Jakob Vestergaard – a well-known visitor to Ikast

Vestergaard has coached at Ikast (formerly known as Ikast-Bording or FC Midtjylland) twice in his career – right at the start in 2004 as assistant coach and in 2012 as head coach. Alongside that, he has visited the arena “more than 25 times” with the other teams he has coached, largely Viborg HK.

“It is only 25 minutes by car from Viborg to Ikast, and of course this derby is the match of all matches for both sides. We said in Viborg: If we win only one match in the season, then it must be against Ikast,” Vestergaard says.

Vestergaard became Viborg coach for the first time in 2008, and in his first two seasons, he steered the club to two EHF Champions League trophies. A short stint in Aalborg was followed by a longer time in Romania, where he coached SCM Ramnicu Valcea, then became sports director and coach at CSM Bucuresti.

In the interim, Vestergaard also coached two national teams: first, Australia from 2006 to 2008 – without even going to Australia as they “always trained in Sweden”. In 2014 he took over the German national team, but left after the 2015 World Championship.

In September 2018, Vestergaard returned to Viborg and in 2022, steered his team to the EHF Finals on home ground, where they lost in the final to Bietigheim, who had beaten Ikast in a thrilling semi-final the day before.

Since last summer, Vestergaard is back in Germany, as successor to Markus Gaugisch at Bietigheim, as his predecessor now only focuses on the German national team. After Bietigheim narrowly missed the EHF Champions League play-offs in 2022/23, now the German champions have the chance to make it to the quarter-finals. If they do so, they will be the first-ever German club in this stage of the competition since the current playing system was implemented.

As the sixth-ranked team in group A, Bietigheim had a high hurdle to cross, but after winning the first leg at home 29:27, they have their fate in their hands in MOTW on Sunday (14:00 CET, live on EHFTV) in the IBF Arena.

“We are not the favourites, but the underdogs, but we still have the chance to proceed. This was exactly the situation we had hoped for before the first leg”, says Vestergaard.

One week after their – more or less sensational – defeat in the German cup final against TuS Metzingen, Bietigheim’s first lost in domestic competitions after more than three years, his team showed great morale and turned the home match against Ikast around after a 17:20 deficit.

“We played an outstanding defence, mainly in the second half. If you face the best attack of the Champions League, you need to defend well if you want to have a chance. And we did it,” says Vestergaard. “But I know from my matches in the past how hard it is to win at Ikast.”

His tactics for the second play-off leg sounds quite easy: “Putting the pedal to the metal for 60 minutes. We need to play with full speed and therefore we have to rotate a lot to keep this speed high constantly and to have enough power for the last 10 minutes.”

As in the previous season, Bietigheim had something of a roller-coaster ride in the group phase. They started with five consecutive victories, followed by four defeats against top sides Odense Håndbold and Györi Audi ETO KC, and only won two of the last nine matches.

“But we had shown even in the defeats against Odense and Györ what we are capable of. The only really weak match was the home defeat against Debrecen,” says Vestergaard.

“It was our main goal to proceed to the play-offs. After managing this, we hope for more, as every Champions League match is something special.”

For Vestergaard, playing in Denmark is nothing particularly unusual, but his respect for Ikast is huge. “They already had a top team, then they signed Markéta Jeřábková and now have a world-class squad. Players like Ingvild Bakkerud, Sarah Iversen and Stine Skogrand play on the highest level.

“Our starting seven has a lot of quality too, but the bench makes the difference, as Ikast’s squad is much wider,” he assesses. However, one more option is back in Bietigheim’s squad after an injury break: Czech left wing Veronika Mala.

The MOTW will be played by the two previous winners of the European League, as Ikast raised the trophy in 2023.

“You cannot automatically say that European League winners are successful in the Champions League too, as you need the infrastructure in your club, the money and the players, as the Champions League is on another level. But in the case of Ikast and Bietigheim it holds true,” says Vestergaard.

Many of his friends and family will come to Ikast to meet him.

“Normally it is 10 hours by car or three hours by plane, so this is a great chance to see them again. And I am sure that in general, the atmosphere in the arena will be brilliant and we will see a world-class match.”

If Bietigheim clinch their quarter-final berth, Vestergaard would have another trip to his country ahead – as the aggregate winners of this pairing will face Odense in the next round.

“I would love to return again and that we make it,” the coach concludes.

Photos © Marco Wolf