No more women's team

Big bang! Ferlach’s handball girls close down

(Bild: Bernd Stefan)

A bang! Ferlach's handball girls have to withdraw from Austria's top handball league after five years. The risk of naming a women's team would be too great for the entire club. But the coach is to stay anyway. . .

The risk was too great! Ferlach's handball team is losing its women's team for the new season. The team was unable to find enough players for the WHA on Tuesday's entry date and cannot compensate for the eight (!) departures. The three Marksteiner sisters and Luna Voncina were long gone. Captain Anna Kavalar and Kathi Fritz have confirmed the end of their careers, Luisa Senitza is returning to Feldkirchen. And top scorer Lara Brezenci, who had verbally assured former boss Wolfi Buchbauer that she would stay, is now moving to Atzgersdorf after all. That would leave only the goalkeepers Andjela Roganovic and Helena Segota, Lena Ljubic plus the U18 girls.

This is exactly where the problem begins for chairman Walter Perkounig, which the entire board has been dealing with in recent weeks. "We would have had five or six new players - but that would probably have been too few," says Perkounig. But because a club has to name a team in the WHA and in the U18, there would have been a risk of non-appearances due to possible absences. This would have resulted in a fine of €2,500 (WHA) or €1,500 (U18) per match.

Club would otherwise have been in danger
The association can exclude the club from the championship if it fails to appear three times - including the men's team! "That could have killed the club. We really looked for solutions, it was a difficult decision," sighs Perkounig. Especially because the women have been more successful than the men since promotion in 2019 - three semi-finals, three European Cup qualifiers.

What happens now? Talks are underway with main sponsor Witasek - as well as with coach Iva Kanjugovic about possibly staying on. Perkounig: "We will continue to work with young talent and want to return to the WHA."