Sagosen’s game: “It’s part of my mentality to take responsibility”

If there is one statistic which says everything about Sander Sagosen, it is his scoring record from the Men’s EHF EURO 2020. Starting in his hometown of Trondheim and going all the way to Norway’s first and only EHF EURO medal, bronze in Stockholm, Sagosen shone throughout. He scored 65 goals, more than any player before or after at Men’s EHF EURO tournaments, and added 53 assists.

The overall total of 118 goals and assists made him become the first player with a three-digit score ever at a European championships. And those numbers exactly describe the way of Sagosen’s style of playing: a mixture of scoring and bringing his teammates into perfect positions.

But where did this journey start? As with many other players, it was a family affair. His father Erlend, who later became Sagosen’s first coach, was a handball goalkeeper.

“When I was two, three years old, I was always with him in the arenas, watching him play or train. I spent whole weekends in the arena, my life was handball already. In the breaks, I went on the court, had some shots on the goal and then went back to the tribune to watch the matches,” Sagosen says, looking back.

His parents were eager for little Sander to enjoy a lot of sports and activities: handball, football, ice hockey and even break dancing were his hobbies. 

“Until the age of 16 I played football and handball, but at a certain point I had to decide, and it was obvious that handball was my sport. Me and my friends at Charlottenlund SK were a great team in those days, the best in our age at Norway, and it was such a joy playing with them.”

Coached by his father, Sander was a back court player right from the start, constantly swapping positions from left to centre to right back. He learnt how to read the game, how to shoot from distance, how to break through defence sides and how be successful playing one-against-one — the basics of becoming a star.

“From the start, it was this mix of skills, always trying to find the best possible way how to help my team. From the early days on, I learnt to take the right decisions, either to score or to enable my teammates to score, if they were in a better position,” he says.

In 2012, Sagosen joined Kolstad in Trondheim. He moved to Norwegian champions Haslum the following year, and made his debut in the national team in the same season. In January 2014, he played his first major tournament, the EHF EURO 2014 in Denmark. Already, at the age of 18, he became the young leader of his side.

“Not all older players liked it, that a young gun took this huge responsibility, but I wanted to go my way,” he admits.

Going abroad to Aalborg in 2014 marked Sagosen’s dream to become a professional player.

“This transfer shifted me, it was huge step forward, playing the Champions League in the first season,” he remembers.

Being coached by Jesper Jensen and Stefan Madsen meant an education in the classical Scandinavian handball school: with many fast breaks, speed and a lot of goals. Sagosen became a true leader, and many European top clubs wanted to sign this unpolished diamond. Finally in 2017, he joined Paris Saint-Germain.

“It was huge to play together with world stars such as Nikola Karabatic, Mikkel Hansen, Daniel Narcisse, Thierry Omeyer or Uwe Gensheimer. I learnt so much from them. I was able to play with the best players of the world — and I wanted to become like them. I absorbed everything in any training session and any match,” says Sagosen.

And he adapted to a new style of playing under coaches like Noka Serdarusic and Raul Gonzalez.

“The Spanish school with a focus on line players in attack was an important lesson for me. As a playmaker, I had completely new tasks.”

At the side of legends, Sagosen’s own leadership grew.

“It’s part of my mentality to take responsibility, to lead people by taking the right decisions. I increased my knowledge about the game, understood it more and more. I always want to help my teammates, and I am open to learn and discuss what is the right way. But of course, your own performance must be on a top level before you can start to steer your team. Then you automatically become a leader on and off the court. And I always had my ideas about the right way to lead,” he says.

Before joining Paris, Sagosen was already the key leader of the Norwegian national team, steering them to their first ever EHF EURO semi-final in 2016 and the final of the 2017 World Championship.

“In 2016, we were the underdogs, but then, the pressure rose, we were expected to fight for the medals. We learnt how to cope with this pressure,” Sagosen adds.

After the EHF EURO 2020, Sagosen left Paris and joined THW Kiel.

“Right from the start, there was an enormous pressure on my shoulders. Therefore it was good, what I had learnt from the big stars at PSG. My role was completely different compared to Paris — I was much more a shooter than a playmaker. I was supposed to score.

“And our style of playing under Filip Jicha was imprinted by complex structures with a clearly set rundown of the attacks with fixed positions, less freedom for the individual players. Mostly, I was the one to take the final decision, to score or to pass to the line players. And in general, playing in Germany means a much more physical game.”

After only a few months in Kiel, Sagosen won the EHF FINAL4 2019/20, under special circumstances: in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, no spectators were allowed in the LANXESS arena.

“Of course we won the Champions League, but it is my biggest dream to make it again to Cologne, with a sold-out arena, like I experienced this event with Paris before,” Sagosen says.

Since 2023, Sagosen is back where it all started: in Trondheim, playing for Kolstad again, with his father in the coaching staff. And once again he is the leader.

“I can compare now many styles of handball, and I tried to take the best from all the world to develop my own style. I had the honour to work with so many great coaches — Jesper Jensen, Raul Gonzalez, Noka Serdarusic, Filip Jicha and Christian Berge — and if I was the coach, it would be really hard for me to decide which philosophy I would prefer. 

“I guess a mix of Scandinavian counter-attacks, combined with a strong German middle block in the defence and the variability in attack of the Spanish school.”

Looking at the current developments in modern handball, Sagosen is impressed by players such as Mathias Gidsel or Simon Pytlick and their way of breaking through the defence.

“Mathias plays like a ballerina, always with the perfect timing and great direction changes. Gidsel and Pytlick are almost unstoppable by the defence. Currently smaller and fast players imprint top handball, not those distance shooters. Previously, handball was much tougher: when you look back 20 years, it was more like wrestling. Today those physical advantages have lost their significance, as speed got more important,” he thinks.

One milestone of the last years was the rule change allowing seven-against-six in attack. For Sagosen, the impact now is lower than many had expected when the rule was introduced.

“Seven-versus-six is a tool, not a playing system. You can use it when you want to control the match for a certain period or if you need to score in a crucial period. I really liked the way how Filip Jicha implemented the seven-versus-six when we won the Champions League.”

Being a father of a one-year old son, Sander Sagosen will pass on his passion for handball to the next generation, as his father did to him. Arguably his son has an even greater handball heritage than Sagosen himself: his wife Hanna Oftedal Sagosen is a former Norwegian national team player; his sister-in-law is Stine Oftedal Dahmke, former IHF World Player of the Year, Olympic, world and European champion and EHF Champions League Women winner; and his brother-in-law is Rune Dahmke, Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist, EHF EURO champion and EHF Champions League winner. But is handball the main topic, when the family sit together?

“Hanna and I have found the right balance. Of course, handball is a major part of our life, but it is not everything, we talk about many other things, and the same applies, when we meet Stine and Rune. It always depends on the situation. And sometimes, it is more important to play with your son — without any thoughts of handball,” Sagosen finishes.

November 2024

Photos © Kolstad Håndbold, Titt Melhuus, Sascha Klahn, Kolektiff Images, Alain Gadoffre/Team Pics