Johanna Reichert: “It’s always nicer to win together”

Was this goal number 11 or 12? The question is whether Johanna Reichert herself knows during a match exactly how many times she has hit the net.

“No, I have no idea,” says the Thüringer HC left back with a smile. Each match, a member of the German club’s coaching staff counts all the goals of the team.

“Normally, he is the one who tells me how many goals I have scored,” says Reichert, who turned 23 last New Year’s Eve.

In fairness, it would be a huge distraction to her game if Reichert started counting during a match. In THC’s two matches at the EHF Finals Women 2025, the Austrian international netted no fewer than 29 times in total: 16 in the semi-final against JDA Bourgogne Dijon Handball (35:29) and 13 in the final against Ikast Håndbold (34:32). Or — one goal in every four minutes and nine seconds.

Don’t think this was just an extraordinary weekend of goal scoring from Reichert — she has been doing it all season long. Reichert, who is the team's penalty shooter and scored eight times in total from the seven-metre line in Graz, has not reached a double-digit figure in only two of the 10 matches THC played since the start of the group phase. And in the other eight matches? 14, 10, 12, 10, 15, 11, 16, and 13 goals.

Her 110-goal tally beats the previous best mark for the EHF European League Women by a massive 38 goals. In 2021/22, Kristina Jørgensen netted 72 times for Viborg HK.

“It’s my best season I have played so far since I went to Germany,” says Reichert, who signed with THC in 2021 coming from Austrian side WAT Atzgersdorf. “I don’t know what I did differently this year, I really have no idea, but I am just happy how it turned out.”

Reichert’s first attempt to explain her scoring outburst is a simple one: she is just getting more time on court than in the past. Until this season, she wasn’t even the first choice for the left back position, where Annika Lott starred. The German international scored 68 times in 2022/23, when THC first reached the EHF Finals. But Lott has left in the off-season for EHF Champions League side Brest Bretagne Handball in France.

“This season I played way more than the season before,” says Reichert, who scored 48 times in the EHF European League last season, when THC lost in the quarter-finals to eventual champions Storhamar Handball Elite.

“Anni is a good friend of mine, it was nice to have her as a competitor (for the same position), but I think our playing style last year was also a little bit different.”

An adapted playing style to get Reichert in as many scoring positions as possible? THC head coach Herbert Müller makes no secret of this when he is asked about his tactics.

“We are a team, a team that is able to fight for each other but also to prepare the shots for someone. We have a lot of tactics where we try to get the shooters in a good position,” Müller explains after THC’s semi-final win over Dijon.

The coach admits he is still left in awe after each match in which Reichert’s goals cannot be counted on two hands.

“After a match we do not even realise that she can do that,” Müller says. “On the other side, she plays more positions. She is not just playing left back, she plays right back also. So, this is something that is good for the team, but also, the whole team is working for somebody like her to have a good position to shoot.”

In that respect, Müller singles out one player: Natsuki Aizawa, the centre back who arrived from Japan before the 2024/25 season.

“Somebody like Natsuki is playing for the rest of the team, her value is incredibly high,” Müller says.

Asked about her role in the team and her importance for Reichert’s scoring prowess, Aizawa replies with a smile.

“I am only small,” the 1.60m-tall Japanese international says shortly after the final, “and my best performance is one-on-one. Johanna is a crazy shooter. I go one-on-one or to the goal myself, then play the assist.”

Aizawa adds she is always aware of where Reichert is on the court, and that the pair practice their attacking moves a lot, so she knows when and how to best set her up.

“Of course, Natsuki is playing really well for me,” Reichert confirms. “How she moves, how she goes one-on-one, it’s always there for me to score a lot. So, it’s also still teamwork. If I wouldn’t have had my teammates, I couldn’t have scored those goals.”

In the end, even for a prolific scorer like Reichert, it is all about teamwork. For the left back, her top scorer and MVP awards don’t mean nearly as much as the EHF European League trophy she has won with THC.

“I don’t care about the personal trophies,” Reichert says. “I think it’s always nicer to win together and take the title home.”

Photos © kolektiff