Up close: Kolstad

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On Wednesday, Paris Saint-Germain Handball travel to Norway to take on Kolstad on EHF Champions League Matchday 7. With Kolstad having qualified for the competition for the first time in their history, find out all you need to know about Les Rouge et Bleu's next opponents.

A LITTLE HISTORY...

Founded in 1972, Kolstad have just over 50 years of history, but the club has taken a major turn over the last decade. Promoted to the Norwegian top flight for the first time in their history in 2015, the Trondheim-based outfit have gone from strength to strength ever since. In the autumn of 2021, the club's directors announced their ambitious project: to win the EHF Champions League with a team made up mainly of local and international Norwegian players.

While the project may seem fanciful at first glance, Kolstad quickly set about achieving its objective. Following the presentation of the project, the club announced, almost two years ahead of schedule, the arrival of star player Sander Sagosen at the end of his contract with Kiel. Born in Trondheim and a Norwegian international with an impressive track record, the former Parisian (2017-2020) is the perfect recruit to launch the new era for the Blue and Whites.

Two years later and Kolstad are clearly on the right track. Having qualified for the EHF Champions League for the first time in their history after a historic 2022-23 season, the future looks bright for the Norwegians, whose meteoric rise is far from coincidental.

2022-23: AN HISTORIC SEASON

Promoted to the Norwegian top flight in 2015, Kolstad didn't finish higher than fourth until the 2020-21 season, and had never managed to progress beyond the semi-finals of the Norwegian league's Final4. In the NM Cup, Norway's national cup, the Trondheim-based club had twice failed to reach the semi-finals. The 2022-23 season was therefore one for the record books, with a domestic treble to as the cherry on top.

With 21 wins and just one narrow defeat conceded two games before the end of the regular season, Kolstad came close to making history. This excellent regular-season performance was converted into a total success last June when Kolstad beat giants Elverum over four legs (!) to claim a first-ever a first Norwegian league title. It was against the same opponents that Christian Berge's men completed their domestic treble by winning the NM Cup.

CHRISTIAN BERGE, MASTERMIND OF THE NORWEGIAN PROJECT

If you had to put a single name behind Kolstad's historic 2022-23 season, it would undoubtedly be coach Christian Berge. Born in Trondheim in 1973, the former Norwegian international grew up at the same time as his hometown club. Initially a player, it was at the helm of Elverum that Berge made his debut as head coach. Between 2008 and 2014, the former centre-half established himself as one of the most promising coaches, winning three consecutive Norwegian championships between 2012 and 2014. It was a highly successful adventure, which saw him launch a certain Magnus Gullerud, then aged 18, into the professional game.

A veritable sensation in his homeland, Berge was promoted to head coach of the Norwegian national team in 2014, a position he held until 2022. In six years, he managed to write the most beautiful page in the history of Norwegian handball, breaking all of his predecessors' records: fourth and third at the Euros 2016 and 2020, runners-up at the 2017 and 2019 World Championships and qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, a first since 1972.

In his first season at the helm of Kolstad, Christian Berge achieved the historic treble. Having qualified for the EHF Champions League and helped by the arrival of a number of stars, the Trondheim club could well have a bright future ahead of them.

KOLSTAD, A SHOWCASE FOR NORWAY?

When the club's ambitious 2021 project was announced, one of the key announcements was the desire to build a team based on local players. One thing is certain: the objective has largely been achieved. Of the 18 players in the squad, 17 are Norwegian, including seven born in Trondheim. In addition to Sander Sagosen, Kolstad picked up two key players from Flensburg this summer: internationals Magnus Rod and Goran Sogard Johannesen.

These three high-calibre reinforcements have joined an already solid squad featuring Torbjorn Sittrup Bergerud, who has the most saves (79) in the EHF Champions League this season alongside Barcelona's Emil Nielsen, and Magnus Gullerud, who will be returning to work with the coach he started out with between 2020 and 2022 at Magdeburg. Iceland international Sigvaldi Gudjonsson, who arrived from Kielce in 2022, is the only foreigner at the Norwegian club.

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A SOLID START TO THE SEASON ON ALL FRONTS

After two and a half months of competition, the new recruits seem to have acclimatised perfectly, and Kolstad have made a solid start to the season. On the domestic front, the Blue and Whites are top of the Rema 1000-Ligaen and through to the semi-finals of the NM Cup. In Europe, the Trondheim outfit have a balanced record of three wins and three defeats. The Norwegians easily overcame Pelister on their EHF Champions League debut (22-31), before falling to Kielce by a narrow margin (30-32) and losing in Zagreb (30-21).

Christian Berge's men bounced back to dominate Szeged (37-24) before pulling off one of the greatest feats in their history by defeating Kiel (34-30), who had been unbeaten on the European stage up to that point. The Norwegians will be keen to repeat their feat against the capital club after losing to Aalborg in a colourful Scandinavian derby (27-25) last time out.

A SOLD-OUT PRESSURE COOKER!

To mark their historic qualification for the EHF Champions League, the Norwegians decided to play their European matches in the huge 9,000-capacity Trondheim Spektrum. Accustomed to the 2,500-seat Kolstad Arena since its inauguration in 2018, the club has made more room for its matches on the European stage, and rightly so. The Norwegians have announced that the clash with Paris will be a sell-out. Les Rouge et Bleu have been warned: the atmosphere in Trondheim this Wednesday promises to be electric!

 

(Credits: J. Azouze/PSG)