The Borussia Dortmund women’s handballers have some important weeks ahead. They must navigate them without two key players in Dana Bleckmann and Lena Degenhardt, plus there is a move to the Helmut-Körnig-Halle and qualification matches in the European League to contend with. Andreas Kuno, the sporting director, spoke about the current situation in an interview.

Andreas, how is the first phase of the season to be assessed from the perspective of the sporting leadership?
“Apart from the defeat against Leverkusen in the cup, we’re very satisfied. In particular, the games against Oldenburg and Blomberg were very decent and showed that we have a good team.”

In Dana Bleckmann and Lena Degenhardt, two important players have suffered cruciate ligament tears and are out for the long term. How does that change the current situation and also the expectations?
“It is of course extremely bitter and makes it much more complicated to achieve our objectives. We still have a very good squad, but we have lost quantity in addition to quality. We must not forget that.”

Are you thinking about being active on the transfer market and to what extent does that make sense at the present moment?
“We’re sounding out the market but will not do anything rash. This early in the season is the worst possible time. But what I can say is that we’re trying to find a good and sensible solution.”

Some tough tasks await the team in the next few weeks. What’s at stake?
“I always take the view that every game has to be played first of all. It is also clear that we always want to win. The chances of doing so vary. All the top teams in the league will come to Dortmund by the end of the year and we still want to be in the leading pack after that.”

How do you assess your opponents from Romania? Experts say that it is a very tough draw.
“It’s a very thankless task at such an early stage of the season. But I don’t think Braila are very happy about the draw either. The team possess a great deal of quality and the fact that we have to play the second leg in Romania doesn’t make it any easier. Nonetheless, we still want to progress and to that end – as is the case in the other top matches – we urgently need the support of our fans.”

A decision has been made to move to the Helmut-Körnig-Halle for the first leg and also for the game against Bietigheim on 27 December. Why?
“As you know, the hall has to meet certain criteria for international matches and unfortunately Wellinghofen does not. We’ve already played quite a few games at the Helmut-Körnig-Halle in the Champions League and we’re absolutely delighted to be playing in Dortmund.”

Does this move also help in terms of improving marketing opportunities?
“It certainly does, actually quite a lot. The capacity of over 3,000 spectators also makes it interesting for sponsors, there is also a VIP room. In addition, the game on 27 December against Bietigheim will be broadcast live on Eurosport too. That helps us enormously.”