Madsen: “Expectations are very high, and that’s what motivates me”

Seven new players joined Paris Saint-Germain, six left, and a new coaching staff took over, with Stefan Madsen now at the wheel assisted by Henrik Møllgaard, the former Danish international who played under Madsen at Aalborg Håndbold and also spent three seasons at PSG, in 2015-18.

“But it’s not like we are starting from scratch either,” explains Madsen, who arrived after Raul Gonzalez had led the team for seven seasons. “I have a lot of respect for what has been done here before, but we have to make small changes, because I have my own way of coaching. And that takes some time.”

Looking at the new players’ profiles, it seems clear that Paris will embrace a more Scandinavian way of playing this season. While Swedish national team players Emil Mellegård and Sebastian Karlsson will reinforce the wing positions, centre back Noah Gaudin — who played in Skjern for a couple of seasons — will help Luc Steins in the back court.

“So far, we are going the right way. Not quite where we want to be, but this team has a lot of potential. Give us a couple of months, and we will be better than we are now,” promises Madsen.

The Danish coach spent a year in Egypt, coaching Al-Ahly, after six seasons at Aalborg. “Egypt was something completely different. I learnt a lot there, both as a coach but also as a person. It was a different way of working, with different problems and different solutions to find. But I look back on it as something really positive.”

But, by his own admission, Stefan Madsen “missed the Champions League”, a competition in which he reached the final with Aalborg in 2024, only losing it by one goal against Barça (31:30). While he could not become the first coach to put a Danish side on the top of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League podium, could he be the first one to lift the trophy with PSG?

“I hope so, but I also know how hard it is. It’s a lot of work, a lot of dedication, and even sometimes a little bit of luck,” explains the 48-year-old, before drawing a comparison between the two clubs. “The expectations are the same; very high. People expect you to win everything, every game, every competition. It can be hard to take for some, but it motivates me.”

Paris last played in the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 in 2023, and the road to Cologne is as long as ever. “And that’s what I keep telling everyone, it’s a very long season. We are still in the process of building a new team, and every training and every game will be an opportunity for us to get better,” explains the Danish coach.

PSG start their Machineseeker EHF Champions League campaign in Magdeburg, facing the titleholders of the competition on the opening night of the competition — Wednesday 10 September at 20:45 CEST (live on EHFTV). And they feature in the same group as Barça, the record champions.

“Every game is tough in the EHF Champions League, and there are so many good teams that you will play against, some of them in the group phase,” he says, before concluding: “I am confident in this team. It has potential and value, everybody has the right mindset and jumped on board from day one. And, right now, this is the most important thing to me.”

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