Kielce’s future has French flavour

Lomza Vive Kielce always belong to the contenders for an EHF FINAL4 spot. After their early exit from the EHF Champions League in the previous season, losing to HBC Nantes in the play-offs, the well-balanced and significantly strengthened squad of Talant Dujshebaev starts another ‘mission Cologne’ in a challenging group.

Main facts:

• Polish champions enter EHF Champions League for 10th straight time 19th time overall
• CL winners in 2016; played EHF FINAL4 three more times: 3rd in 2013 and 2015, 4th in 2019
• since 2014 the team is led by iconic coach Talant Dujshebaev; his sons Alex (since 2017) and Daniel (2018) also play for Kielce
• after knee surgery, Dani Dujshebaev is expected back on court in October
• Dylan Nahi is the biggest name among the new arrivals; his former PSG teammates Benoît Kounkoud and Nedim Remili will follow in 2022
• Angel Fernandez returned to Spain, joining Barça

The main question: Will the way lead to Cologne?

The squad gets wider, the quality remains the same, but the coach has more options: Kielce’s outlook on the new season is full of hope, but also demanding. Club boss Bertus Servaas pushes his side to the limit, knowing that the goal – reaching the EHF FINAL4 in Cologne – is possible.

After a strong group phase last season, Kielce had their dreams shattered by Nantes. But Talant Dujshebaev surely has a plan to make things better this season. Success will depend largely on the axis Andreas Wolff-Alex Dujshebaev-Nicolas Tournat, but left and right many stars are ready to shine. Also, a team needs some luck during the season and avoid major injuries mainly between March and June. Knowing that the core of the squad will remain the same in the next couple of years makes it easier for Dujshebaev.

Under the spotlight: Dylan Nahi

One of the top transfers this summer, Dylan Nahi has joined fellow Frenchman Nicolas Tournat. Nahi impressed at PSG when he took over the left wing position from former Champions League top scorer Uwe Gensheimer. Kielce had already announced the signing of Nahi in 2019; still only 21, he has already competed at four EHF FINAL4 events and the Frenchman now will feel the pressure to deliver in Poland.

How they rate themselves

“Our goal is to reach the EHF FINAL4 as I am convinced that our team is ready to get there again,” says club president Bertus Servaas. “We have learnt all our lessons, became stronger and more united. Playing Champions League is a huge value added for our fans that can support our players fighting for their dreams, for our town of Kielce to be a fixed place on the European sports map and for our sponsors that can be presented by us and thus be associated with pure values of competition, constant improvement and highest possible quality.”

For right wing Arkadiusz Moryto the “feeling of dissatisfaction from the past season is our huge motivation now. We have already forgotten about it, but in fact there is still some voice at the back of my head that we did not make it last year, we failed. We want to show that it was just a minor occurrence.”

Did you know?

Two sons and a father at the same club – a unique situation in the Champions League. Father Talant Dujshebaev is Olympic champion and Champions League winner as a player, and four-time Champions League winner as a coach. Son Alex won his first Olympic medal with Spain this month – bronze – after winning two EHF EURO trophies; the last one in 2020 together with his younger brother Daniel.

Talant and Alex were the first father and son to win the Champions League – in 2017 with Vardar, a feat repeated the following year when Melvyn Richardson won with Montpeller, after his father had done it in the past with Portland San Antonio.

What the numbers say

Shirt numbers 33 and 99 refer to birthdays: Goalkeeper and team captain Andres Wolff was born on 3 March 1991 and wears 22; Dylan Nahi was born on 30 November 1999 and wears 99.

Arrivals and departures:

Newcomers: Dylan Nahi (Paris Saint-Germain HB), Miguel Sanchez Migallon (BM Ciudad de Logrono), Damian Domagała (KS Viret CMC Zawiercie)

Left the club: Angel Fernandez Perez (Barça), Miłosz Wałach (Torus Wybrzeże Gdańsk), Sebastian Kaczor (Górnik Zabrze), Krzysztof Lijewski (assistant coach at Kielce)

Past achievements

EHF Champions League
Participations (including 2021/22 season): 19
Winners (1): 2015/16
Semi-finals (3): 2012/13, 2014/15, 2018/19
Quarter-finals (1): 2017/18
Play-offs (1): 2020/21
Last 16 (7): 1993/94, 1994/95, 2009/10, 2011/12, 2013/14, 2016/17, 2019/20*
Last 32 (2): 1996/97, 1998/99
Group Matches (3): 1999/2000, 2003/04, 2010/11
* 2019/20 Last 16 cancelled due to Covid-19 pandemic

Other

EHF Cup: Quarter-finals 1997/98, 2005/06
Cup Winners’ Cup: Quarter-finals 1995/96

Polish league: 18 titles (1993-94, 1996, 1998-99, 2003, 2009-10, 2012-21)
Polish cup: 17 titles (1985, 2000, 2003-04, 2006, 2009-19, 2021)