Jaron Siewert, the Füchse philosophy in person

Like most other handball teams, Füchse Berlin start their warmup for a training with playing football, when the group gets separated for a ‘young vs old’ game. But unlike most other handball teams, the head coach at Füchse is part of team ‘young’.

“Only if some experienced players are gone with the national teams or we have many more players from our talent pool, I am in team ‘old’,” Jaron Siewert says.

When Füchse played the semi-final against Montpellier HB at the EHF Finals Men 2023 in Flensburg, it was the fun fact of the day. In the same year when Patrice Canayer became head coach of Montpellier, Siewert was born – in 1994.

Siewert went through all Füchse youth teams, played internationally with the German youth national team at the Men’s 18 EHF EURO 2012. Still, he realised early in his career that his place was rather the bench than on the court.

He soon started coaching Füchse youth teams in various age groups. For two years, he was part of the young coaches’ programme of the German Handball Federation and became part of the coaching staff of the youth national teams, alongside current SC Magdeburg coach Bennet Wiegert.

At the age of 23, Jaron Siewert left Berlin to take over his first senior team: TuSem Essen. The EHF Cup 2004/05 winners had been relegated to the national second division, but Siewert led them back into the Bundesliga within three years.

He then returned to the place where it all had started for him: Berlin. It was a surprise for many when manager Bob Hanning announced they had signed a 26-years-old head coach, as a replacement for veteran Velimir Petkovic, to fulfil their mission of bringing Füchse to the top of German and European handball.

At the same time of Siewert’s arrival, Stefan Kretzschmar became the sports director at Füchse, and former German international Volker Zerbe joined the staff later to complete a quartet of experience and talent at the top of the club.

“Everyone has his own department, I take care of the daily business in the training and the matches, all together we decide on transfers, and others have more to do with sponsors or finances,” Siewert says. “However, when I need to get the opinion of Bob, Stefan, or Zebu, of course I ask them. In the end, this construct works very well,” says Siewert, who, like Kretzschmar, just extended his contract until 2026.

Still, he is the youngest coach in all competitions Füchse are competing in.

“Age-wise I am still young, but in terms of experience I am not. I am 30 years old, but I have been a coach in professional handball for seven years, this is what counts,” he says.

Siewert lives for the common goals of the club.

“When Stefan Kretzschmar and I signed our first contracts in 2020, it was the aim of the club to bridge the gap to THW Kiel and SG Flensburg-Handewitt in Germany, and to be successful in European cup competitions, including making it to the EHF Champions League. Most of those boxes we have already ticked. We still wait for the return to the EHF Champions League, but we go step by step.”

This season, Füchse and Magdeburg are in a close duel for the No. 1 position in the Bundesliga, followed by Flensburg and Kiel. Last season, Füchse squandered their chance to qualify for the Machineseeker EHF Champions League in the closing stages of the domestic league, though Siewert did win hits first trophy with the club with their triumph at the EHF Finals – their third trophy in Europe’s second-tier competition after winning the EHF Cup in 2015 and 2018.

A couple of months later, Füchse came close to their third title at the IHF Super Globe, but after beating Barça in the semi-final, they lost the final against Magdeburg on overtime.

In contrast to most other European top clubs, Füchse have a different philosophy – integrating as many players as possible from their own youth ranks into the otherwise star-studded squad with the likes of Mathias Gidsel, Hans Lindberg, Dejan Milosavljev, Mijajlo Marsenic, or Jerry Tollbring.

Being a young coach, Siewert exactly stands for this way, as well as players such as Paul Drux, Fabian Wiede, and Nils Lichtlein – the MVP of the 2023 Junior World Championship – who all started their careers in the youth teams of the Berlin club.

“It is pure fun to work with all those young guns, who stand for the Füchse DNA. But it also is a challenge to bring life to this club philosophy and to bring the team ahead with this mixture of youth and experience,” Siewert says.

Part of this Füchse construct is the cooperation with second division side VfL Potsdam, where many talents can get additional playing time. Only two years after their promotion from the third division, Potsdam – coached by Füchse director Bob Hanning – lead the standings in the second division and now aim to promote to the Bundesliga.

With the opportunity of dual playing rights for under-23 players in Germany, the youngsters get the chance of playing EHF European League matches regularly, as Matthes Langhoff, Max Beneke, or goalkeeper Lasse Ludwig – all junior world champions – are doing.

Füchse were the only of the 32 teams to win all six games in the EHF European League group matches, but suffered two defeats against Sporting CP and their standout Costa brothers, Martim and Francisco. Instead of advancing to the quarter-finals directly, Füchse now have to go through the play-offs, where Kadetten Schaffhausen are their opponents, with the first leg taking place in Switzerland on Tuesday (26 March) at 18:45 CET (live on EHFTV).

“We really wanted to avoid this stage and have two matches less. But personally, I like the old playing system with Last 16 and quarter-finals,” Siewert says. “Still, we can qualify for the EHF Finals again, though the way to Hamburg is different from what we hoped for.”

Kadetten were also Füchse’s opponents a year ago in the quarter-finals, when they came close to keeping the German side away from the EHF Finals.

“We were lucky that we lost the first match in Schaffhausen by only four goals,” Siewert looks back.

Füchse won the reverse fixture at home 30:24 and went on to lift the title, but last season’s scare has left Siewert with a lot of respect for Kadetten.

“There is a special atmosphere in this small arena and the fans really put some pressure on the away team. Kadetten count on many experienced players, and they have an experienced coach” Siewert says.

The winners of this play-off tie will face no lesser opponents than HBC Nantes in quarter-finals. The French side won their main round group ahead of Füchse’s domestic rivals Rhein-Neckar Löwen and TSV Hannover-Burgdorf.

Two years ago, Nantes eliminated Füchse in the Last 16, but Siewert is not thinking ahead to the possible confrontation in the quarter-finals.

“We do not have any thoughts on Nantes now, our only focus is on Kadetten,” Siewert says.

The young coach and his club hope for this season to become the most successful in Füchse’s history, as they can still win the domestic league and cup (next up is he semi-final against Magdeburg) as well as the EHF European League.

They never won the Bundesliga before, so that one has priority.

“This is our daily bread and butter, where we fight for the trophy and the qualification for the EHF Champions League,” Siewert says. “But of course, defending the European League title is something special too as is the cup final weekend in a sold-out LANXESS arena in Cologne.”

photos © 2023-24 Sylvia Goeres; foto-laechler.de