The former coach of CSM Bucharest praised Bojana Popovic and mentioned the Romanian national team on the list of elite handball teams
Article by David Istrate – Published on Saturday, 07 March 2026, 22:51 / Updated on Saturday, 07 March 2026 22:52
Helle Thomsen (55 years old), the former coach of CSM Bucharest and currently the head coach of the Danish women's national team, praised the Romanian national team and spoke about the collaboration with Bojana Popovic, the current coach of the Romanian champions.
In an interview for the official website of the International Handball Federation (IHF), Helle Thomsen, the coach of Denmark, spoke about her career, but also about what women's handball looks like today.
Helle Thomsen, on the relationship with Bojana Popovic: “It works because we are honest”
The former coach of CSM Bucharest praised the competition that currently exists in world handball and named the Romanian women's national team among the elite teams in the world.
“If you look at the global picture now, I think there are many strong countries in women's handball. A few years ago, you could mostly talk about France, Norway and Denmark. Now you can add Sweden, Holland, Germany, Hungary, Romania. When we go to the next European Championship in December, there will be at least 10 really strong teams. The level of quality is very healthy for women's handball,” said Thomsen.
Romania ended the December 2025 Women's Handball World Championship in 9th place, with a record of 4 wins and two losses. One of the failures came right in front of Denmark, score 31-39.
The Nordic national team stopped in the quarter-finals of the competition, being defeated by France, the bronze medalists, with 31-26. Helle Thomsen's second coach from the Denmark team is Bojana Popovicwhich is currently preparing CSM Bucharest.
Thomsen spoke about her relationship with Popovic, who changed the face of the Tigresses and took them straight to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
“It works because we are honest with each other. We are not afraid to say difficult things to each other and we believe in each other. It is not a situation where the secondary coach has a limited role. Bojana can take the tactical side, can stand and coach during a match. For me it's better to have two strong people than one. I am very happy that she is part of my team”, explained the 55-year-old coach.
In the Champions League quarter-finals, CSM Bucharest will play either HK Podravka (Croatia) or Team Esbjerg (Denmark). The matches will take place on April 18-19, respectively on April 25-26.
I hope that if a young girl in Denmark has a dream of becoming a top handball coach and looks at me to think “if she can do it so can i”. Then I would be happy. I don't need more than that. If my work inspires others to try what I tried, then that's more than enough for me
– Helle Thomsen
