Maik Machulla becomes coach of the Rhein-Neckar Löwen
Maik Machulla will be the new head coach of the Rhein-Neckar Löwen on July 1, 2025. The 47-year-old has signed a three-year contract with the two-time German champions and cup winners.
“With Maik Machulla, we have gained a coach who is as experienced as he is hungry. In particular, during his very successful time in Flensburg, he proved that he knows how to put a team in a position to play for titles – and win them. What was just as important to us: With his style of play in Flensburg, he comes very close to the Löwen handball as we imagine it and is therefore an ideal fit for the job profile,” says Löwen managing director Holger Bachert.
Maik Machulla is just as excited about working with him from summer 25: “The people involved, the squad, the club’s environment, its sporting philosophy and the current squad with its qualities and potential: all of this convinced me that the Rhein-Neckar Löwen are the right fit for me. I’m really looking forward to the start and will keep my fingers crossed for the boys from afar until then.”
“Maik is a coach with a lot of experience and many successes. We were also convinced by his idea of handball, which relies on speed and a broad playing system. In my discussions with him, I sensed how excited he is about the Bundesliga and about working in the strongest league in the world again. Maik is a very authentic guy who values discipline as much as a good atmosphere,” says Uwe Gensheimer, aspiring sporting director of the Rhein-Neckar Löwen.
Maik Machulla was born on January 9, 1977 in Greifswald, then still the GDR. At the age of 14, he joined the youth team of SC Magdeburg, where he matured into a handball professional and played his first Bundesliga games. His path finally led him to Flensburg via Hameln, Nordhorn, Ahlen-Hamm and Hamm-Westfalen. From 2012 to 2017, he worked as an assistant coach for the SG, still playing until 2015, and from 2017 to 2023 as head coach. During this time, he led the SG to the championship title twice and to the Final4 tournaments in the DHB Cup and the European League.
After his dismissal in Flensburg in 2023, he took up the post of head coach at the Danish top club Aalborg Handbold in the summer of 2024, where things stopped after just a few months.
