This is Me: Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson

THIS IS ME: Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson

I was not born into a handball family, my parents were not sporty. My great-grandfather was a water polo player and later on became an international football referee, and my grandfather was a runner – but no one was into handball. Like many Icelandic kids I started to play handball and football at the same time; my first handball club, Grótta Seltjarnarnes, was in my hometown and I played together with the boys from our school, we were a close group of kids.

Finally, I had to decide which sport I preferred, and as there was no longer a senior football in our club, I focused on handball.

In that time of switching from junior to senior level, Gauti Gretason impacted the rest of my handball career, he was the coach of our senior team at Grotta. He discovered my talent, he gave me the strength I needed, he told me how to train to get stronger, as I was only 1.8 metres tall and weighed 68 kilogrammes.

When I was 16 years old, I started playing for the senior team. It was a classic Icelandic career: give the youngster the chance to play very early, let them take responsibility. We were relegated to the second division, where I played one year with Grotta KR and we got back up to the first division, and then I transferred to KA Akureyri, the home club of big stars such as Alfred Gislason.

We were a bunch of young and wild players, coached by the former national team player and Olympian Atli Hilmarsson. Our team was built of a few experienced players and many youngsters, and those years kickstarted my career. Though we were young, we were on court when it counted, and we learnt so much. In 2001, we won the regular season of the league, but then failed in the play-off finals for the Icelandic championship against Haukar – those finals were my last matches for an Icelandic club.

I was contacted by Patrekur Johanesson, and this phone call changed my life. At that time, he was playing for German club TuSem Essen, and they needed a left wing. I agreed and went abroad in 2001, starting a journey which has still not come to an end. My wife, my daughter and I moved to Germany and it was good to have another Icelander around you, because of language and culture.

In my first year, today’s THW Kiel manager Viktor Szilagyi gave me my first lessons in German, and as he was Austrian I learnt some words nobody knew in Germany. I guess he wanted to make a little Austrian out of me.

But the most important person for my international start was our coach Iouri Chevtsov. He is the definitely the coach I learnt most from. I was this small youngster from Iceland, and now I had to play against those 2m, 100kg bulls in the Bundesliga. This was a really tough school I went through, but it was exactly what I needed to develop. When you were lazy, Chevtsov really hated you, but when you gave your all, he was always at your side. He was the strictest coach in my life, but one of the people with the best characters I ever met.

After the first season, I really thought that I had not fulfilled the expectations of the club, but Iouri came to me and said: “This is exactly what I expected. First you need to adapt, now you put the pedal to the metal. You can lose, but you always have to get up - this is how it works.”

We had a dream team with players such as Oleg Velyky and Dimitri Torgovanov, and all of us young players learnt a lot every day.

In 2005, the club was insolvent, but the character of the team was brilliant – it was another school of life for me, about team spirit and comradeship. We had not received any money for months, but on the court we still gave our all, making it to the finals of the EHF Cup against SC Magdeburg. In the first match, which we lost by eight goals, Pino Torgovanov dislocated his shoulder. At the beginning of the second match, it happened again, but he scored the winner’s strike. We won by nine goals, took the trophy, and soon after we went to the job centre, as we needed to sign on as unemployed.

My future continued at VfL Gummersbach where the famous Croat Veljko Klaijic became my coach with a completely different approach of how to play. He did not care that much about tactics, but only about speed, passion and fight. We had a highly ambitious team with top stars such as Daniel Narcisse and Kyung Shin Yoon and we played many matches in the LANXESS arena at Cologne, constantly attended by more than 15,000 fans.

Personally, it was a perfect style of play, as I was the counter-attack specialist. I finished the Bundesliga season as top scorer with 264 goals and was awarded MVP of the season, which I would never have expected when I arrived.

The year after I played my first EHF Champions League matches after reaching the EHF Cup finals against Lemgo. After that season, the whole team changed and Alfred Gislason, who later on coached me at Kiel and in the national team, became our coach. A tactical giant and a true leader, who always relied on really intense training sessions.

After three years, I went to Rhein-Neckar Löwen. This was partly a hard lesson for me, although in the first year, Iouri Chevtsov was again my coach. But only a few weeks after my arrival, he was fired. I recognised that you learn more from defeats than from victories, it was a school for my character, as it was a difficult time there, although the club had huge financial resources. We even made it to the EHF FINAL4 at Cologne, my first time at this event.

In 2011, I left Germany to join one of the best projects ever in handball: AG Copenhagen in Denmark. I saw the other side of Jesper Nielsen, who had been the main sponsor at Löwen. On Danish ground, you could see his pride and eagerness, as AG (Albertslund Glostrup) Bröndby was his former club. He wanted to create something really huge, and we had a Scandinavian all-star team like never before with players such as Mikkel Hansen, Kasper Hvidt, the Toft Hansen brothers, young Mads Mensah Larsen, Joachim Boldsen, Steinar Ege, Lars Jørgensen, Niclas Ekberg; and us Icelanders, Olafur Stefansson, Arnor Atlasson and Snorri Gudjonsson.

In no club before and after was there such public interest, such hype. Our locker room was something like a magic place, and our coach Magnus Andersson, still a good friend of mine, was brilliant and exactly the right person to lead this selection of legends.

This season at AGK was pure fun, including the record-breaking match against Barcelona in the Parken football arena, which finally provided us with the ticket to Cologne. My second time at the EHF FINAL4 with the second club ended with the second semi-final defeat.

When most of us were at the Olympic Games in London some weeks later, we were informed that the club was cancelled, and this project was over. What I take from this year is to see what you can earn if you invest blood, sweat and tears and when you identify with a project.

So, me and my family had to move again. Now THW Kiel was our destination, Alfred Gislason needed a new left wing, and I was happy to play for the biggest handball club in the world. This team was even better than all the ones I had played with before, including Thierry Omeyer, Filip Jicha, Marcus Ahlm, Daniel Narcisse, Niclas Ekberg, Andreas Palicka, Aron Pálmarsson, Christian Zeitz, Marko Vujin, Christian Sprenger and Momir Ilic.

We became German champions and German cup winners. For the third time in a row, with the third different club I made it to Cologne – and again missed the final, losing the semi against Hamburg.

The next season started with a full transition, many big names left Kiel, and nobody expected us to go all the way. But finally, in the last seconds of the last match day, we passed Rhein-Neckar Löwen in the Bundesliga ranking in the craziest ever season final in German handball – being two goals better than them – and we made it to the Champions League final in Cologne, but lost against Flensburg. It was an almost perfect farewell from a great club.

Something similar, more than a club – “mes que un club” – was waiting for me: Barcelona. Coach Xavi Pascual and manager Xavier O’Callaghan contacted me, and of course it was an honour that Barça showed interest in me. Of course, you cannot say no to Barcelona; I told myself, “let’s try it”. We moved from Kiel to Barcelona, from one legendary handball place to another. If you are a handball player and have the chance to play for both sides, it feels like the biggest honour. The city and the people there have this special flair.

And right from the first training session, there was only one goal: winning the Champions League. To be honest, the hardest matches on the way to this trophy were in the training sessions, when Barça team I faced team II, as we had so many world class players: Nikola Karabatic, Kiril Lazarov, Siarhei Rutenka, Raul Entrerrios, Danijel Saric and young Gonzalo Perez de Vargas in the goal; Victor Tomas, Jesper Nøddesbo, Viran Morros, Dani Sarmiento, Eduardo Gurbindo, Cedric Sorhaindo and Aitor Ariño.

As we had no real opponents in the Spanish league, we could fully focus on the Champions League. When you play in Germany, every league match is crucial and the time to prepare for Champions League matches is extremely short; in Barcelona, it was the longest preparation I ever had for Champions League matches, and Xavi Pascual was brilliant at that. I learnt so much from him about how to prepare for every single situation that might happen in the next match. And like at Kiel, so many friendships for a lifetime started at Barcelona.

I made it to Cologne for the fifth year in a row, now with the fourth different club, and I was really wondering if I was the problem for those clubs which had all failed to win the trophy. Finally, we won it – the relief was so huge, for the club and personally for me. I have so much respect for every player who can raise this trophy on this podium on this particular weekend, as the way there is so huge, steep and hard. You work 51 weeks to get there and I know in Cologne anything can happen.

I stayed one more year at Barcelona, but the club had earlier decided to sign Barcelona-born Valero Rivera for my position, a decision I could understand. Xavi Pascual, David Barrufet and I had very open talks, and finally Nikolaj Jakobsen phoned me to ask if I wanted to return to Rhein-Neckar Löwen, as their club legend Uwe Gensheimer had transferred to Paris. I signed a three-year contract, and this time it was completely different.

It is a nice region to live in, the club is organised extremely professionally, and with players such as Andy Schmid, Andreas Palicka, Kim Ekdahl du Rietz, Alexander Petterson, Mikael Appelgren, Patrick Groetzki, Gedeon Guardiola and Hendrik Pekeler we had huge fun and success. We became German champions in 2017 and finally ended the curse of the German Cup final weekend, when at the tenth attempt, Löwen won the trophy for the first time in 2018. It was the same relief for them as for Barcelona in Cologne two years before.

Niko became one of my favourite coaches ever, although right at the start we had a really loud discussion, almost a fight, as he is a guy who really can explode on and off the bench. Sometimes we were really afraid that he would die of a heart attack during the match. But Niko is a guy with his heart in the right place, with an incredible knowledge of tactics.

When it was obvious that Uwe Gensheimer would return to Löwen in 2019, I needed to make a decision. I was almost 40 years old, but I still felt fit – what to do? Unexpectedly, another door opened for me. We moved to Paris, as PSG only had two young left wings, and they gave me another chance.

I knew many players from my previous clubs like Nikola Karabatic, Mikkel Hansen and Viran Morros, so I started a new adventure. And if anyone thinks that an old man cannot learn more, they would be wrong: Raul Gonzalez gave me a completely new insight into handball.

We were strong, we were again fully focused on winning the Champions League – but then Covid started. I decided to end my career, both at club level and on the national team. In a different situation, I would have gone somewhere else, but instead I finished playing after 25 years, including 22 as a professional.

And of course, after 365 matches for Iceland. Winning the silver medal at the 2008 Olympic Games or the bronze medal at the EHF EURO 2010 were not my biggest moments with the national team, but when I was phoned by the national team coach Thorbjörn Jensson to be nominated for my first international match in 1999. I was just sitting in our house and playing with my little daughter when it happened. I was so happy and proud to be selected for this team.

Regardless of the clubs you have played for and the trophies you have won, there is nothing better than wearing the shirt of your country, your national team. Sometimes up to 70 per cent of all Icelanders were watching our matches, there is a huge interest in the national team, and I am grateful for every single one of those 365 matches I could play for my country and wear my number 9 shirt.

I am simply proud to do so for more than 20 years. It is not about trophies or records, it is about playing and representing your country. I played for Iceland at 22 major tournaments – European and world championships and Olympic Games, this is the biggest success and achievement for me. Or for moments, when the Icelandic president comes to your locker room with his kids to chat with us, creating memories for a lifetime.

And as so many people talk about my records: I do not care that much. I was so happy for Christina Neagu when she passed my EHF EURO goal record in November 2022, and I will be happy for any male player who scores more goals than me either in the Icelandic team or at EHF EURO events. Because the records do not belong to me. I passed someone who had the record before, and someone else will pass me. This is normal life.

After quitting as a player it was obvious for me to remain part of this great handball family. As I had started getting my coaching diplomas, I became a coach. All my previous coaches were like university lecturers; when you have been coached by Iouri Chevtsov, Alfred Gislason, Xavi Pascual, Nikolaj Jacobsen, Raul Gonzalez, Magnus Anderson or Gudmundur Gudmundsson, you have such a huge toolbox you can use when you become a coach. It has been a priceless experience for me. I think the only ones who are missing from this list of coaches who imprinted the last decades of handball are Talant Dujshebaev and Noka Serdarusic. Unfortunately, I never played for their teams.

I do not want to copy any of them, as a Pascual is a Pascual and Alfred is Alfred. I am always authentic, but I picked up a lot of knowledge of what is important. I understand more about handball, and I learnt about consistency.

Only a few months after my retirement, in summer 2020, I took on my first job as a coach at VfL Gummersbach. It was a risk for them to sign this rookie, but their manager Christoph Schindler trusted me and gave me the chance. I do not know if there was no other coach available that time or if I was the cheapest option, but finally I made it. After my second season, we managed to gain promotion to the Bundesliga, with a team full of talents and lot of potential for the future.

After all, I can only say: thank you handball! You gave me so much. You showed me countries I would have never visited as a tourist, you are the key for so many friendships all over the globe. As a young one, I learnt from the old ones; now it is the opposite. You taught me that you need to fight for every goal, how to cope with setbacks, how to communicate in stress situations, to stand up again.

I got to know so many different characters, and I am really happy that I can continue my handball story.

But there is still one thing more important for me – my family. They had to move so often because of daddy’s job. My wife was holding the home together when I was away and she is one of the most experienced home movers in Europe. My two daughters are adults now and study in Iceland. My older daughter was a football player, my younger daughter has nothing to do with sports; they are the two persons that have taught me most about life. My boy is with us and plays handball and football.

It was and is such a great pleasure for me to be part of their development to see them grow, and they learnt so much in different countries and different cities such as Barcelona, Paris or Copenhagen – they have friends all over Europe like I have.

This is my story. And it will continue.

Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson
February 2023