Kamil Syprzak: “No friends for 60 minutes”

You might have been to the EHF FINAL4 four times already, be in the process of packing before boarding the train for your fifth trip to Cologne, and still be as excited as a child on Christmas Eve.

And this is exactly how Polish line player Kamil Syprzak is feeling.

“This is still exciting. You know, Cologne remains Cologne. The EHF FINAL4 is the event every handball player dreams of playing, this is the ultimate goal for every team that is playing the Champions League,” says the Paris Saint-Germain HB player says, adding with a twist of wit: “I bet nobody ever said they would rather be on holidays than at the EHF FINAL4, right?”

The journey to the LANXESS Arena has been every handball player’s favourite trip of the season since 2010. For Syprzak, going is a little bit of a relief, having missed a few months of competition due to a fibula injury.

Not only was he ruled out for several Machineseeker EHF Champions League games, he also had to sit out Poland’s home IHF World Championship in January.

“That was tough, to be honest, as I had been looking forward to it so much. But I guess it is all in the past now,” he says.

Could these few months without games be an advantage for him, physically and mentally, as the end of the season gets closer? After all, in a schedule that involves playing every three days, being out for a month or two could be seen as some kind of rest.

“Not at all,” Syprzak answers. “I was spending seven hours a day with the physios, just trying to get on track as quickly as possible. I feel fine now, no pain or anything, and that is the most important thing.”

Fatigue or not, the motivation is not hard to find anyway when, like Kamil Syprzak, you are chasing a Champions League trophy you have not lifted before. Whether with Barça, until 2019, or with PSG since then, the 31-year-old pivot still has to reach the final of the EHF FINAL4.

“That tells you how hard it is. That important clubs like Barça or PSG don’t always play the final is the sign of how tough the competition is,” he says, adding what the most important thing in his mind is when the final weekend arrives.

“It is all about the form of the moment. Cologne is a moment out of time. No matter how good you have been all season, it is all down to one game, and then another game. Which is why we have seen so many surprises over the years.”

The semi-final draw paired Syprzak’s PSG with Barlinek Industria Kielce on Saturday 17 June at 18:00 CEST, with a ticket for the final at stake. In the Polish league, Kielce are the biggest rivals of Orlen Wisla Plock, where the line player started his professional career and played until 2015.

An while Paris and Kielce have not crossed paths this season yet, for Syprzak, there will be plenty of known faces on the other side of the court.

“I would lie to you if I told you playing Kielce did not add a little bit of special to the event. I have many friends there, players I know from the national team for example. But there is no rivalry as such. I left Plock in 2015, so that was a while ago,” he explains.

“There will be no friends on the court. We will all want the same thing for 60 minutes. And, sadly or not, our aim will be to eliminate each other.”

photos © Laurène Valroff, Sascha Klahn