ProApps para la fase de rodaje

A big name on the bench and a new “insurance” between the goal bars characterise the all-Scandinavian team of IFK Kristianstad.

Lars Madsen (Denmark) and Olafur Gudmundsson (Iceland) are the only non-Swedish players in the squad of legendary coach Ola Lindgren (former world champion, four- time EHF EURO winner and three-time Olympic finalist), additionally coaching the Swedish men’s national team together with Staffan Olsson.

The biggest name in the team is former Flensburg, Hamburg and Sweden goalkeeper Dan Beutler, who returned to home court before this season.

Kristianstad also profited from his saves in qualification, when they first beat last season’s Challenge Cup finalist Handball Esch (Luxemburg) and last season’s EHF Cup Group Phase participant Bacau from Romania.

Kristianstad have a very concrete objective for their six group matches: “We want to gain at least five points.” Additionally they again hope to be among the best four teams in Sweden to qualify for international competitions again.

Club manager Nikolas Larsson is expecting a huge interest in Kristianstad. “We are very satisfied with advancing to the EHF Cup Group Phase and hope to make our home games becoming fantastic fiestas for the strong home crowd, as we aim to have more than 4,000 spectators at each home game,” Larsson said. And they will see the maiden season of the new club mascot, the tiger, “Krutis”, which means “gunpowder” and shall symbolise the power of IFK.

Club Address: IFK Kristianstad Västra Storgatan 69 29154 Kristanstad Sweden Media contact: Nikolas Larsson +46 705 454332 [email protected] Online information: www.ifkkristianstad.se Facebook: ifkkristianstad Twitter: @ifk1899 Youtube: ifkkristianstad Playing hall Kristianstad Arena Ringvägen 2 29154 Kristianstad Sweden Capacity: 4,800 Kit colours Light

Player shirt: orange Player short: black Goalkeeper shirt: red

Dark

Player shirt: black Player short: black Goalkeeper shirt: yellow

Past achievements EHF Cup

Round 2: 2012/13

Swedish champions: 1950, 1952, 1953, (1941 in outdoor handball) The road to the Group Phase:

Round 2: IFK Kristianstad – Handball Esch 32:19, 30:28

Round 3: IFK Kristianstad – Stiintia Municipal Dedeman Bacau 40:25, 23:27 Newcomers:

Dan Beutler (HSV Hamburg), Fredric Pettersson (Aarhus), Andreas Cederholm (Skövde), Albin Lagergren (Varberg), Daniel Lindgren (HK Drott)

Left the club:

Darko Martinovic (no new club), Johan Persson (IFK Ystad), Henrik Nordlander(HK Malmö), Johan Koch (TV Emsdetten), Claus Kjeldgaard (SönderjyskE), Oskar Hansson (O/V Helsingborg)

Coach:

Ola Lindgren (since February 2012)

GROUP C

Team roster

IFK Kristianstad

No. First Name Surname Nat. Position Date of Birth Height Weight

1 Dan Beutler SWE Goalkeeper 7 Oct 1977 193 89

25 Boris Bosic SWE Left Back 6 Sep 1996 187 85 28 Herman Bosson SWE Right Back 30 Sep 1996 0

21 Andreas Cederholm SWE Right Back 4 May 1990 186 89 27 Oskar Cosmo SWE Line Player 27 Mar 1996 0

13 Olafur Andres Gudmundsson ISL Centre Back 13 May 1990 194 92 15 Johan Jepson SWE Left Wing 15 Jul 1985 182 80 7 Anton Jönsson SWE Left Wing 24 Jun 1992 184 78 9 Emil Karlsson SWE Right Wing 15 Jun 1993 183 77 10 Albin Lagergren SWE Right Back 11 Sep 1992 189 100 16 Jesper Larsson SWE Goalkeeper 27 Jul 1973 190 95 11 Johannes Larsson SWE Right Wing 9 Aug 1991 183 74 2 Anders Daniel Lindgren SWE Left Back 15 May 1986 197 97 26 Anton Lindskog SWE Line Player 7 Dec 1993 198 107 12 Herdeiro Lucau SWE Goalkeeper 7 Apr 1987 193 92 23 Lars Moller Madsen DEN Left Back 30 May 1981 205 112 24 Johan Nilsson SWE Centre Back 23 Aug 1995 189 76 4 Markus Olsson SWE Left Back 31 Mar 1990 186 90 18 Fredric Pettersson SWE Line Player 11 Feb 1989 201 111 17 Viktor Röxner SWE Centre Back 10 Apr 1993 186 82 29 Anton Svensson SWE Left Wing 8 May 1993 185 73

Ola Lindgren coach

As a player, Lindgren was one of the legendary “Bengan Boys” – the famous Swedish national team who celebrated so many triumphs in the 80ies and 90ies. Being a big and strong line player, he won four EUROs and two WCh with Sweden, for whom he played 376 internationals. As a coach, he has gained experience at top level in the German Bundesliga clubs HSG Nordhorn and Rhein-Neckar Löwen before returning home to Sweden in 2012 to take over Kristianstad. From 2008, however, he had been in charge of the Swedish national team together with his former national teammate Staffan Olsson. Those two still form the national coaching duo in Sweden. After having missed the qualification for the EHF Cup Group Phase as well as the Swedish championship last season, things are looking better for Lindgren and Kristianstad this season, where they have qualified for EHF Cup Group Phase. It is beyond any doubt that Ola Lindgren can take his part of the credit for this achievement, being the calm, motivating and communicative type of coach he is.

Lars Møller Madsen left back

With his 205 cm and 116 kilos, Lars Møller Madsen really meets the physical requirements for being a fine shooter from the distance. And that is exactly what he is and has been for many years now. While he played in Skjern, his jump shots were almost impossible for the goalkeepers to save, particularly when the pass came from the team’s brilliant playmaker Jesper Jensen. The Danish national team has also benefitted from Madsen’s shooting power, though. For instance, it was his right arm that sent Denmark to the semi-final of the 2007 WCh in Germany, as he scored the winning goal in the dying seconds of the quarter-final against Iceland. The next year he was nominated for the Danish squad for the EHF EURO 2008, but he was not included for the team that won the final against Croatia. In 2011 IFK Kristianstad spotted the tall Dane who was playing in Polish Plock at that time, and ever since Madsen has been a crucial figure to the attacking play of the Swedish team.

Dan Beutler goalkeeper

This season, Beutler is back in Sweden after ten years in Germany – representing SG Flensburg-Handewitt and HSV Hamburg – as well as a short spell in Al Jaish in Qatar. As soon as the 2001/02 season, however, he played in his first European Cup competition. With IFK Ystad he reached Round 3 of the EHF Cup – with another prominent Swede, Marcus Ahlm among his teammates, by the way. Later on, he was going to be considerably more successful at European level, without winning any titles, though. 193 cm tall Beutler is a typical product of the famous Swedish goalkeeper school. Upright and calm, good at reading the shooters and anticipating their shots. These skills gave him 71 internationals for Sweden, and he would probably have got many more, had he not abandoned the national team in 2011. His skills and the international experience he has gained throughout his foreign career have made him a considerable reinforcement to the Kristianstad team this season, and he has played a great part in the team from the south of Sweden having qualified for the EHF Cup group phase this season.

Olafur Gudmundsson centre back

In 2010, at the age of the 20, Olafur Gudmundsson seemed to be heading for the stars. At that point, Gudmundsson, already an Icelandic international at that time, signed on for ambitious AG København. However, even before his first season in the Danish top club was over, he was loaned out to domestic league colleagues Nordsjælland Håndbold, from whom he joined Kristianstad a year later. In Southern Sweden, they have been happy with Gudmundsson who is now in his second season with the club. And so far this season seems to be even more successful to him, than his first year in the club was. With his 194 cm, he is rather tall for a playmaker, and by adding quite a lot of shooting power to his height, he has developed into the kind of playmaker who does not stick to simply distributing passes to his teammates, but one who is also dangerous himself. Furthermore, he is a versatile back court player who can actually play all positions in the back court line.

EURO: B 2010 EC trophies: Challenge Cup 2001/02 and 2002/03 with Skjern Håndbold

EURO: G 2008, B 2006