GOG — how a boarding school in Oure influences the world of handball

GOG’s youth team have made it back to Cologne, where the team of head coach Mikkel Voigt aim to defend their title from 2025, when the Youth Club Trophy was first held.

Players raised at GOG have won a total of eight IHF World Player of the Year awards: Gidsel and Hansen both won it three times, Landin twice.

“It is simply great to have those role models for our current talents. They show what is possible, how to go all the way in professional handball,” Voigt says.

Last year, at the inaugural EHF Youth Club Trophy, his youngsters and Gidsel were playing on the same court at LANXESS arena in Cologne, when GOG’s under-18 team won the final against Veszprém 37:28, having beaten Eurofarm Pelister 36:21 in the semi-final.

A few hours later, Gidsel played the final of the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 2025 but lost it with Füchse Berlin against SC Magdeburg.

In 2026, GOG won the qualification tournament in Bucharest with two clear victories — against hosts Dinamo Bucuresti (47:30) in the semi-final and Sporting Clube de Portugal (42:31) in the final.

Apart from GOG, the second- and third-ranked teams from 2025 will also return this year: Veszprém Handball Academy and Barça. The fourth team are Füchse Berlin.

“This field of participants looks even stronger than a year ago. I expect Füchse to play a key role, and we know how strong Veszprém and Barça are,” Voigt says.

His GOG will lock horns with Barça in the first semi-final in Dormagen on Saturday (13 June) at 9:00 CEST, followed by the duel between Füchse and Veszprém at 11:30 CEST. Like last year, the final takes place at LANXESS arena on Sunday, the day of the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 2026 medal matches. All matches of the EHF Youth Club Trophy will be streamed live on EHFTV.

“Compared to last year, our squad looks completely different. Only a goalkeeper was in the 2025 winners’ team,” says Voigt, whose anticipation is huge: “This tournament is a great opportunity to see the upcoming stars of the future and to face Europe’s best youth teams on club level. For sure, it is the highlight of our season.”

Five of his players are part of the Danish youth national team – but playing on this stage on club level is “an exceptional adventure” for Voigt and his squad.

For him, there is no favourite at the EHF Youth Club Trophy this season.

“Last year, we beat both German teams in the qualification, now Füchse have made it to Cologne. And beating SC Magdeburg in their qualification tournament proves the strength of Veszprém. That Barça missed last year’s final against Veszprém was quite surprising for me as they have extremely well-skilled talents,” Voigt says.

“We will see completely different defence systems from all four sides. I am curious, how they will defend against us.”

GOG scored 89 goals in the two qualification matches in Bucharest and had an average of 37.75 goals over the four EHF Youth Club Trophy matches they played last year, underlining their typical Scandinavian fast-paced match play.

A club from the Danish villages Gudme, Oure and Gudbjerg (close to Svendborg), GOG have been attracting Denmark’s best handball talents since years. The key is the Danish school system, mainly the Efterskole in Oure, a boarding school where adolescents can focus on sports, combined with school programmes.

“The cooperation with this school is the biggest asset of our club. The young players come for education and sports, they learn for their career and their life. They grow up with handball or other sports,” Voigt says.

Players from other clubs come to Oure, train there for one or more years, some stay at GOG, some return to their clubs – but either way, they have increased their skills, also by the open training arena concept, where they just can go in and play handball.

“Those big names of Danish handball who went through our school and club, make it much easier to attract those talents to come to our small cities and become part of the system, with good education and good coaches,” Voigt underlines.

Also, GOG’s senior team profit from this handball education in school and the youth teams.

“We hope that GOG will constantly be part of the EHF Champions League. In this competition, those young players can gain so much input and experience. And of course, only if they play Champions League, we can play the Youth Club Trophy,” Voight says.

And even with the senior team not competing in Cologne, there is a lot to cheer about at the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 2026.

“Of course, for Mathias Gidsel. But also for Aalborg, because of their many Danish players. But we can also cheer for Magdeburg’s line player Oscar Bergendahl, who played for GOG in the past.”

all photos © 2026 Dinamo Bucuresti