Landin: back home with high ambitions

In 2021, Aalborg were the surprise package, making it to the EHF FINAL4 in Cologne, beating Paris Saint-Germain in the semi to become the first ever Danish men’s team to reach the final, though Barça ended Aalborg’s dreams of a trophy lift. In 2022 and 2023, the six-time Danish champions failed to qualify for the EHF FINAL4.

Last season, their domestic rivals GOG were their stumbling block in the league and the EHF Champions League, losing to the Gudme-based side in the play-offs.

“Last season did not go exactly how we wished and hoped for. But that is handball, everything can happen. This has also motivated us for this season; reaching for a higher spot in the table and giving ourselves the best possible starting point as we want to go back to the EHF FINAL4, being among the four best European clubs,” says Larsen.

The squad is in a state of transition. One year after the homecoming of Mikkel Hansen, who missed the core part of the season after the World Championship in January due to mental health issues, 10 players (including Aron Pálmarsson, Felix Claar and Lukas Sandell) have left and nine new players have arrived, meaning coach Stefan Madsen has to build a new hierarchy and structure in the team.

Big names such as Lukas Nilsson (from Rhein-Neckar Löwen), Thomas Arnoldsen (Skanderborg-Aarhus), Aleks Vlah (RK Celje) or Simon Hald (SG Flensburg-Handewitt) have recently arrived, but the biggest signing of this summer – and, together with Mikkel Hansen, the biggest in club history - is definitely goalkeeper Niklas Landin, twice the IHF World Player of the Year.

He played in the German Bundesliga for 11 years, was German champion and cup winner three times, won the EHF Cup twice and the EHF Champions League once. In 2012 he arrived at Rhein-Neckar Löwen from Bjerringbro as a newly-crowned European champion, and after three years the two-metre giant went on to THW Kiel.

In 2019, 2021 and 2023 Landin led Denmark to the world championship title, in 2016 to gold at the Olympics. Alongside Frenchmen Nikola Karabatic and Daniel Narcisse and his compatriot Lasse Svan, Landin has won the five biggest titles (Olympics, World Championships, European Championships, Champions League and EHF Cup), plus the top-ranked domestic league; the German Bundesliga.

The 34-year-old is now looking for a new challenge at home. Although his contract in Kiel actually ran until 2025, Landin switched to Aalborg. "It is simply wonderful to be playing for a club in your home country again after such a long time," says Landin, whose brother Magnus continues to play for THW Kiel.

Right from the start of pre-season he saw the difference between the German and Danish leagues.

"In Denmark you do not train as hard as in Kiel. For us it is much more important that the completely transformed team grows together.”

After Aalborg were defeated by GOG in the Danish finals in the past two years and did not make it to Cologne after 2021, the pressure is huge, says Landin.

"It's not different in Aalborg compared to Kiel; we have to become Danish champions and we want to go to Cologne, those are the same goals as at THW in Germany," says Landin, who speaks of a "super project and a great team" in Aalborg, but adds: "I'm not the super-transfer, just a player who's happy to play there."

For the first time at club level, he will play with Mikkel Hansen, who is back on track and was the top scorer in Aalborg’s last friendly match, in which they beat German side SG Flensburg-Handewitt 34:29.

This match marked a historic occasion, as for the first time 5,500 fans were in the Sparekassen Danmark Arena. During the summer, the club added 500 more seats to their venue as interest is so huge now that Landin and Hansen are part of the squad. “We aim to deliver the best possible experience for the fans. That is why we increased the capacity of the arena during the summer break,” says manager Jan Larsen.

The famous fans from the north of Denmark will get served several feasts in the group phase of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League – and Niklas Landin will face many friends and former teammates, as his side will duel with THW Kiel and Kolstad, the new club of former THW star Sander Sagosen.

But how does Landin’s prediction for the EHF Champions League look?

“For me, in view of the newcomers, Veszprém are the big favourites ahead of Barça, Kielce and Paris – although the giant Dainis Kristopans has switched to German side Melsungen. But below there is a huge group of teams which can make it to Cologne. Kiel, Magdeburg and of course Aalborg. My big dream is to play with a Danish club in Cologne one day," he says. "And then maybe against Kiel as well."

photos © René Schütze