HØJ Elite has a new coaching team in place for the club's men's side. Stefan Madsen becomes the new head coach from the summer of 2027, and he will have Nicolaj Andersson as his assistant coach. In the coming season, Nicolaj Andersson will step in as head coach until Stefan Madsen joins the club.
Sporting director Hans Lindberg is thrilled that HØJ Elite has managed to secure such a strong coaching team for the future.
"I see it as a real coup that we can attract a coach of Stefan Madsen's calibre and sign a four-year deal with him. Stefan's achievements speak for themselves – he has won several national championships and reached the Champions League final twice. He is extremely strong on the handball side, and on top of that he's also a skilled, modern leader with real authority. At the same time, he has plenty of experience with club and talent development, which is important to us. We're really looking forward to working with Stefan on the continued development of HØJ Elite," says Hans Lindberg, who continues:
"Nicolaj Andersson is an exciting coach who, despite his relatively young age, already has significant international experience and has shown his great qualities. Nicolaj is structured and thorough, and he'll complement Stefan Madsen in a strong way – together they'll no doubt make a formidable pairing. At the same time, we're really pleased that he's taking on the responsibility as head coach until Stefan Madsen joins the club. We look forward to seeing Nicolaj Andersson put his stamp on the play and the culture within the squad in the coming season, where the goal is to secure promotion to the top flight," says Hans Lindberg.
Building a new and prominent force in Danish handball
Stefan Madsen is looking forward to joining HØJ Elite next summer, once he has fulfilled his contract with Paris Saint-Germain Handball.
"I've had an incredibly good dialogue with HØJ Elite and can sense a thriving club life combined with a big ambition to develop a strong high-performance environment that can compete with the best. At the same time, the club is built on and created by good, decent people with strong, healthy values, which is absolutely crucial for me. There's no doubt huge potential here that I look forward to helping to shape. A strong foundation of players has already been created, and through hard work and strong unity they'll help fulfil the club's ambitions. I'm looking forward to contributing to that. I see it as an enormously exciting task – it was precisely a project like HØJ Elite that I could see myself in, if I were to return to Danish handball," says the 49-year-old Stefan Madsen, adding:
"I'm looking forward to working with Nicolaj Andersson, who has many strong competencies. It was important for me to have him in the coaching team, so I'm glad it worked out. I'm absolutely convinced that he'll build a really strong foundation in the coming season, and I look forward to building on it further when I join HØJ Elite."
Hugely motivated
Nicolaj Andersson is also looking forward to becoming part of the HØJ family. The 38-year-old coach was most recently in charge of Buxtehuder SV in the German Bundesliga, but now he returns to Danish handball after a number of years abroad.
"I'm really excited to be part of HØJ Elite. After ten years as a coach away from Zealand and Copenhagen, eight of them in Germany and Switzerland, I'm delighted to come home to such an exciting opportunity. The project speaks for itself and matches my own ambitions really well, so I'm hugely motivated to come in and contribute everything I have. And I look forward to forming a coaching team with Stefan when he joins the club, and complementing him as well as I possibly can. At the same time, I'm of course grateful that the club is entrusting me with the responsibility as head coach until Stefan comes on board, and I'm looking forward to getting to know the players and staff and getting to work."
For further information:
Hans Lindberg, sporting director
Tel.: 27132870
About Stefan Madsen:
Stefan Madsen has a range of head coaching roles behind him – including at Aalborg Håndbold, where he won four Danish championship titles, two cup titles and two Champions League silver medals. This past season he won the French league with Paris Saint-Germain Handball.
About Nicolaj Andersson:
Nicolaj Andersson has previously been a coach at clubs such as København Håndbold, TTH Holstebro, VfL Weiblingen, LC Brühl Handball, Empor Rostock and Buxtehuder SV.
