SC Magdeburg has had to wait more than two decades for the championship title. Then, after 7683 days, they are German champions again. It’s the reward of a long journey. But it shouldn’t be over yet. In Saxony-Anhalt they feel very close to the top of the world that evening.
With a beer bottle in his hand and Magnus Saugstrup in his arm, Philipp Weber danced across the floor before he received a champagne fountain from the Magnum bottle from the Dane. “It’s incredibly nice to be back in my home country in my first year, it’s crazy,” said national team playmaker Weber and admitted after SC Magdeburg’s first championship title in 21 years: “It was an absolute shitty day, the night was shit . Yesterday I had to watch SCM videos, everything that happened here back then, I just couldn’t sleep, I was really nervous, I wasn’t like that all season.”
He doesn’t usually sleep before games. “But I forced myself to sleep because I just wanted to pass the time. You could tell it was a special day,” said Weber. After the game, all the pressure fell off: “Even when I say it: German champions – I get goosebumps.” Then he said goodbye to the night. “We will celebrate one of the biggest Magdeburg parties ever.”
7683 days after winning the first title in the club’s history, the SCM is champion again. With the 31:26 (15:15) victory against HBW Balingen-Weilstetten, the leader of the table completed the triumph prematurely. 30 victories in the Bundesliga with only two defeats were enough to keep the record champions THW Kiel at bay and to secure the trophy early, which will only be awarded on June 12th in the last SCM home game against the Rhein-Neckar Löwen. “It’s indescribable. We’ve fought our way step by step for ten years,” said left winger Matthias Musche.
In the seventh year of his tenure coach Bennet Wiegert has now perfected his masterpiece. “Benno” – as he has been called in his home club since childhood – once again wrote club history. In 2001, the son of handball Olympic champion Ingolf Wiegert was there as a player when today’s national coach Alfred Gislason led the SCM to the championship. “The thought of the championship has always driven me. I’ve worked for it every day,” said the 40-year-old: “As a player, I didn’t perceive it that way, now it feels more intense.”
After winning the title in 2001, the Champions League triumph followed in 2002. This challenge would now be the next step for the Bördelanders, who surprisingly won the Club World Cup against FC Barcelona (33:28) at the IHF Super Globe in Saudi Arabia in October . “We can beat any team in the world. Now we can define new goals, we may have to,” said SCM President Dirk Roswandowicz.
