Karol Bielecki: Andy Wolff is the key against Magdeburg

EHF / Björn Pazen

23 April 2024, 11:00

Bogdan Wenta, Grzegorz Tkaczyk, and Karol Bielecki are three heroes of the golden generation of Polish handball. The three of them also have else something in common: in previous times, they all played for or coached both Industria Kielce and SC Magdeburg.

On 24 April (18.45 CEST, live on EHFTV), their former clubs face off in the next Match of the Week in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League in Hala Legionow in Kielce. Just 120 minutes separates one of these two teams from a ticket to the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 in Cologne.

In 2023, the two teams met in what was a thrilling final, which Magdeburg won after overtime. A few months later, both sides clashed again in the semi-final of the IHF Super Globe in Saudi Arabia, and again SCM were the winners – grabbing their third consecutive title as unofficial club world champions. Now, the MOTW will be the first-ever meeting between the two on the home court of either side, followed by the reverse fixture one week later in Magdeburg.

Karol Bielecki never faced Magdeburg with Kielce or Kielce with Magdeburg in an official match. At the age of 17, the tall left back transferred to Kielce. In 2004 – after his star rose at the EHF EURO in Slovenia – he made his first step abroad and signed for SC Magdeburg, where “a little Polish colony” was settling, including Grzegorz Tkaczyk (since 2002), Bartosz Jurecki (from 2006) and coach Bogdan Wenta, who arrived in 2006.

Back in 2007, Bielecki and his SCM teammates lifted their first international trophy together, winning the EHF Cup against BM Aragon from Spain.

“I had a great time in Germany, but I do not have that much contact to the club at Magdeburg anymore, it is 20 years ago, when I arrived there. But of course, I still have a close contact to those Polish guys, with whom I played at Magdeburg,” says Karol Bielecki.

Together with Tkaczyk, he left SCM after winning the EHF Cup and joined Rhein-Neckar Löwen. With the German lions he made his first appearance at the EHF FINAL4 in 2011, but lost the semi-final narrowly against Barcelona. In 2012, and after scoring more than 1,000 Bundesliga goals for SCM and Löwen, he returned to Kielce – and re-joined his coach Bogdan Wenta, under whom he won the silver medal at the 2007 World Championship and bronze at the 2009 World Championship.

Together with Polish stars such as Slawomir Szmal, Tkaczyk and Krzysztof Lijewski, a top team was formed – which had their greatest success in Cologne, winning a crazy EHF Champions League final against Veszprém after a penalty shoot-out in 2016. Kielce – already coached by Talant Dujshebaev – were down by eight goals in the middle of the second half and took the trophy.

“Looking back on my career, this was definitely the biggest moment, the match with the biggest memories,” says Bielecki.

In 2018, the top scorer of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games retired from handball, and now, at the age of 41 is the owner of a company in Kielce and a lecturer for employee motivation. But still, he is at almost every match of his former club Kielce, saying: “My son loves to watch handball matches, so we go there.”

Next Wednesday, he will see his former club at Hala Legionow.

“SC Magdeburg is currently the best club in Europe, they have built a great team with no weaknesses, composed of brilliant top stars,” he praises the defending EHF Champions League champions.

“Facing Magdeburg is an extremely tough task for Kielce, but also it is a huge motivation. They know if they make it to Cologne, everything can happen there, as proved so many times,” says Bielecki. Already in 2022, Kielce were finalists, but then were defeated by Barcelona after a penalty shoot-out.

For Bielecki, Kielce’s key player is German goalkeeper Andreas Wolff.

“When Andy has a good day, he can decide a match on his own, and if he has two good days, Kielce will make it to Cologne. In modern handball, teams rely that much on the goalkeeper performance, and Andy is the best," he thinks.

On the other side, there is no one extraordinary star in Bielecki’s opinion.

“Magdeburg’s key is the team, all players are dangerous. At Kielce, Alex Dujshebaev is the pivotal point in attack, at Magdeburg, simply all players can play the main role. Coach Bennet Wiegert has created a great team with an extraordinary playing system.”

But still, Bielecki believes that Kielce can make it to Cologne. One reason is Talant Dujshebaev.

“He is such a great coach with big knowledge and experience. He always knows what to do.”

On the other hand, Bielecki hopes for great support from the fans in Kielce – and expects a close result.

“When Kielce win, it is perfect, even a defeat by one goal does not mean you are out already. Everything will be decided in Magdeburg in the reverse fixture," he says.

For the former shooter, one experience underlines this fact.

“In 2014, we played the World Championship play-offs against Germany. In the first leg at home, we won only by 25:24, and many experts said that was it. But then – in Magdeburg – we won again, this time 29:28 and booked the ticket to Qatar. So never give up your hopes after a first leg. If Kielce win at home by one goal like we did in 2014, everything is possible.”