After 330 days of suffering following his severe knee injury and surgery and nearly eleven months of rehabilitation after his last appearance for THW Kiel in September 2025, Emil Madsen returned to action on Friday night.
At the club's season-opening event, the 25-year-old left-handed backcourt player took his first steps back onto the handball court. Shortly after a rousing reception upon entering the game in the 26th minute, he scored to make it 19–13 and 20–14. Later, the Dane added two more goals in the closing minutes and beamed as brightly as the hundreds of children in the arena during the subsequent autograph session:
"It was just a friendly, but we really had a lot of fun. And just being back out there makes me so happy!"
Kiel host TBV Lemgo Lippe in their first real league match on Thursday 27 August.