Sagosen: “Proof of how tight and how difficult it is to win in Cologne”

Two previous EHF Champions League finals — one in 2021; the other in 2024. Both against Barça. Both ending in losses. Aalborg hope the situation will be different this time around. 

“We're feeling great. Of course, really proud and happy to achieve that we are coming to Cologne,” says Sagosen.

Making it to Cologne means achieving one of the main goals of the season. The next is to go all the way and raise the trophy. 

For Sagosen, taking the biggest club title with Aalborg would be extremely special. The back was 18 when he first left his native Norway to join Aalborg, and it was during those years with the Danish side that Sagosen rose to prominence. The club itself was also rising to new and more consistent heights at that time, and has now cemented itself as a powerhouse in Danish and international handball. 

Sagosen returned to Aalborg early in 2025 with the ambition to help the club claim the elusive top-tier trophy for the first time. 

“I'm extremely proud to be a part of this club. My journey somehow started here, coming out here as an 18-year-old and growing into a player, and then to be able to come back here now and put one goal: To win the Champions League with Aalborg. So, of course it's special. Of course, I’m looking forward to it. So, I just really, really hope that we can go there and have a great weekend,” he says. 

“How far this club also has come shows how they work”

Arriving in Aalborg in 2014, Sagosen was at that time a newcomer in the Norway national team — soon to lead the side to record successes in their own context. The first semi-final ever for the Norway men came at the EHF EURO 2016, followed by the first medal, at the 2017 World Championship, with Sagosen instrumental in both. 

Sagosen was named in the EHF EURO All-star Team three editions in a row from 2016 to 2020, and for the World Championship in both 2017 and 2019. Norway were suddenly a major pin on the men’s handball map and Sagosen was a huge reason for that. 

And it all took off while he was at Aalborg, from which he transferred to PSG in 2017 and then on to Kiel in 2020. Sagosen’s long-held dreams were coming true as he played in the jersey of the Danish club, and that is in part what made it such a special few years and such a cherished place to which to return.

“You reach for your dreams, and you work towards your goals, and you achieve and you achieve and it's the first time,” says Sagosen.

“Despite that it’s every time special winning a title, the first time is always the most special one,” he adds, referring to the Danish league title won in 2017. In 2025, he completed his personal collection of Danish titles with Aalborg by winning the Cup.  

“But it was also the people in the club, around the club,” continues Sagosen. “For me coming here, I was 18 years old. Quite young. An inexperienced player. They took really good care of me. It was like coming to a family, with the club, with the team, with the players, and also the fans — everything, the whole thing around this club is so special for me. 

“It's quite unique and I think how far this club also has come shows how they work, not only on the handball pitch, but that it’s a family who's working on it.”

“We trained really hard. We worked ourselves out of it”

Coming back to the present, the bulk of the season lies behind and just four games remain in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2025/26, along with the outcome of the Danish championship. Sagosen is more than satisfied with where Aalborg are in terms of the journey through the season and the team’s level of play at this critical point.  

“I'm really happy where we are standing right now. I think we had a great season. From the beginning until now, I think we managed a lot of difficulty — players out, players in, with some injuries, but I think we stood together as a team, as a club and we worked our way through it. And I think we played amazing handball the whole season,” says Sagosen. 

In the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2025/26, Aalborg finished second in group A and earned a direct ticket to the quarter-finals, bypassing the play-offs. In the group phase, they lost just three games, two of which were in the final rounds. 

“We had a little bit, how to say, a down period after the championship [EHF EURO 2026], I would say. But I think directly too, after these two weeks, in the beginning of the play-offs here in Denmark, we found ourselves again. We trained really hard. We worked ourselves out of it. 

“For where we are standing now, it's the most important time of the season and I'm really happy where we are standing. I think we are doing good. It was a hard quarter-final series against Sporting, but we succeeded,” says Sagosen. 

Aalborg played one of the two closest quarter-final ties in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2025/26, beating Sporting by just one goal on aggregate. Following a draw in the first leg in Portugal, Aalborg defeated their rivals 37:36 in the second. 

“To be a part of this company with the top clubs, we need this amount of great, great players”

Sagosen is part of a powerhouse back court at Aalborg — a quality matched by the other EHF FINAL4 participants, but with each side bringing their own style. 

Sagosen emphasises the ability to rotate without a drop in quality as a crucial asset of Aalborg’s back court, mentioning the full roster of backs, encompassing their top scorer this season Thomas Arnoldsen, second top scorer Mads Hoxer — both EHF EURO 2026 champions with Denmark — and newcomer this season, fresh from a string of successful years with the Germany national team Juri Knorr. Swedish international Lukas Nilsson, recent Danish breakout Marinus Munk and one of Norway’s next big things, 21-year-old Patrick Anderson, complete the line-up of backs at Aalborg. 

“We have amazing quality,” says Sagosen. “We have some similarities, but we also have a lot of players to change on, to work through a whole season. It's a lot of games during a season. A lot of things can happen. A lot of roles. A lot of different ways of playing and we have players out, players in.

“We have a big, wide squad if you can say it like that. But also, what I think and what I believe is important to be a part of this company with the top clubs, we need this amount of great, great players who can build a lot of different things and solve a lot of different problems.

“We work really good together. I think the chemistry in the team is really good, really good. The back-court players, we work hard, we train hard together and we try to learn from each other.” 

“It's the biggest dream of the club and so it's a lot of pressure”

Aalborg travel to Cologne targeting their third EHF Champions League final. In 2021, they were defeated 36:23 in the final. In 2024, the score against Barça was 31:30 for the Spanish side. 

Sagosen was not with Aalborg on those previous appearances but has experienced Cologne with both PSG and Kiel — and raised the trophy with the latter in 2020. 

How does the past experience of the EHF FINAL4, notoriously in its own league when it comes to scale and concentrated action among major handball events, play into Aalborg’s hopes now? 

“Of course, there’s more experience in the club about it. But still, I think even for Barcelona, for Magdeburg, who've been there so many times, it's always special coming to Cologne. Of course, we are more used to it. Everything is not new this time with the [EHF] FINAL4, for the club, the travel, the fans,” says Sagosen. 

“I have been there three years, and every year is quite special to come down there. It’s what you work for the whole season. It’s what you work for the whole year. It's the biggest dream of the club and so it's a lot of pressure.

“For us in Aalborg at least, we will just go down there and we will enjoy it. We have nothing to lose. We can win everything there. And that's our biggest dream: To lift the Champions League trophy. For me, if we do it with Aalborg now, it will be special for sure. 

“On the other hand, I think we are quite calm about what we are expecting. We know how the drills are, we know the programme and we will just go down there and enjoy ourselves and hopefully play our best handball this season.” 

“Not focusing on the results, on the end, but the way there”

Looking to the moment of bringing out Aalborg’s best handball this season, Sagosen knows what awaits his side in Barça. 

“It's a tough game. Barcelona is an amazing team, amazing players — that everybody knows. They play fast. They play really fast handball. For us, we have to really focus on finishing in the attack, not making too many technical mistakes and also on the other hand, making the goals on their goalkeepers, who are amazing. So, it will be a tough game against a great team, but I really look forward to it.” 

There are no easy games in Cologne and LANXESS arena is no stranger to last-gasp goals, overtime or the penalty shootouts often needed to separate the last four teams standing in the race to end the season on top. What is crucial for Sagosen if it comes down to that — if a match at the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 2026 heads into high-pressure crunch time? 

“Trying always to remember myself, why are we here? And not thinking too much how important this shot is, this pass is. Just wanting to decide, wanting to move forward, then just sticking to the plan we are making. That's what I'm trying to do. Not focusing on the results, on the end, but the way there. 

“These moments, I think every handball player, every athlete, loves. That it is close, I think that's proof of how tight and how difficult it is to win in Cologne.” 

Photos © Henrik Hansen; Christoffer Andersen / NTB; kolektiff images/Nebojsa Tejic/Anze Malovrh; THW Kiel/Sascha Klahn; PSG