Sagosen's thoughts fixed on Cologne for club and country
All eyes on Berlin. This is the motto for Thursday evening when the draw event for the Men’s EHF EURO 2024 qualifiers will be staged in the German capital. 32 nations are seeded in four pots and will discover their opponents for the qualifiers (six rounds from October 2022 until April 2023).
Alongside hosts Germany, only the three EHF EURO 2022 medallists (Sweden, Spain and Denmark) are directly qualified for the first Men’s EHF EURO on German ground, some big names will be in the pots on Thursday.
One of them is EHF EURO 2020 bronze medallist Norway, seeded in pot 1. In 2020, their star Sander Sagosen broke the all-time record as top scorer with 65 goals, steering his side to their first European medal.
On Thursday, Sagosen’s national teammate, goalkeeper Kristian Sæverås, will be one of four stars, who help to conduct the draw of the groups. “I hope, Kristian will have a lucky hand and deliver us good opponents,” Sagosen said to eurohandball.com.
“Of course, it is our first goal to qualify for the EHF EURO 2024, regardless of the opponents in the qualifiers but still we hope for a good group. I have no favourite team which I want to face.”
Sagosen and his side had their fate in their hands to skip the qualification for Germany 2024 by winning a medal at the EHF EURO 2022 in Hungary and Slovakia. But Norway lost their crucial last main round match in Bratislava against Sweden. “When I look back, it is still so disappointing and frustrating, it was like you get smashed in your face,” Sagosen says about the 24:23 defeat.
Six minutes before the end, he scored to make it 23:19, but from that moment on, his side did not score and Sweden turned the match around to reach the semi-finals, before going on to top the podium.
“Finally we won the 5/6 placement match and qualified directly for the 2023 World Championship, but missing this semi-final in such a close way still stings. We did not show our quality when it counted and finally, Sweden won gold,” says Sagosen.
But this defeat even propelled the future ambitions of the THW Kiel superstar, who will return to Norway and play for Kolstad in 2023.
“The EHF EURO 2024 will be a huge handball party and I hope to be part of it. There is no other nation with bigger handball arenas than Germany and all the arenas will be full, packed with fans from all over Europe. When I think about it, I already feel this huge anticipation, though there is still plenty of time ahead.”
One of the EHF EURO 2024 arenas excites Sagosen most - LANXESS arena in Cologne, the home of the EHF FINAL4 and the venue where, on 28 January 2024, the EHF EURO champions will be crowned.
“I won the Champions League in this arena in December 2020, when it was almost empty because of Covid. But I know the pictures and videos from Cologne when it is fully packed. Therefore it is our aim with THW Kiel to make it to Cologne again at the end of this Champions League season. But of course, there is still a tough and challenging quarter-final ahead for us, either against PSG or Elverum.”
And finally, it is his dream to return to Cologne for the final weekend of the EHF EURO 2024. “It would be a fairy-tale to go all the way.” But first, also Sagosen’s eyes will be on Berlin - as six qualification matches are ahead for Norway. On Thursday night, Sagosen, Norway and the other 31 nations will learn their fate.
The draw on Thursday starts at 18:00 CEST and will be streamed live on the Home of Handball Facebook and YouTube pages, as well as on EHFTV.
