Pick Szeged men's handball team starts season in Germany

The OTP Bank-Pick Szeged men's handball team will start the season at a preparatory tournament in Germany. The team introduced their new coach, Michael Apelgren, at a press event on Wednesday.

The team has been preparing for the new season for four weeks and will play its first match in the National Championship next Saturday against the Eger team at home in Szeged.

"It's not easy, because the Olympics meant we had to start working together late. I could join later because of the Olympic Games, but my assistants Jonas Källman and Krisztián Kárpáti were great substitutes," Apelgren said, referring to his role as assistant coach of the Swedish national team at the Paris Games.

"On Saturday and Sunday, we will play in Kassel. In the semi-final, we will face the German Melsungen; in the other leg, two of our Champions League group opponents, Magdeburg and Kielce, will meet. We are playing against excellent teams, it is very important to practice and it will be important for us to get to know each other as well as possible."

The coach explained that six new players have arrived in the summer, their integration is ongoing and they have brought forward two National Championship games so that they will arrive for the Champions League match against Magdeburg having practiced several times.

"We're in a tough group, I don't want to promise big things. I'm looking forward to the first meeting with the fans. I know the atmosphere in Szeged very well, as I had the chance to experience the team's great fan base in the sports hall in Újszeged," he added.

The club, who will start their 22nd Champions League season, will host Magdeburg in their first match on September 12 at the Pick Arena in Szeged. A week later they will play in Barcelona, and a week after that the French HBC Nantes will come to Szeged.

Source: MTI

Featured image: Szilvia Molnar / Szegedify