While Gidsel has only played two EHF Champions League seasons with his former side GOG before he joined Berlin, 30-year-old Andersson already has his eighth year ahead. He has previously played in the premier competition from 2013 until 2016 with KIF Kolding and then for four years for mighty FC Barcelona. Andersson made it to the EHF FINAL4 with Barça twice, but both times missed to qualify for the final. In 2020, the Danish shooter joined Füchse Berlin – and now made his dream come true to return to the EHF Champions League.
“It was such a hard way for us to make it to the EHF Champions League. Of course, we wanted to become German champions for the first time, but finishing second meant we qualified for the Machineseeker EHF Champions League. And there is no league where it is harder to make it happen. Just looking at clubs such as THW Kiel and SG Flensburg-Handewitt, who did not make it, shows the strength and the balance of the German league. It is really tough to compete, as five or six teams can make it to the top. So we are really happy to play in this competition,” says Andersson.
For the “Foxes” from the German capital, an 11-year-long absence came to an end. They qualified for the EHF FINAL4 in Cologne right in their first EHF Champions League season in 2011/12, one year later they lost in the quarter-finals against Atletico Madrid, and in 2013 they missed the qualification for the top-flight competition by a single goal, against the defending champions at that time, HSV Hamburg.
In between, Füchse Berlin became the most successful team in the second-tier club competition, winning the EHF Cup twice in 2015 and 2018 and the EHF European League once in 2023. Besides, they made it to the finals of those competitions in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2024.
“We played many years in the EHF European League now, which is getting stronger and stronger, but the EHF Champions League is different, more attractive, the biggest competition for a club. You face the best teams, it is legendary. And therefore, it is really fun to be part of it with Füchse Berlin. The EHF Champions League is the competition we all aim for”, says Lasse Andersson.
His side will restart in the EHF Champions League with a real bang, a home match against four-time finalists HC Veszprém on Thursday, 12 September – but for Lasse Andersson, the whole group phase will be an adventure: “Playing Veszprém right at the start does not mean that much to me, as we only face great teams in our group. And for all of them we have respect, of course. I am looking forward to playing all those teams.”
Besides Veszprém, Füchse Berlin will duel with PSG, debutants Fredericia, Plock, Eurofarm Pelister, Sporting CP and Dinamo Bucuresti in group A.
And right from the start, it is Füchse’s dream to go all the way to Cologne. Despite those high ambitions, left back Andersson remains humble: “We have not talked about the goals for the next season, but of course, we aim for all potential titles and trophies – this is always the intention of Füchse Berlin. And of course, it is also my goal.”