Esbjerg coach Axnér: “We want to win titles”

Tomas Axnér is ready for a fresh challenge in club handball, taking charge of one of Europe's top teams.

The celebrated coach made his move from men's to women's handball in 2020 when he took over the Sweden national team. And four years later, he is starting at the helm of a women's handball club for the first time: Team Esbjerg.

For Axnér, the decision to grab a new opportunity was easy, looking at it as a good ground for further development.

“It is one of the best teams in Europe, a club which works very professionally. Also, it is a Scandinavian country, which was also a factor for me and for my family to move here,” Axnér says.

“I already have a great job being the national coach for Sweden, but I also felt that if I am going to continue doing a great job and continue to develop myself, I need to be more on the court, to coach at these tough games that you get in the Champions League.”

Esbjerg always have high ambitions for the season, both in their domestic championship and EHF Champions League Women. The club has consistently reached the EHF FINAL4 Women in the past three seasons and has dominated in Denmark with the double crown in the last two seasons. The 2024/25 season threw off with the Danish super cup trophy and now all eyes are on the games to come.

“The club has high expectations of course, but, also the team, the players and I as a coach have a high ambition for this season. And we want to win titles,” says Axnér, who previously coached the men’s team of Lugi HF for nine seasons.

“Our goal is to try to get to the EHF FINAL4 in Budapest. And our vision is, of course, to try to win it, but we also know that you have to be very ready. There are a lot of factors in the end to win it, but we see that we have an opportunity to do so.”

Coaching both the national team and a club is not an easy task and transitioning is not without challenges and obstacles. Esbjerg did not have many days to prepare for the new season, but Axnér believes in the well-balanced team that went only through minor squad changes this summer.

“The start was difficult, we had 10 or 11 players who went to the Olympics and I was there, also. I tried to give my players some extra time after it to find new energy,” Axnér says.

“The competition in Denmark started at the end of August and it was a bit hectic, but we knew what we would have to deal with. I had one year to prepare myself for that and mentally prepare myself for this and I find it quite satisfying to also work daily.”

Kristine Breistøl, who moved to upcoming opponents Györ, and Julie Bøe Jacobsen are the players who left the club, while Line Haugsted, arriving from Györ, and Elin Hansson joined. The continuity is an advantage for the new head coach, who took over from Jesper Jensen, who led Esbjerg for seven seasons but stepped down from that role to fully focus on his job as head coach of the Denmark women’s national team.

“The players know each other very well, and while there are things I want to change in the way we play, I am taking it step by step and getting the players on board,” Axnér says.

“So, little by little things will going to be different but we can build on a lot of things Jesper Jensen did earlier. I don't want to change things that are already working and are good.”

The first round of the EHF Champions League brings a true challenge for Axnér and his new team, as Esbjerg are travelling to Györ to meet the defending champions in the Match of the Week on Saturday (7 September at 18:00 CEST, live on EHFTV).

“Playing against Györ is one of the hardest games you can have, in a fantastic arena with a lot of fans and a great team, and also the defending champions,” says Axnér, who is aware Esbjerg have never gained a point against Györ, losing all their seven duels so far.

“We see that maybe this is one of the few games this season where we are going to be the underdogs,” he says.

Györ raised the trophy for the sixth time in June, with Stine Oftedal bidding farewell with the MVP title. Alongside the retired Norwegian star, seven other players have left. But apart from Breistøl, the Hungarian club further strengthened their squad with Kristina Jørgensen, Hatadou Sako, and Dutch international trio Kelly Dulfer, Dione Housheer, and Bo van Wetering.

“I feel they might be even stronger this season. They have a lot of great players and they have a broad, broad spectrum of players. And that is something that other teams do not have like this. So, it is a very strong team that in that matter,” Axnér says.

While Tomas Axnér hopes to pave Esbjerg’s way to the top in group B, his daughter Tyra Axnér has joined Metz Handball this summer and will compete in group A.

Will coach Axnér pay close attention to player Axnér?

“Well, of course, I have a personal interest there. I will watch Metz, of course,” Tomas Axner says. “But I will also watch all the other games to see how players are playing, they are equally important to me and for my job.”

photos © 2024 Jure Erzen & Sasa Pahic Szabo / kolektiff