions have lost Serbian star Bojana Popovic to Danish rivals Viborg HK, while another key profile, Carmen Lungu, has returned to her native country Romania.
In their place, Slagelse have signed Gabriel Rotis-Nágy from Hypo Niederösterreich along with several young talents, who are in need of international experience, and these circumstances have made Anja Andersen change her goals a little.

Two year plan
“Actually, our current team cannot be expected to peak until 2009. We have signed some new players for the coming season, and we are definitely going to sign further players next year. This does not mean that we would not like very much to win the Champions League again this season, but we may not be able to go one hundred per cent for the title this time”, Anja Andersen told the local Danish newspaper Sjællands Medier.

Just like all other European top teams, Slagelse have started their preparations for the upcoming season long ago, but according to Anja Andersen´s training philosophy, it is with fewer training sessions and fewer training matches than most other teams - in order not to tire the players too soon.
Slagelse´s first important task this season will be the eight final in the Danish Cup at home against league colleagues KIF Vejen on August 22nd, while Anja Andersen´s girls will start their defence of the Danish championship away against GOG Svnedborg TGI on September 11th.