Handball: Kiel wins Szilagyi as sports boss – Storm extended

The THW Kiel has reacted to the downward trend in sport and is rebuilding its team leadership. The long-time Bundesliga player and former Kiel player Viktor Szilagyi will be retired from the 1. On 1 January 2018, the newly created position of Sports Director at the last stumbling industry giant will be taken over.

The 203-times Austrian national player played for the THW from 2005 to 2008, now he comes from the second division club Bergischer HC and signed a contract until 2022.

At the same time, THW extended the contract with Managing Director Thorsten Storm, who will in future concentrate fully on the commercial sector, by two years early until 2021.

“Handball in Europe has changed dramatically. We are now adapting our structure and meeting the new requirements,”said Kiels Chairman of the Supervisory Board Reinhard Ziegenbein. Storm will therefore in future take care of the internationalisation of the THW Kiel brand, national and international sponsoring as well as the marketing of the North Germans “Without further, decisive sponsorship income from advertising rights, it will not be possible to achieve the sporting goals of THW Kiel”, said Ziegenbein.

Szilagyi, who had won the German championship three times with Kiel, twice the DHB Cup and the Champions League in 2007, played in the Bundesliga for 17 years. After stations in Dormagen, Essen, Kiel, Gummersbach and Flensburg, he last played for the Bundesliga-kicker Bergische HC until a serious knee injury stopped him at the beginning of the year.

“Viktor Szilagyi knows the THW Kiel, the city and its surroundings. He will hardly need any time to get used to the new situation and will be able to support us directly,”said Kiels Chairman of the Supervisory Board Reinhard Ziegenbein. And Szilagyi said:”I am happy to be part of the THW family again.” The years at THW have been formative for him.”The contact with Kiel has never been broken.”