Months ago Bennet Wiegert once admitted that he felt “like the hygiene officer” of his association.

The SC Magdeburg coach stated openly how many new tasks had come up that had nothing to do with his actual job.

Especially when it comes to traveling in the European Cup, the participating clubs have to deal with a flood of tests and documentation in order to meet the demands of the European Handball Federation (EHF).

In handball, however, there are far fewer club employees than in football, for example.

As a result, a lot remains with the coaches.

Wiegert did not want to complain.

He just wanted to explain what it means to keep professional handball going in times of pandemic.

And whatever it demands of him.

"That lasts, that stays"

On Sunday evening, the 39-year-old from Magdeburg felt for the first time as if the work of the past 15 months had paid off: “The trophy and the medal - that outlasts the pandemic, that remains.

Despite Corona. “28:25 the SCM had won the final of the newly created European League against the Füchse Berlin.

The EHF garnished the triumph in the small European cup with a bonus of 100,000 euros.

The foxes get half.

Wiegert looked as happy as he was done after the well-deserved victory. “I steered the whole season,” he said on the DAZN streaming service: “It was all about Corona, it was a lot of English weeks. I wanted the team to be able to reward themselves for the difficult season. Now I just want to enjoy. ”The SCM managed to improve at this Final Four in Mannheim - if the 30:29 victory in the semifinals after half-time deficit against Wisla Plock was hard fought, Wiegert's team benefited from the rivals from the capital from the perfect start: 12: 3. The foxes couldn't catch up. In the semifinals they had defeated the hosts, the Rhein-Neckar Löwen. The team of coach Martin Schwalb had to be content with third place after the win against Plock.

Magdeburg has had a mediocre Bundesliga season with surprising home defeats.

The SCM missed the hoped-for qualification for the Champions League again.

The rally through the European League, on the other hand, was largely convincing - the EHF gave the earlier EHF Cup a more professional look with higher premiums: The debut season with a worthy final in Mannheim was impressive.

After the last titles in 2016 (national) and 2007 (international), the SCM now has something for the trophy cabinet again.

This time it's a newly created trophy, but from a German perspective it's nothing new to win the small European Cup: In the past 20 years, German clubs have won 18 times in the end.

The Bundesliga dominance has reasons. While the competing leagues usually have a top team, which then plays in the champions league, and it becomes significantly weaker from position three or four, the Bundesliga is so balanced that all clubs from third to tenth place could be expected to be successful in the European League. From this superiority, however, one can also deduce the inferiority in the Champions League: All too often the long-term representatives Kiel and Flensburg were so worn down by the tussle in the league that they mostly ended up before the semi-finals of the Champions League - as this season too.