ehf_25yers_book_webversion (1)

25 YEARS 

EUROPEAN HANDBALL FEDERATION

CONTENT 

008 

FOREWORDS 

022 

STRUCTURE 

016 

PROLOGUE 

180 

PARTNER 

STATEMENTS 

054 

EUROPEAN 

CHAMPIONSHIP 

6

118 

CLUB 

COMPETITIONS 

156 

DEVELOPMENT 

092 

YOUTH EUROPEAN 

CHAMPIONSHIP 

7

FOREWORD 

JEAN BRIHAULT 

President EHF

The key to the success has been 

the combination of long standing 

values with modern approaches 

“Whoever bears in his heart a cathedral to be built is already victorious” wrote Antoine 

de Saint Exupéry in 1938. This could be an apt evocation of those who, in the late 1980s 

came together with the idea of founding a European Handball Federation. Because their 

ambitions were high, they were bound to succeed. And succeed they did! Far beyond their 

wildest expectations. 

They had a vision, not a dream. For a dream, as Martin Luther King well knew, is far away 

from reality. A vision is an inspiration for action, an ambition which is shared, an abstraction 

only waiting to be made concrete. 

Action immediately followed the founding Congress held in Berlin in 1991 and over the 

past twenty five years initiatives have succeeded one another to make European handball 

what it is today. Those old enough (and I am one of them) to remember the various stages 

of the development of our sport cannot but feel giddy at the pace of its progress on our 

continent. 

Our competitions now rank among the very top sport events in Europe, our continental 

championships are followed all over the world and our European Cups have become mesmerizing 

events with a conclusion, our famous Final Fours, that has been compared to what 

is best in American sport. 

The key to this success has been the combination of long standing values with modern 

approaches, of shared confidence with permanent self-criticism, of democracy with efficiency. 

There is no doubt that the next twenty-five years will witness the further progress of European 

handball in a world context also characterised by the supersonic growth of our sport 

on all continents. May the present book be an inspiration to the next generations in their 

efforts. History, for us, far from being what James Joyce calls “a nightmare from which [one] 

is trying to awake”, is a shared treasure of immeasurable value, a guarantee of success for 

the future. 

9

FOREWORD 

MICHAEL WIEDERER 

Secretary General

Only those who are 

aware of the past can 

shape the future… 

Twenty-five years are cause for celebration, not only for those persons 

who were present in 1991, but for all those who on this journey 

walked a few steps of the way with us. The development of a sport 

and an institution is not to be measured only in facts and figures, but 

rather the positioning on the many various levels that they represent. 

But what are 25 years… 

…historically, it is but a juncture in time 

…in our case, it is ideally a quarter of our lives 

…in sport, it is an abundance of victories and defeats, 

experiences and partners. 

But above all, it is the community of people who are active in and for 

the sport. 

As someone who had the pleasure to ‘live’ handball with people from 

all European nations for the entire duration of this 25 year period, 

I have to emphasise that the sport of handball is a ‘people’ business. 

Only through the engagement of the many handball enthusiasts can 

the matches take place, and this is from the smallest youth handball 

competition to the greatest tournament. 

Europe wide, the sport of handball is rich with such people and for this 

reason handball and the EHF have been able to develop over the past 

quarter of a century. 

On that note, I wish our sport – both Europe and worldwide – many 

active and interested protagonists, and with that in mind – PROGRESS! 

11

FOREWORD 

DR. HASSAN MOUSTAFA 

President IHF

Europe is the cradle of handball 

The European Handball Federation plays a key role in showcasing our sport at the highest 

level, and contributes considerably to the development of handball in many nations where 

it has the most potential for growth. Europe is the cradle of handball with the longest and 

strongest history of any continental confederation, and the EHF is therefore considered the 

spinal cord of the International Handball Federation. 

It was the passionate defenders of handball in Denmark and Sweden that invited the handball 

world to participate in the IHF Founding Congress, which was held in Copenhagen, 

Denmark in July 1946. Since that moment, exactly 70 years ago, much has changed with 

regard to the game itself, the nations so dedicated to it, and even at a club level with the 

continued development of the EHF Champions League – undeniably the premier handball 

club competition in the world where the best athletes are on court every week. One thing 

has remained the same, however: as long as the EHF is healthy, handball is as well. 

The development and promotion of handball is based on the effective collaboration between 

the IHF and the respective continental confederations, especially the European 

Handball Federation, which is an exemplary organisational body consistently showcasing 

the very best of our sport. The IHF and EHF work continually together with a focus on 

handball in the continent of Europe, periodically organising meetings where all matters 

relating to our sport are discussed and any hindrances to the development of handball are 

addressed. 

Together, we are always working on new ideas to increase the attractiveness of our sport 

– particularly for younger people, who are so important as they represent the generations 

to come and will be vital in continuing the work done before them. We have made a significant 

progress and we are moving in a positive direction, and though there is still a long way 

to go, I am confident any challenges will be handled in effective cooperation between our 

Federations. 

The continuous cooperation between the International Handball Federation and the European 

Handball Federation allows the further development of our beloved sport not only in 

Europe but all over the world. I personally and on behalf of the IHF look forward to moving 

forward together along the same positive path, and congratulate the EHF on 25 years of 

success. I hope the next 25 will prove just as fruitful. 

13

FOREWORD 

ERWIN LANC 

Honorary President IHF and ÖHB

The beginnings of the EHF 

After the loss of life and property in World War 2, the renaissance of European and international 

handball was necessarily in the hands of those states and their handball functionaries 

who, having stayed neutral, had survived World War 2 without material damage, among 

them names like Hans Baumann, Curt Wadmark, Paul Högberg, Erik Elias, and others. 

The political division of Europe that followed prevented what was achieved on all other 

continents: the foundation of a continental federation. The East of Europe, strong also in 

the sport of handball, was allowed to take part only under the auspices of the IHF. Until the 

disintegration of Soviet-ruled Eastern Europe, the very continent that boasted the strongest 

performance in handball and, most importantly, the largest number of players, did not 

have its own continental federation. Within the IHF, problems kept emerging though that 

called for a legitimate representation of Europe. To address this situation, a European advisory 

and organising board was created, chaired by the Swede Staffan Holmqvist, which, 

while lacking any executive powers did wield some well-respected influence within the IHF. 

It was at this point that Michael Wiederer, at the time Secretary General of Österreichischer 

Handballbund, started working for European handball. 

The founding congress held in Berlin after the fall of the Berlin Wall marked the official start 

of the continental federation EHF led by Holmqvist. 

Beside the need to draw up statutes governing work and decision-making processes, the 

EHF’s seat had to be defined and funding secured. The aim was to locate the Secretariat at a 

place in the centre of the united Europe of handball. Bids were submitted by Berlin, Zurich 

and Vienna as well as by Lisbon and Bratislava. The funding of the EHF Secretariat caused 

the national handball federations some headache. Berlin and Zurich were unable to offer 

any start-up capital, Lisbon and Bratislava withdrew their bids. 

Michael Wiederer and I succeeding in obtaining commitments from the City of Vienna and 

the Republic of Austria to provide initial funding, which in a rule of law state is easier said 

than done. In due course, the EHF Congress finally chose Vienna as the seat of the new continental 

federation. 

Today, the EHF runs the best and most functional Secretariat in international handball 

with a staff drawn from a large number of EHF member nations. The FINAL4 tournament 

in Cologne is the biggest handball event worldwide. EHF Presidents hailing from Sweden, 

Norway and France have always enjoyed the Secretary General’s loyal support in the EHF 

bodies. The upcoming decisions to be taken by the EHF will have to be guided by the objective 

of continuing the broad, democratic and at the same time efficient development of the 

first quarter-century. 

15

16

MILESTONE 

MADEIRA OR: 

THE LONG 

ROAD TO 

THE EHF 

The vision of a European umbrella organisation was first 

conceived in 1960. For a long time, sports-political 

tensions between the East and the West prevented the 

foundation of the EHF – the demise of the Soviet Union 

had to happen first. A milestone leading towards the 

European idea was the 1990 IHF Congress in Madeira. 

17

PROLOGUE 

18

The vision of a united handball 

Europe was still a long way 

off – compared with other 

sports, in any case. In football, 

the interests of European national 

associations have been represented 

by the Union of European Football Associations 

(UEFA) since 1955. The first continental 

tournament took place in 1960. 

Track and field athletes had their first European 

Championships as early as 1934, 

while the European Athletic Association 

(EAA) has been operating as an institution 

since 1969/70. The European Handball 

Federation (EHF) was hence a latecomer 

when it was created in Berlin on 17 

November 1991. 

This late date appears all the more curious 

as the idea of a European federation 

had already been on the agenda of an 

European handball for more than three 

decades. It had been the Yugoslav Handball 

Federation that had proposed to establish 

a European Handball Federation 

at the IHF Congress of Liège on 23-24 

September 1960. The then IHF Secretary 

General Albert Wagner defused this 

“bomb”, as the sports magazines called it, 

by putting forth the weighty argument that 

this would create a “state within a state” of 

the International Federation. After all, the 

World Championships were nothing but 

European title contests anyway, Wagner 

reasoned. The background: in 1960, of 

the IHF’s 24 members only Japan, Cuba, 

Brazil and Argentina were non-European 

nations. 

Over the years, however, the balance of 

powers shifted enormously in the world 

federation. By 1972, Europe, with its 24 

member federations, only had a very slim 

majority left among the 47 IHF members. 

In the 1980s, Africa and Asia gained even 

more influence. When the IHF Congress 

1992 convened in Barcelona, Europe, with 

42 out of 129 members, only had a share 

of about 30 percent of all votes in the International 

Handball Federation. Meanwhile, 

the other continents had already set 

up their own organisations to look after 

their respective interests – Africa in 1973, 

Asia in 1976, and Panamerica in 1977. 

Calls for a European federation and a 

continental tournament hence became 

increasingly vociferous. But the numerous 

attempts undertaken after the 1974 Congress 

in Jesolo, Italy, to bundle European 

interests in a European federation all came 

to nothing, even though the establishment 

of a European continental federation was 

in fact the logical answer to the globalisation 

of handball, as the Dane Erik Larsen 

noted in 1974. He predicted it would be 

achieved before the end of the 1970s: “My 

tip: the summer of 1979.” 

But he erred. In 1976, at the initiative of 

the German federation Deutscher Handballbund 

(DHB), an informal body was created, 

consisting of DHB President Thiele, 

Quarez (France), Dimmer (Luxembourg) 

and Paulsen (Denmark), to explore potential 

options with the federations from the 

Eastern bloc. In 1979, even a “Congress” 

of West European nations met in Luxembourg. 

And in 1981, the same Congress 

resolved in Copenhagen to create an EHF 

in London in 1982. But a lot of time had 

yet to pass. 

“Europe needs its own federation” – was 

the conclusion of the 1980 Congress held 

in Moscow, as reported by the Handballwoche 

magazine. How complex the balance 

of powers was, was highlighted by 

the debate on the politically sensitive issue 

of the admission of Palestine to the IHF, 

which was finally carried by a coalition of 

East European federations, Asia and Africa. 

The Asian representatives moreover 

almost succeeded in adding Israel to the 

Asian continent (which would actually 

have meant the end of Israeli handball). 

The rest of the world was certainly no 

longer willing to recognise the traditional, 

leading role of the Europeans based on 

their stronger performance. “Against the 

backdrop of increasing popularity of handball 

in the countries of Asia, Africa and 

America, which in Moscow resulted in the 

election of IHF Vice Presidents from these 

continents to the Council and the Executive, 

Europeans will have no choice but to 

launch their own federation to better safeguard 

their own interests,” was the conclusion 

of Handballwoche. 

The resolve to found such an organisation 

already existed: “In separate deliberations 

of the Western nations on the 

19

PROLOGUE 

20

one hand and of friends of handball in the 

socialist countries of Eastern Europe on 

the other, the will to take this increasingly 

inevitable step has already become quite 

clear. As a result of the Moscow IHF Congress, 

it will not be long before the first 

concrete steps in this direction will be 

taken, as the strongest performing handball 

nations of the world will not want to 

lose control over their own affairs.“ 

But even in the 1980s Europe was not 

yet homogeneous enough to establish an 

umbrella federation. The pressure to act, 

especially in the IHF‘s socialist member nations, 

was not strong enough yet. “At that 

time, the East European federations enjoyed 

a very strong representation in the 

bodies of the IHF, the global federation,” 

recalls Karl Güntzel from Switzerland 

(photo), who at the time served as Secretary 

of the European working group, an 

informal predecessor of the EHF. But other 

nations also had something to lose. The 

breakthrough that had been hoped for 

had also been thwarted by Scandinavian 

functionaries, who feared that on creation 

of a European federation they would be 

set to lose key positions in the IHF, as was 

explained in a commemorative publication 

of the Luxembourg Handball Federation. 

Representative bodies hence remained 

informal until the end of the 1980s. Both 

the West Europeans and the East Europeans 

continued the practice of gathering 

before IHF Congresses for coordination. 

According to Güntzel, the West was represented 

by the Swede Staffan Holmqvist, 

Berhard Thiele (GER) and himself, the East 

by the President of Deutscher Handball 

Verband (DHV), Georg Herrmann, Jaroslav 

Mraz from Czechoslovakia, and the 

Russian Vladimir Kriwtschow. “There were 

a number of meetings, but nothing of an 

official nature,” Güntzel recalls. It was an 

attempt to merge the interests of the two 

large political blocs in Europe. But this did 

not always prove possible. 

floated once again in1985 and in 1987, 

recalls the present EHF Secretary General 

Michael Wiederer, who as ÖHB delegate 

witnessed political developments, their 

impact on sports, and the conflicts. It was 

only in1989, though, that the vision became 

more realistic, as three representatives 

each of Western Europe and Eastern 

Europe met in France to explore the possibility 

of establishing a continental umbrella 

organisation. 

The actual history of the EHF started only 

at the 23rd IHF Congress in Madeira, which 

was held from 23 to 25 October 1990. At 

that time, a heated debate had flared up 

between the European nations and the 

other continents about the future system 

of WCh qualifications. While the rest of the 

world advocated the continuation of B and 

C World Championships, the Europeans 

wanted to determine their participants in 

the future by means of European Championship 

tournaments. 

“At that time it emerged once again 

that the voices of the Europeans were no 

longer sufficiently heard,” Wiederer recalls. 

“And so it was decided: we are now 

going to create a European Federation.” 

Hans-Jürgen Hinrichs, at the time President 

of Deutscher Handballbund (DHB), 

said: “Interests have developed in different 

directions. In terms of rules, Europe differs 

quite a lot from Africa.“ On the last day of 

the IHF Congress in Funchal, the Swede 

Holmqvist and the Swiss national Güntzel 

announced that a european umbrella organisation, 

the EHF, would be formed in 

the first half of 1991. This made Madeira 

the most important milestone on the road 

to the long overdue foundation of the EHF. 

It was only the end of the East-West 

conflict in the late 1980s that changed 

everything. “Without the collapse of the 

Soviet Union, the foundation of the EHF 

would not have been possible,” said Güntzel. 

The idea of a European federation to 

represent common interests had been 

21

22

THE 

STRUCTURE 

OF THE EHF: 

CONTINUITY 

AS THE KEY 

TO SUCCESS 

When the EHF’s founding fathers launched the federation 

on 17 November 1991, they really got it right the first 

time: the way the EHF bodies were structured right at the 

start has proved effective and has hardly been modified 

since. The tasks of the Federation and hence also 

the administration responsibilities have 

expanded dynamically as well. 

23

“The EHF has really 

been lucky to go to 

Vienna. As the bid for 

the Olympics turned 

into a disaster, the 

promises made by 

Berlin were becoming 

increasingly vague” 

Former EHF Vice President Hans-Jürgen Hinrichs (2014) 

28

Whoever enters the European 

Handball Federation’s 

headquarters 

at Hoffingergasse 18 in 

Vienna quickly gains a 

vivid impression of the international orientation 

and professionalism of the umbrella 

organisation’s administration – phone conversations 

going on everywhere, offices 

bustling with activity. Today, the EHF and 

its subsidiary EHF Marketing employ a staff 

of 57 from 17 nations in the south-west of 

Austria‘s capital. Conversations are therefore 

held not only in typically Viennese 

dialect, but also in the Hungarian, Danish, 

French, Serbian and Polish languages and, 

most importantly, in English. 

Today, 25 years after the EHF’s foundation, 

its administration is organised in a 

large number of different departments. 

Every member of the staff has clearly defined 

duties in their respective areas of 

work. Some of them work for Competitions, 

the department headed by Markus 

Glaser. Others, directed by David Szlezak, 

take care of marketing and organisation of 

the VELUX EHF Champions League. Others 

again, inspired by Helmut Höritsch, drive 

activities in the Education & Development 

Department. The department managed 

by Christoph Gamper dedicates all its 

time and effort to IT equipment and facility 

support. And then there are the specialists, 

headed by JJ Rowland, who focus 

exclusively on the EHF’s website and social 

media maintenance, as the fans’ thirst for 

news and moving images from European 

handball is known to be insatiable. And, 

of course, in an active sporting federation 

comprising 50 nations and many partners, 

the Finance and Legal Management Departments 

also play an essential role. 

The very top of the organisation is formed 

by Strategic Business under the leadership 

of Secretary General Michael Wiederer. 

The General Secretariat is not only responsible 

for organising EHF Congresses and 

Executive meetings, but also serves as the 

central body controlling communication 

and the umbrella organisation’s promotional 

activities. This department is nothing 

less than the hub of European handball. 

The many queries and ideas from the 

member federations that converge at this 

point are centrally collected and organised 

to form the basis on which this “think tank” 

discusses and develops concepts for the future 

of European handball. 

This, of course, is always done in close 

collaboration with the higher-level body of 

elected representatives serving in commissions 

whose first origins can be traced back 

to the year 1991, but which have become 

increasingly numerous and specialised in 

the course of the 25 years of EHF history. 

In a way, they mirror the stakeholders’ diverse 

interests in the umbrella organisation. 

After the EHF Congress, which meets 

every two years, the next most important 

body is the Executive Committee, which 

meets to discuss and decide key sports-political 

issues between the Congresses. The 

Executive Committee also considers motions 

submitted by the Professional Handball 

Board (PHB), the Women’s Handball 

Board (WHB) and the Nations Board (NB) 

in pursuit of the interests of national federations 

and clubs. 

The Congress elects the chair persons 

of the Competitions Commission (CC), 

the Methods Commission (MC), the Beach 

Handball Commission (BC), the Comptrollers 

and the legal bodies: the Court of 

Handball, the Court of Appeal and the EHF 

Court of Arbitration Council. The work of 

the Competitions Commission, the Methods 

Commission and the Beach Handball 

Commission (BC) provides direct input to 

the meetings of the Executive Committee, 

as their respective chair persons are ex officio 

members of the Executive Committee. 

The structure and development of these 

bodies and institutions, whose members 

serve on an honorary basis, also reflect the 

25 years of EHF history. 

This history started on 15 November 

1991 at a deeply symbolic place: the Dom 

Hotel at Berlin’s Gendarmenmarkt in the 

eastern part of the city whose Wall came 

down in November 1989, an event that 

significantly accelerated the disintegration 

of the two large political blocs. The EHF’s 

foundation had been prepared in detail in 

a number of informal meetings held after 

the 1990 IHF Congress in Madeira. Further 

important meetings of the acting commissions 

convened in Manchester (GBR) and 

Frankfurt (GER) in the spring and summer 

of 1991. 

29

STRUCTURE 

30

“Handball in Europe has 

attained a level that 

nobody would have 

dreamed of twenty years 

ago. But we must not 

lean back now; there are 

still big tasks ahead that 

we need to tackle” 

EHF President Jean Brihault (2012)

32

The founding session, which was opened 

by a concert performed by a wind ensemble, 

was funded and organised by 

Deutscher Handballbund and the City of 

Berlin. On that 15 November, a total of 29 

national handball federations established 

the European Handball Federation. Its first 

President was Staffan Holmqvist (SWE), 

its Vice President Hans-Jürgen Hinrichs 

(GER). Karl Güntzel (SUI) was elected as 

Treasurer, and Jozef Ambrus from Slovakia 

as Chairman of the Technical Commission. 

Additional members of the EHF Committee, 

as the precursor of the Executive Committee 

was called at the time, were Tor Lian 

(NOR), Claude Rinck (FRA) and Gintautas 

Stasiulevicius (LTU). 

In the Technical Commission (TC), four 

additional members had responsibility 

for clearly defined duties: Jan Tuik (NED) 

for “Competitions”, Janusz Czerwinski 

(POL) for “Methods and Trainers”, Manfred 

Prause (GER) for “Rules of the Game 

and Referees” und, last but not least, Jesus 

Guerrero Beiztegui (ESP) for “School 

Sport and Development“. An Arbitration 

Commission was likewise established at 

this early stage, headed by Jean Kaiser 

(LUX). His deputies were Rui Cui Coelho 

(POR) and Gunnar Gunnarsson (ISL). Also 

elected were the Comptrollers chaired by 

the Belgian Frans Stinissen. 

The founding document stipulated that 

elected EHF officers were limited to three 

terms of office. Also, at the time of election, 

an officer was not allowed to be older than 

65 years. All these details show that key 

organisational elements of the continental 

federation were laid down as early as 

November 1991. The principal tasks were 

defined in the EHF’s first set of Statutes, 

including the organisation of EHF European 

Championships and of the European 

Cup, which had previously been organised 

by the IHF. The EHF also committed itself 

to developing and promoting the sport of 

handball proactively, starting in the member 

federations from the grassroots level. 

On these material objectives of the 

EHF, the founding members were in perfect 

agreement. There was no consensus 

among them, however, on another important 

matter, namely the future location of 

the EHF headquarters. By hosting the EHF’s 

founding convention, the Germans had 

hoped to win decisive support for their bid 

to establish the EHF Office in Berlin, with 

financial assistance for Deutsche Handballbund 

expected to come from the City of 

Berlin’s bid to host the 2000 Olympics. 

By March 1991, however, Österreichischer 

Handballbund (Vienna) and Schweizer 

Handballverband (Zurich) had also submitted 

serious bids. And at the founding 

congress, the Slovak (Bratislava) and Portuguese 

(Lisbon) federations added two 

further excellent proposals. The Germans 

believed nonetheless that the odds were 

in their favour. “The DHB has made a major 

effort and presented us with a tempting 

offer for setting up the Office in Berlin,” 

Holmqvist reported in August 1991. 

But then the situation changed when the 

Austrians came up with an even more attractive 

offer at the founding convention. 

“The Austrians offered to pay the rental 

costs for three years,” a newspaper report 

said. Vienna would also provide a secretary 

with foreign language skills and “introductory 

training” for a secretary general. 

To this, DHB President Hinrichs initially 

reacted with anger: “The way the Austrians 

suddenly pulled Vienna out of the hat was 

not quite fair.” In November the members’ 

convention in any case decided to postpone 

the decision on this matter to the 1st 

EHF Congress that was to be held in Vienna 

on 5-6 June 1992. 

The attractive bid that the ÖHB finally 

presented to the EHF actually went far 

beyond what the Germans had offered 

(20,000 Deutschmark per year for running 

the Secretariat). At that time, the Austrian 

federation benefited significantly from the 

excellent relations maintained by its President 

Erwin Lanc, a former government 

minister, to political bodies. The German 

competitors’ anger quickly subsided. “The 

EHF has really been lucky to go to Vienna,” 

Hinrichs said in hindsight shortly before 

he passed away in 2014, when speaking 

about the foundation phase of the European 

umbrella organisation.” As the bid 

for the Olympics turned into a disaster, the 

promises made by Berlin were becoming 

increasingly vague,” Hinrichs said. 

The agreement on the location and initial 

funding of the Office was signed by the EHF 

member federations on 5 June 1992 after 

33

STRUCTURE 

“Lüthi guaranteed 

us a fixed 

sum. And he 

paid instalments 

to us even 

before the first 

EHF EURO had 

started. This 

laid the financial 

groundwork 

for operations, 

staff, and other 

activities” 

Berlin, Lisbon, Bratislava and Zurich had 

withdrawn their offers. After a brief preparatory 

phase, Secretary General Michael 

Wiederer, who had changed from Österreichischer 

Handball Bund to the EHF, and 

Pia Pedersen, his assistant, started operating 

in Vienna on 1 September 1992. 

“With just two desks and two telephones,” 

Wiederer recalls, smiling. The first official 

act was the attendance of the 1992 Women‘s 

Youth ECh in Hungary, which, according 

to Wiederer, was conducted “without 

any structures in place yet”. 

At the beginning, money was very tight. 

In November 1991, the 29 founding 

members had provided the EHF Office 

with about 14,000 Swiss francs. In the 

year that followed, large federations like 

DHB paid 4000 Swiss francs per year, 

smaller nations like Moldova 500 francs. 

As early as spring 1991, however, the 

EHF’s first Treasurer Güntzel – at that time 

“still without any mandate or federation”, 

as he said – initiated a promising contact 

with the Kreuzlingen-based sports rights 

marketing firm César W. Lüthi (CWL), 

which he had known since the 1986 WCh 

in Switzerland. 

Güntzel told the owner of the agency 

that the EHF was planning to organise European 

Championships every two years. 

Lüthi was interested. “Do drop in”, the 

marketer had asked him, Güntzel says. 

“The place where I live – St. Gallen – is actually 

not far from Kreuzlingen. “The EHF 

pioneers were, of course, also negotiating 

with other marketers of TV rights, among 

them the legendary Munich lawyer Axel 

Meyer-Wölden, who at that time represented 

Boris Becker. “If things go well, you 

will earn a lot. If they don’t, you won’t,” 

Meyer-Wölden explained. 

This prompted the handball functionaries 

to opt for CWL. The amount “was not 

exorbitant”, is as much as Güntzel is allowed 

to disclose. “But the special feature 

was this: Lüthi guaranteed us a fixed sum. 

And he paid instalments to us even before 

the first EHF EURO had started. This 

laid the financial groundwork for operations, 

staff, and other activities.” From 

these beginnings evolved a longstanding 

partnership characterised by deep mutual 

trust: as has been reported, the EHF and Infront 

(the successor of CWL) have entered 

into a partnership for marketing EHF EU- 

ROs up to the year 2020. 

In any case, the infrastructure available 

was extremely modest when the EHF administration 

started working at Gutheil- 

Schoder-Gasse 9 in Vienna in the year 

1992, in offices looking out on the UHK 

Wien club’s former home venue. “I think 

we will manage and we will be able to 

meet the challenges facing us,” – it was in 

this spirit that Secretary General Wiederer 

and his team started into this pioneering 

period with much optimism and drive. 

Rules of procedures issued by the EHF 

Committee already regulated key elements 

of the work. “The Executive Committee 

and I trust each other fully,” were 

the words used by Wiederer in praise of 

the strong relationship between honorary 

officers and professional staff in 1993. 

34

Today, some of the problems that confronted 

the EHF Office in Vienna in its first 

few years appear very trivial. But, back 

then, the internet was still the great unknown. 

Today, information is distributed 

around the globe within fractions of a second. 

In the early 1990s, organisational 

processes sometimes came to a halt 

as communication was either largely unfeasible 

or a very complex affair. At that 

time, not all member federations had a 

telephone or a fax machine at their disposal. 

Sometimes, it took weeks for a 

match planned in Azerbaijan or Moldova to 

be confirmed. 

It is therefore no surprise that, as early 

as 1993, Alexander Toncourt, assistant 

General Secretary, did all he could to build 

a communication system designed to facilitate 

work for the national federations 

as well as for the EHF and the media. The 

magic word was: computers! Computers 

were the tool that the EHF wanted to use 

to record the results of European Cup and 

European Championship matches, to pass 

them on to news tickers as quickly as possible 

and to develop a sound database for 

coming generations. This was the vision on 

which work commenced with much vigour 

in 1994. On 9 and 10 December 1994, 

delegates from more than 20 member 

federations were trained at the 1st International 

Seminar on Computer Info System. 

A second workshop was held in Sofia 

in early 1995. 

The introduction of electronic data processing 

was an important step into modern 

times. In another field, Dansk Håndbold 

Forbund (DHF) rendered valuable development 

assistance to the EHF. When the 

2nd Women’s EHF EURO ended in Denmark 

in 1996, EHFs mobility received an 

unexpected boost. “After the finals we were 

told that we could take home to Vienna a 

number of mobile phones that had been 

used by the organising committee and that 

were no longer needed,” Markus Glaser 

remembers, with a smile on his face. “This 

was basically what enabled us to set up the 

EHF hotline. This hotline was created after 

the EHF Women’s EURO 1996 in Denmark 

so that the member federations were 

able to contact someone even on weekends.” 

The number of the hotline has since 

remained unchanged. 

This little anecdote illustrates how difficult 

these pioneering years were in some 

respects. Nonetheless, the new structural 

organisation proved workable from the 

very beginning. After the first key meetings 

– the meeting of the EHF Committee 

in Hamburg on 15 December 1991 and 

the 1st Ordinary EHF Congress in Vienna 

in June 1992 – the delegates conducted 

the EHF Youth European Championships 

in Hungary and in Switzerland without any 

major problems. 

1993, the year when Markus Glaser and 

Helmut Höritsch joined the Vienna Office 

as additional full-time staff, saw not only 

the start of the European Cup project, 

which the EHF had taken over from the 

IHF. By that time, two additional EHF Congresses 

had already been staged: the 1st 

Extraordinary EHF Congress in Barcelona 

in July 1992, organised in the run-up to the 

Olympic Games, and the 2nd Extraordinary 

EHF Congress in Antwerp. At this initial 

stage of the EHF’s development, the main 

focus was on competition-related and organisational 

matters. 

On 6 and 7 August 1993, the EHF held 

a conference in Vilnius (Lithuania) on the 

structures and mechanisms of the European 

umbrella organisation as an informational 

event for 16 newly admitted 

member federations. By that time, the EHF 

already had a total of 45 members. And 

then the EHF administration even organised 

two matches of a European selection: 

on 3 January 1992, a men’s continental selection 

played a match against Austria in Vienna, 

and on 26 June Poland‘s female national 

team played against Euope at Zarbze. 

This heaped a heavy workload on the 

still very lean staff in Vienna, all the more 

so as the EHF administration also had to 

prepare and support the work and meetings 

of Congresses, the Commission and 

working groups. 

That these meetings proceeded mostly 

smoothly, constructively and in a spirit of 

harmony was also attributable to the amazing 

continuity in the officers serving on the 

elected bodies. Until the year 2000, there 

was hardly any change in the team that had 

started the EHF project in 1991. President 

Staffan Holmqvist, who was recognised 

by all parties as the leading figure, served 

35

STRUCTURE 

36

“A handball match may 

only be played over two 

periods of 30 minutes, 

but we are responsible for 

the whole package, which 

means everything in and 

around the game. It is 

our job to create the best 

possible conditions for the 

sport – not just at the highest 

of levels but also for 

the beginner. We need to 

do this to secure developments 

and the future of 

the sport. The European 

Handball Federation and 

all its employees will continue 

working intensively 

and in partnership with all 

parties, both on an internal 

and external level“ 

Secretary General Michael Wiederer (2005) 

37

STRUCTURE 

This unusual continuity fortunately also 

corresponded with the development of 

the professional office staff managed by Michael 

Wiederer as Secretary General since 

1992. Key figures such as Helmut Höritsch, 

Markus Glaser, Alexander Toncourt, Vesna 

Lazic, Monika Flixeder and Doru Simion 

had also been working for the EHF administration 

since the 1990s and were therefore 

intimately acquainted with all aspects 

and details of the organisation. In addition, 

many members of the staff have also contributed 

top-level handball experience. 

Since the 1990s, the tasks that the administration 

has had to deal with have become 

increasingly comprehensive and complex. 

Just two examples to demonstrate the 

type of jobs handled by one of the departments 

in 1996: among other things Markus 

Glaser and Peter Vargo were responsible 

for organising the Competitions Commission 

and Helmut Höritsch and Claudia Uth 

were responsible for organising the Methods 

and Competitions Commissions and 

for managing the Info System, i.e. for updating 

players’ and delegates’ personal details, 

match data, the EHF calendar and the 

ongoing development of the Info System. 

In addition they had to attend to finances 

and comptrolling, the organisation of 

matches played by European selections and 

everything that related to transfers. 

the maximum of three terms of office and 

steered the EHF until 2004. The same was 

true of Treasurer Karl Güntzel, who had 

been one of the brains behind the EHF’s 

formation and foundation. Its first Vice 

President Hans-Jürgen Hinrichs served until 

the 5th Ordinary EHF Congress 2000 in 

Tel Aviv. The only change in the EHF Committee 

happened in 1996, when the Hungarian 

Laszlo Sinka replaced the Lithuanian 

founding member Gintautas Stasiulevicius. 

Changes in the other Commissions were 

likewise only marginal, until 2000. In the 

Competitions Commission, Frantisek Taborsky 

(CZE) took charge of Women’s Competitions 

in 1996. Ton van Linder (NED) 

joined the Methods Commission in 1994; 

later on, Taborsky took over the chairmanship 

from Claude Rinck. The Technical Refereeing 

Committee led by Manfred Prause 

saw no change at all. 

To recall: “transfer“ activities virtually exploded 

after the Bosman ruling in 1995, 

which also granted handball players freedom 

of movement in the European Union. 

As a consequence, new rules were needed. 

While in 1995, the EHF had handled only 

683 transfers, this figure rose to 850 one 

year later. In 1997, as many as 1100 transfers 

were processed. In 2002, finally, the 

EHF managed more than 1700 transfers; in 

2008, more than 2100. 

Transfers are just one particularly impressive 

example of how the workload expanded. 

Against this backdrop, there was no way 

around hiring additional staff for the EHF 

Office. In 1997, the EHF already had a staff 

of twelve employees working full time or 

part time, which meant that the offices were 

getting crowded. To get ready for future 

challenges, a move to a new, more spacious 

building was needed. After the EHF leadership’s 

fundamental decision at the 1996 

IHF Congress in Hilton Head Island not to 

rent but to have a new building built for and 

owned by the EHF, the administration took 

the project on as an additional responsibility 

and completed it within 18 months. 

The move took place in May 1998. The 

new headquarters at Hoffingergasse 18 

were officially inaugurated at the 1st Conference 

of Presidents, which has since 

been held every two years as an advisory 

body. “By completing the construction of 

the new EHF house in Vienna in May 1998 

a new meeting point and service centre for 

38

handball in Europe has been created,” 

said Staffan Holmqvist at the formal opening 

ceremony. 

In the year 1998, the EHF adminstration 

comprised four big departments. At the 

top the Secretariat, below it the Departments 

for Organisation (Alexander Toncourt), 

Methods & Development (Helmut 

Höritsch) und Competitions (Markus Glaser) 

staffed by already 14 employees. In 

1996, the EHF family grew to 46 member 

federations when Bosnia-Herzegovina and 

Malta were admitted at the Congress in 

Athens. 

The 5th Extraordinary EHF Congress 

1999 in Vienna and the 5th Ordinary EHF 

Congress 2000 in Tel Aviv moderately 

reformed the bodies elected by the Congress. 

While the number of Commissions 

remained unchanged, one member was 

added to the Competitions Commission 

to attend henceforth to club competitions 

(the member elected was Leopold Kalin 

from Slovenia). The Methods Commission 

was likewise expanded by one member 

tasked with focusing exclusively on the development 

of non-competitive handball 

(Allan Lund from Denmark). The Court of 

Arbitration also received one additional 

member, resulting in a total of eight. 

The motion to also raise the number of 

Executive Committee members from seven 

to nine was rejected in 1999, yet adopted 

the following year. From then onwards, 

the chair persons of the Competitions 

Commission and the Methods Commission 

have also been ex officio members 

of the Executive Committee. At the time, 

all these motions were driven in particular 

by the political will to raise the number 

of female members, as emphasised in the 

Annual Report of the year 1999. This was 

implemented in 2000 when Helga Magnusdottir 

(ISL) was the first woman to be 

elected to the Competitions Commission 

to take charge of Women‘s club competitions. 

Another member to newly join the 

Executive Committee was Jean Brihault 

(FRA), the future EHF President. 

At that time, the key duties of the EHF 

management included organisation and 

marketing of EHF competitions as well as 

the development of effective communication. 

In this regard, Sian Rowland, daughter 

of the former chairman of the British federation, 

who joined in 1999, rendered the 

EHF invaluable services with her outgoing 

and disarming personality. Rowland’s sudden 

death in December 2008, at the age 

of only 33, came as a deep shock to all the 

staff and marked one of the saddest day in 

EHF history, as did the unexpected passing 

away of the distinguished EHF pioneer Alexander 

Toncourt in 2012. 

In 2002, Secretary General Wiederer 

underlined that well-targeted and professional 

communication was a great asset for 

the EHF and its members: “The presence of 

handball on today’s sporting market, the 

interest that the sport brings with it and the 

absolute necessity to communicate with 

the handball world as well as with media 

and the public both with speed and efficiency 

brings with it many challenges at all 

levels. Please do no forget that the General 

Secretariat responsible for the management 

of the daily business is the service 

arm of the European Handball Federation 

and the office members are here to help 

in matters both large and small.” In those 

years in any case, a lot of effort was dedicated 

to creating the EHF website and the 

Media Department. 

A major change in EHF history took place 

in May 2004, at the 7th Ordinary Congress 

in Nicosia (CYP): the end of the presidency 

of Staffan Holmqvist. When the Congress 

said good-bye to the Swede, the delegates 

39

“By completing 

the construction 

of the new EHF 

house in Vienna 

in May 1998 a 

new meeting 

point and service 

centre for handball 

in Europe has 

been created” 

EHF President Staffan Holmqvist at 

the formal opening ceremony for 

the new EHF House (1998) 

rose from their seats. President Staffan 

Holmqvist left his office after 12 years of 

service to a standing ovation for his outstanding 

contribution to the entire European 

Handball Federation and handball in 

general. His work was honoured with the 

award of “Honorary President of the European 

Handball Federation”. Karl Güntzel 

from Switzerland, who had also been one 

of the umbrella organisation’s trailblazers 

both prior to and after 1991, was likewise 

honoured in Cyprus for this great contributions 

and was voted honorary member of 

the EHF. 

Holmqvist’s successor was elected in 

a hotly contested democratic vote: after 

four candidates had waged offensive election 

campaigns, the Norwegian Tor Lian 

won with a very slim 23-22 majority over 

Jean Kaiser from Luxembourg. Both candidates 

had held EHF offices since 1991. Lian 

thanked the delegates for their trust and 

his predecessor for the good work he had 

done. “He was an inspirational and motivational 

leader,” Lian said about the Swede 

later on. As the subsequent years were to 

41

STRUCTURE 

“I have been very impressed with 

the work of the EHF staff and with 

their attitude both to the job and to 

the development of handball. 

This is part of the culture of the EHF, 

we have been happy to meet 

challenges and I think we are ahead 

of many other international sports 

organisations, when we look at the 

way we work and the technology 

we use. We not only have the best 

people on the court, but also off it” 

EHF President Tor Lian (2012) 

show, the vote for the Norwegian was again 

a very good choice for the EHF. During the 

eight years of his EHF presidency, Lian also 

proved an extremely circumspect and politically 

prudent leader. 

Lian’s subtle diplomacy was of fundamental 

benefit to the EHF, particularly in 

his first term of office up to 2008. At that 

time, the unity of the umbrella organisation 

was at risk, as in 2006 elite clubs created 

their own representative body, Group 

Club Handball, the precursor of today‘s Forum 

Club Handball (FCH). This period was 

nothing less but a breaking test for the EHF 

as an organisation. It was certainly one of 

Lian’s greatest achievements that he, with 

the support of Jean Brihault and working 

with Secretary General Wiederer and other 

associates, developed plans that paved 

the way for a joint future of national federations 

and clubs. After a phase of transition 

and using various inputs, the Vice President 

developed a plan for the political and 

factual integration of the interest groups 

for 2009 and then, successfully, for 2010. 

The challenges of this time in terms of 

handball policy are reflected by the institutions 

of the EHF even today. Following the 

resolutions passed by the 9th Extraordinary 

EHF Congress 2008 in Lillehammer, 

which was held on the fringe of the 9th EHF 

Men‘s EURO, club representatives were 

included in EHF bodies for the first time. 

Three bodies were newly constituted: the 

Nations Board (NB) representing the interests 

of EHF members concerning national 

teams. It was chaired by Stig Morten Christensen 

(DEN). The Men’s Club Committee 

headed by the Spaniard Joan Marin and 

the Women’s Club Committee chaired by 

Gunnar Prokop (Austria). 

These committees were not only represented 

by their chairs in the Competitions 

Commission, which was thus expanded 

from five to eight members; they also had 

42

a say in the policies of the Advisory Board 

of EHF Marketing, the organiser of the EHF 

Champions Leagues. When these motions 

were adopted in Lillehammer, EHF President 

Lian emphasised the unity of the Federation: 

“The very large support obtained 

by these motions is a clear sign of Europe’s 

national federations’ desire to preserve 

the unity of handball in Europe, to recognise 

the fundamental role of clubs in the 

success of European handball and to keep 

handball in the hands of those whose sole 

motivation is the success and development 

of sport.” 

Ultimately, Lian said in the same year, 

the new structural set-up reflected the vital 

interests of the many stakeholders of 

European handball, who could now safeguard 

their interests through these mechanisms: 

“The EHF works closely with all 

its partners, whether it is the national federations, 

leagues, clubs, players, media 

or marketing partners. The strong link to 

each and every member of these groups is 

highly important. Of course, there are different 

interests, differing perspectives and 

expectations, but it is a necessity to find a 

balance for the equation and react quickly 

and professionally to changing trends 

and demands.” 

After a proposed structural change that 

had initially been rejected by the Extraordinary 

Congress 2009 in Cyprus, the 

organisational structure of the EHF was 

expanded two years later, at the 10th Ordinary 

Congress in Copenhagen (DEN) in 

September 2010, by adding representatives 

of the European leagues and athletes. 

The Congress resolved to establish a Professional 

Handball Board (PHB) to replace 

the Men’s Club Committee. This PHB has 

since consisted of twelve members: the 

EHF President and the Secretary General 

plus two additional Executive Committee 

members, and two representatives each 

of the European Professional Handball 

Leagues Association (EPHLA) and the European 

Handball Players Union (EHPU), 

the National Board for the national teams 

(NB) and Forum Club Handball (FCH) on 

behalf of the clubs. The Nations Board (six 

members) for men‘s handball continued 

to exist. 

The Women’s Professional Board (WHB) 

was structured similarly, but comprised 

only ten members. Since the 11th Ordinary 

EHF Congress 2012 in Monaco, the 

chair persons of PHB and WHB have also 

been ex officio members of the Executive 

Committee, which was hence expanded 

43

“The presence 

of handball on 

today’s sporting 

market, the interest 

that the sport 

brings with it 

and the absolute 

necessity to communicate 

with the 

handball world 

as well as with 

media and the 

public both with 

speed and efficiency 

brings with 

it many challenges 

at all levels” 

from nine to eleven members. This further 

differentiation was an almost logical move, 

according to Lian: “Here, the EHF Member 

Federations voted to form additional bodies, 

to accentuate the status and consult 

the progress of club and national team 

competitions – these are in form of Technical 

Committees within the structure of 

the EHF (men’s club, women’s club and national 

teams), and, parallel to this, Boards 

for men’s and women’s club competitions 

within the spheres of EHF Marketing.” 

Another forward-looking decision had 

been taken by the 9th Ordinary EHF Congress 

2008 in Vienna: by establishing the 

Beach Handball Commission (BC), which 

consists of five members, the EHF also 

created a first institution for the strong 

beach handball movement within its organisation. 

The importance that the EHF 

accorded this discipline was illustrated by 

the fact that the BC chair was also given 

a seat on the Executive Committee. The 

first chairperson was the Hungarian Laszlo 

Sinka, succeeded by the Norwegian Ole 

R. Jørstad. The EHF thus took the initiative 

not only in modelling this sport, but, 

from an early stage, was ready to support 

a development that not many would have 

expected of beach handball. Quite a few 

would have ruled out categorically that the 

International Olympic Committee (IOC) 

would ever include beach handball in the 

programme of the Youth Olympics. But 

this is exactly what has been agreed for the 

year 2018, when the Youth Olympics will 

take place in Buenos Aires. 

In 2012, the Executive Committee finally 

moved and the Congress agreed to 

establish an Anti-Doping Unit (EAU) within 

the EHF organisation. Another important 

landmark in the development of the 

EHF structure was the foundation of its 

own marketing entity, EHF Marketing, in 

the year 2005 (see chapter on Club Competitions). 

This growth of EHF institutions 

mirrors the spectacular expansion of administrative 

tasks. While the structure of 

the EHF administration basically has not 

changed since the late 1990s, its headcount 

has risen significantly. In 2000, the 

EHF was still coping with a staff of 16. Two 

years later, it already had 23 employees 

and, in 2008, more than 30, including 

those employed by EHF Marketing. Today, 

as already noted, the number of employees 

working for European handball 

has exceeded the figure of 50. 

President Tor Lian was in any case able 

to look back with satisfaction when he decided 

to retire from his position in 2012. 

“We have initiated a lot of projects, starting 

with the setting up of the EHF office,” 

said the Norwegian. “I have been very impressed 

with the work of the EHF staff and 

with their attitude both to the job and to 

the development of handball. This is part 

of the culture of the EHF, we have been 

happy to meet challenges and I think we 

45

are ahead of many other international 

sports organisations, when we look at the 

way we work and the technology we use. 

We not only have the best people on the 

court, but also off it.” 

There has been little change to date to 

this very finely balanced system of the 

EHF: “Structurally, the EHF is a very complex 

body. Outsiders often underestimate 

the way we pass decisions,” says 

Secretary General Michael Wiederer. 

“The most important thing is finding the 

right balance. That the EHF agreed sensible 

solutions with the clubs, the leagues 

and the national federations, was 

extremely important for the future of European 

handball.” After all, the EHF has 

the obligation to serve not just one party, 

but all stakeholders. 

The baton was then taken over by Jean 

Brihault, who was elected as third EHF 

President by a large majority at the 11th 

Ordinary Congress 2012 in Monte Carlo. 

Brihault, a brilliant speaker, rector of a 

French university and eminent intellectual,has 

led the EHF with great prudence 

and, in his considerate and accommodating 

way, has managed to balance and 

sensibly weight the diverse interests with 

the EHF. His charming manners made him 

moreover a perfect representative of the 

EHF in its external relations. 

Brihault’s excellent skills as a facilitator, 

for example, had an exceedingly positive 

impact on the relations between the EHF 

and the International Handball Federation 

(IHF). Brihault’s predecessors Staffan 

Holmqvist and Tor Lian had also promoted 

the EHF’s interests in the global federation 

very energetically, in Europe’s best 

interests. Especially during Lian’s term 

of office, however, certain tensions had 

arisen between the umbrella federations 

when debates revolved around the powers 

of the continental federations. 

The relationship between Vienna and 

Basel was at times mildly complex as European 

handball has always been the biggest 

46

powerhouse in international handball. As 

is well known, many of the initiatives and 

ideas of the past 25 years were conceived 

and developed at the EHF headquarters 

and by the EHF’s 50 member federations. 

Among them were projects such as Minihandball 

and Handball at School, which 

were largely championed by Vienna and, 

today, are organised by the IHF even outside 

Europe. In addition, Vienna had discovered 

the great potential of beach handball 

already at a very early stage (see chapter on 

Development. 

In recent years, the two umbrella 

organisations have developed an excellent 

working relationship, though, and the diplomatic 

relations among them are characterised 

by a fine balance of interests. This is 

reflected in jointly organised projects such 

as the promotion of so-called Emerging 

Nations, with trophies and other well targeted 

measures designed to raise the level 

at which handball is played. Today, after 

25 years of common history, the procedures 

followed by IHF and EHF bodies 

have become standardised and run smoothly. 

Even though divergences of opinions 

may occasionally arise in technical matters, 

bilateral talks between IHF President 

Hassan Moustafa and other senior IHF 

functionaries and European leaders are 

always conducted in harmony. As already 

mentioned, this is also owed, in large part, 

to the outgoing EHF President Brihault. 

“Handball in Europe has attained a level 

that nobody would have dreamed of twenty 

years ago,” was Brihault’s analysis after 

his election. “But we must not lean back 

now; there are still big tasks ahead that we 

need to tackle.” The university professor 

and former referee declared the development 

of women’s handball as one of his 

goals. “Women’s handball is a key issue 

that we need to work on,” he said in 2012. 

“The gap between women and men has 

widened in recent years, partly due to the 

fast advancement of men’s handball, partly 

also due to events such as the VELUX 

EHF FINAL4.” By now, a number of objectives 

have been reached, such as, for exam- 

47

“Structurally, the EHF is a very 

complex body. Outsiders often 

underestimate the way we pass 

decisions. The most important thing 

is finding the right balance. That the 

EHF agreed sensible solutions with 

the clubs, the leagues and the 

national federations, was extremely 

important for the future of 

European handball” 

ple, the launch of the FINAL4 Tournament 

in the Women’s EHF Champions League. 

That Brihault had been watching the 

EHF’s development from close up and had 

contributed to it for a long time was an asset. 

As a delegate, a member of the Executive 

Committee and as Vice President he 

had witnessed from close quarters how 

the umbrella organisation evolved into a 

modern provider of services. Against this 

backdrop, many would have liked to see 

Brihault continuing for at least another 

term of office, but the motion proposing a 

higher age limit, as envisaged at the 12th 

Ordinary EHF Congress in Dublin in 2014, 

finally failed, by a very narrow margin, to 

win a two-thirds majority at the subsequent 

Congress 2015 in Bucharest. 

As a model democrat, Brihault accepted 

the decision with good humour. “I might 

become a good gardener,” he answered 

when asked about his plans for the future. 

“No, seriously: this marks the end of my career 

in handball, as I do not see any other 

position that I would aspire to. I had a great 

time in handball! When you are sad when 

something draws to an end it means that 

you enjoyed it! I therefore must be grateful.” 

Other important figures in the EHF 

also viewed this decision with concern as 

it will not only be Brihault who will leave 

his position as of the 13th Ordinary EHF 

Congress in November 2016, but also his 

deputy Arne Elovson (SWE) and Treasurer 

Ralf Dejaco (ITA), who after long and dedicated 

service to the EHF have likewise surpassed 

the 68-year age limit for top functionaries. 

In Bucharest, one of the most outstanding 

features of the EHF’s 25-year history, 

the unusual continuity in its human resources, 

was suddenly at risk. The EHF was 

faced with a scenario which the umbrella 

organisation with its currently 50 members 

(plus the two associated federations 

of England and Scotland) had not witnessed 

to date, namely that from one day 

to the next, the partners of the EHF would 

have to deal with completely new people 

at the top. This was the scenario that 

prompted EHF Secretary General Wiederer 

to announce in Bucharest that he would 

be a candidate for the office of president 

at the Anniversary Congress on 17th and 

18th November 2016. 

Wiederer is the only candidate. His election 

would preserve the continuity that 

has been a major factor contributing to the 

49

“The EHF works closely with all its 

partners, whether it is the national 

federations, leagues, clubs, players, 

media or marketing partners. The 

strong link to each and every member 

of these groups is highly important. 

Of course, there are different 

interests, differing perspectives and 

expectations, but it is a necessity to 

find a balance for the equation and 

react quickly and professionally to 

changing trends and demands” 

EHF President Tor Lian (2008) 

EHF’s development, within a quarter-century, 

from a nobody in international sports 

to a modern institution that is appreciated, 

recognised and respected as a serious and 

reliable partner by everyone. 

However, the EHF has taken on the role of 

ambassador to European handball, acting 

as a common voice for the European member 

federations and representing the entire 

European handball family on the international 

sporting stage. 

Starting with the very conception of the 

European Handball Federation, the structure 

of the EHF has changed in line with its 

dynamic business philosophy and new and 

changing trends within the spheres of 

European handball. This change has 

brought with it new initiatives and indeed 

new challenges. The EHF never loses sight 

of handball’s unique passion and speed and 

strives to use these characteristics as the 

underlining statement in the development 

of the sport. 

The EHF focuses its strengths and invests 

its resources on the development of the 

sport of handball in general with the overall 

objective to optimise product placement 

on the competitive sporting market, delivering 

the delights of handball in the form of 

high-profile branded events. 

51

STRUCTURE 

EHF 

CONGRESSES 

1991, NOVEMBER 15-17 

Foundation Congress 

(Berlin/GER) 

1992, JUNE 5-7 

1st Ordinary Congress 

(Vienna/AUT) 

1992, JULY 21 

1st Extraordinary Congress 

(Barcelona/ESP) 

1993, APRIL 30-MAY 2 

2nd Extraordinary Congress 

(Antwerpen/BEL) 

1994, MAY 27-29 

2nd Ordinary Congress 

(Antibes/FRA) 

1994, SEPTEMBER 7 

3rd Extraordinary Congress 

(Noordwijk/NED) 

1996, MARCH 22-23 

3rd Ordinary Congress 

(Athens/GRE) 

1996, JULY 14 

4th Extraordinary Congress 

(Hilton Head/USA) 

1998, APRIL 3 

4th Ordinary Congress 

(Budapest/HUN) 

1999, NOVEMBER 6 


(Vienna/AUT) 

2000, APRIL 7-8 


(Tel Aviv/ISR) 

2006, MAY 5-6 


(Vilamoura/POR) 

2007, OCTOBER 13 


(Rome/ITA) 

2008, JANUARY 26 


(Lillehammer/NOR) 

2008, SEPTEMBER 26-27 


(Vienna/AUT) 


10th Extraordinary 

Congress (Limassol/CYP) 



(Copenhagen/DEN) 

2011, MAY 29 

11th Extraordinary 

Congress (Cologne/GER) 

2012, 22-23 


(Monte Carlo/MON) 



(Dublin/IRL) 



(Bucharest/ROM) 

2016, NOVEMBER 17-18 


(Wolfgangsee/AUT) 

2002, JUNE 14-15 


(Salzburg/AUT) 



(Vienna/AUT) 

2004, MAY 7-8 


(Nicosia/CYP) 

2004, DECEMBER 18 


(Budapest/HUN) 

52

EHF 

CONFERENCE OF 

PRESIDENTS 


1st Conference of Presidents 

(Vienna/AUT) 


2nd Conference of Presidents 

(Vienna/AUT) 


3rd Conference of Presidents 

(Vienna/AUT) 

2002, JUNE 14 

4th Conference of Presidents 

(Salzburg/AUT) 



(Vienna/AUT) 



(Vienna/AUT) 



(Vienna/AUT) 



(Rome/ITA) 



(Limassol/CYP) 



(Vienna/AUT) 

2013, JUNE 2 


(Cologne/GER) 



(Bucharest/ROM) 

EHF 

CONFERENCE FOR 

SECRETARIES GENERAL 

1997, FEBRUARY 21-22 

1st EHF Conference for Secretaries General 

(Vienna/AUT) 

1999, MARCH 12-13 

2nd EHF Conference for Secretaries General 

(Vienna/AUT) 

2003, MARCH 14-15 

3rd EHF Conference for Secretaries General 

(Vienna/AUT) 

2005, NOVEMBER 02-03 

4th EHF Conference for Secretaries General 

(Vienna/AUT) 



(Vösendorf/AUT) 

2012, APRIL 19-20 


(Copenhagen/DEN) 

2014, APRIL 09-10 


(Warsaw/POL) 

2016, APRIL 12-13 


(Dubrovnik/CRO) 

2007, APRIL 16-17 


(Vienna/AUT) 

53

54

IT TOOK 

THE EHF 

EURO 

ONLY 25 

YEARS 

The launch of the Men’s EHF EURO 1994 in Portugal 

proved more challenging than the start of the first women’s 

event in Germany. After the competitions had been 

moved to winter and the number of entrants increased to 

16, both the men‘s and the women‘s events flourished. 

Today, the EHF EUROs are outstanding events with 

a fantastic reach among television audiences. 

55

56

59

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS 

“On the sport level it 

was an extremely open 

tournament. I think this 

is a very good signal 

concerning European 

handball, that we have 

this renewal of teams” 

EHF President Jean Brihault after the EHF EURO 2016 in Poland 

On the final day of the 12th 

Men’s European Championship 

in Poland, Jean 

Brihault wallowed in superlatives. 

“EHF EURO 2016 

has been the biggest and the best EHF EURO 

event to date,” the EHF President said. The 

Frenchman took pride not only in record 

spectator numbers: 400,622 viewers 

clearly beat the previous record hit in the 

EHF EURO 2014 in Denmark (316,500). 

Brihault also praised the strong commitment 

of volunteers and organisers and 

highlighted the extraordinarily broad coverage 

by the media. “The EHF EURO 2016 

was a big success for Poland, for our sport 

and handball,” said Andrzej Kraśnicki, President 

of the Polish Handball Federation. 

“We want to thank all stakeholders including 

volunteers. We have one winner and the 

winner was handball.” 

Two months later, in April 2016, the EHF 

presented facts and figures that confirmed 

its first impression. In terms of reach, the 

EHF EURO 2016 was indeed a tournament 

of records, as announced by the EHF and 

Infront Sports & Media, its exclusive media 

and marketing partner for EHF EURO 

events. A cumulative audience of more 

than 1.65 billion people followed the action 

on television with the event screened 

in 175 territories by 75 broadcast partners. 

These results make the EHF EURO 2016 

the most-watched European Championship 

ever, breaking the previous record set 

in Serbia at the Men‘s EHF EURO 2012. In 

terms of broadcast hours, the event also 

surpassed all expectations with 2,958 

hours of coverage aired, a 27 per cent increase 

on the previous high at Men‘s EHF 

EURO 2014 in Denmark. 

The success of the German team in winning 

the title for the first time since 2004 

generated huge interest across the country, 

13 million tuning in to public broadcasters 

ARD for the final against Spain, a market 

share of 42 per cent. In other nations, too, 

there was widespread interest, especially 

Poland with a cumulative TV audience 

of more than 430 million, as well as tradi- 

60

tional handball markets such as Denmark, 

where games shown on TV2 involving the 

Danish team attracted a market share of almost 

70 per cent. 

The EHF EURO was also a considerable 

success across digital and mobile channels 

with total audience reach climbing to 

over 60 million, an increase of more than 

300 per cent compared to the Men’s EHF 

EURO 2014, and the official hashtag #ehfeuro2016 

generating more than one billion 

impressions. Continued investment 

from both the EHF and Infront in the production 

of engaging content across all of 

its digital channels as well as new innovations 

including coverage on Snapchat and 

Whatsapp ensured that the event was followed 

by the largest worldwide audience 

yet. 

Online and mobile channels attracted record 

number of users, with the official website 

ehf-euro.com visited by more than one 

million people for the first time, an increase 

of 44 per cent compared to 2014, generating 

over 10.3 million page views. Video content 

also proved to be hugely popular with 

1.5 million live streams watched on ehfTV. 

com, the federation’s dedicated handball 

streaming platform, and almost 3.7 million 

minutes of content watched on the event’s 

official YouTube Channel. “It was fascinating 

to see, not only how handball fever spread 

across Europe, but also how fans engaged 

with the content provided – eager to immerse 

themselves in the tournament,” said 

Stephan Herth, Executive Director Summer 

Sports of Infront Sports & Media. 

Benefiting from the increased media 

reach were the event’s official sponsors including 

AJ (office furniture, materials handling 

and storage solutions), BAUHAUS 

(do-it-yourself store, house and garden 

specialist), engelbert strauss (workwear), 

Grundfos (leading pump manufacturer) 

and Intersport (sporting goods retailer). 

Also new to the EHF EURO events were 

Moneygram (money transfer and payment 

services) and the VELUX Group (roof windows), 

title sponsor of the VELUX EHF 

Champions League. 

The high viewership numbers and its big 

appeal to fans and sponsors impressively 

demonstrate the enormous significance 

that the EHF EURO has gained as an event 

on the calendar of European handball. This 

is true not only of the men’s tournament


62

63


but also of the women’s, the juniors’ and 

the youth tournaments. The success story 

of the EHF EURO was far from predictable 

when it was first launched after the foundation 

of the EHF. 

The idea of a continental championship 

is almost as old as handball itself. It was 

put forward for the first time in Vienna on 

29 April 1934, when an “international 

handball conference” was held on the occasion 

of an international field handball 

encounter between Austria and Hungary. 

Shortly after, at the 3rd International Handball 

Congress 1934 in Stockholm, Austria 

filed a motion proposing the organisation 

of European championships. Sports magazines 

considered it very likely that the first 

European championships might be staged 

in 1938. In 1938, the first major indoor 

tournament was played by four European 

teams, yet the International Handball 

Amateur Federation decided to organise 

“world championships”. 

The idea of a continental championship 

was frequently proposed until the EHF was 

finally founded in 1991. In 1970, the Danish 

Handball Federation (DHF) suggested 

holding regular European championships 

to be played in tournaments, by the best 

eight teams, every two years to determine 

the continental champion. This was done 

against the backdrop of the gradual decline 

of friendlies – by staging an official championship, 

the Danes wanted to boost the 

attractiveness of international matches. 

In 1980, at the 17th IHF Congress, Yugoslavia 

filed a motion proposing continental 

tournaments for men and women, but 

their initiative was again in vain. Considerations 

in 1985 regarding a “West European 

Cup” for national teams likewise 

met with little response. The next initiative 

was taken by Dansk Handball Forbund 

(DHF) in the spring of 1989 by presenting 

a draft paper on European championships 

for discussion. 

It was only at the IHF Congress 1990 in 

Madeira, though, which paved the way for 

the foundation of the EHF in 1991, that 

the idea became more tangible. Qualifications 

should no longer be controlled by 

IHF tournaments, Karl Güntzel from Switzerland 

said at the time: “They should be 

replaced, by 1994, by a European championship 

determining WCh qualifications.” 

The WCh format was too complex for the 

public, added Walter Kreienmeyer from 

the West German delegation. The resolution 

on the organisation and staging of European 

Championships was finally passed 

officially by the 1st Ordinary EHF Congress 

in Vienna on 5 June 1992. 

The draw for the 1992 Women’s and 

Men’s Youth European Championships 

scheduled for September 1992 was already 

held at that very Congress. The final 

tournament of the Women’s Youth Championship 

was played at Miskolc, Hungary 

from 1 to 6 September 1992. The first 

EHF European Champion was Norway. The 

Men’s Youth tournament took place in the 

subsequent week in Switzerland (Gossau, 

Herrliberg, Kilchberg, Will and Winterthur), 

with Portugal winning the first title. 

The venue of the first game played officially 

as part of an EHF EURO was Holon, Israel, 

where on 13 March 1992 the Turkish 

referees Korkmaz/Oytan blew the whistle 

to start the qualification match for the 1992 

Men’s Youth European Championship, Romania 

vs. Czech Republic (16-25). The responsibility 

for conducting these trailblazing 

tournaments rested with Stig Gustavsson 

from Sweden. Serving as EHF representatives 

in Hungary were Jozef Ambrus (SVK) 

and Jan Tuik (NED), in Switzerland Karl 

Güntzel (SUI) and Manfred Prause (GER). 

64

“The EHF and the IHF cannot both 

stage their major events in summer. 

The principal argument: in the run-up 

to other major events such as a soccer 

WCh or ECh, competition for attention 

is so overwhelming that the handball 

events would simply not be adequately 

perceived by the public and 

the media. We therefore decided to 

act, last but not least at the instigation 

of our key marketing partner. The 

perfect time for handball is winter” 

How rocky the road to the flagship 

event of European handball was going to 

be was realised when the first Men‘s EHF 

EURO was played in Portugal (3 to 12 June 

1994). The EHF’s hope that this tournament 

would serve as the only qualification 

for the 1995 WCh in Iceland did not materialise, 

but at least a number of additional 

European places were awarded over and 

above those that had resulted from direct 

qualification in the 1993 WCh. Supporter 

interest was also lacklustre. With swathes 

of seats often left empty, atmosphere in 

the arenas left much to be desired. At least 

the final played in Porto, in which Sweden 

started its ECh winning streak by beating 

Russia 34-21, was watched by 3,200 fans. 

Despite low spectator numbers, how-ever, 

the EHF officers’ assessment of Portugal 

1994 was nonetheless upbeat as 

marketing of the event by partner CWL 

produced respectable results: TV reach 

was more than satisfactory. “Regular 

presence on television benefits handball 

marketing,” said Karl Güntzel. The twelveteam 

playing format had proved successful: 

in sporting terms, the ECh was in any 

case more attractive than a worldwide 

tournament, as performance differences 

between the teams were minimal. At the 

subsequent Congress in Antibes, France, 

the EHF members, by a 22-8 majority, 

voted to play European Championships 

every two years in the future. “Now, with 

the Olympics, World and European Championships, 

the sponsors of handball finally 

have a highlight event every year,” EHF 

Secretary General Wiederer was pleased 

to note. 

The biggest obstacle to the continuing 

development of the event was considered 

to be the fact that the event was held in 

June. This became even more apparent 

in the second edition of the Men’s European 

Championship in Spain in 1996, 

which started only a few weeks ahead of 

the Olympic tournament in Atlanta. With 

many teams focusing on the Olympic 

Games, the athletic value of the event was 

diminished. Moreover, just one single ticket 

to the Olympics was awarded in Seville 

and Ciudad Real. 

In 1998, the EHF tackled this problem 

head-on after the International Handball 

Federation (IHF) had resolved, in Novem- 

65

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

Another typically 

European feature: 

a coach, here Icelander 

Dagur Sigurdsson, 

directing Team Austria 

against his native 

country’s national team 

in the EHF EURO 2010. 

67

68

“Now, with the 

Olympics, World 

and European 

Championships, 

the sponsors of 

handball finally 

have a highlight 

event every year” 

ber 1997, to move its World Championships 

from March to late May/June. The 

initiative to also play the Men‘s European 

Championship in January sparked some 

heated debates between EHF officers and 

leading European leagues, including the 

German Bundesliga, which even threatened 

to boycott the ECh should such a decision 

be taken. 

However, EHF Secretary General 

Wiederer stated in an interview in June 

1998, that the new date was practically 

imperative to secure the sound 

development of ECh tournaments: 

“The EHF and the IHF cannot both 

stage their major events in summer. 

The principal argument: in the run-up 

to other major events such as a soccer 

WCh or ECh, competition for attention 

is so overwhelming that the handball 

events would simply not be adequately 

perceived by the public and the media. A 

lack of response had already left the seats 

empty in the 1994 ECh in Portugal and 

in Spain in 1996, except when the home 

team made an appearance, or the finals 

were being played. We therefore decided 

to act, last but not least at the instigation 

of our key marketing partner. The perfect 

time for handball is winter.” According 

to Wiederer, “international federations 

have to think ahead further than just from 

one week to the next.” 

This was not intended as a venting of 

personal opinions but reflected the views 

of a large majority of EHF working groups 

that had discussed this issue. Overall, 

23 EHF member countries were represented 

in these groups. Most important- 

69


70

“The ECh is the top-quality event, as 

is gradually being reflected in media 

acceptance and media presence. 

More than 30 countries are reporting 

from the ECh here in Croatia – live or 

with a time lag. This is more than has 

ever been attained in any WCh. After 

all, we cannot take any decisions that 

go against the markets and hence 

against the overall interests of European 

handball. For the sport of handball, 

the two-year rhythm is a matter 

of substance, not just of finances” 

ly, a survey among TV stations had had 

a major impact, Wiederer reported. As 

a result, the EHF made concessions to 

the large leagues and umbrella organisations. 

The ECh qualification system was 

changed to reduce the number of match 

dates. When German league representatives 

still threatened to boycott the competition, 

EHF President Staffan Holmqvist 

said: “Being a democratic nation, Germany 

will surely respect a clear decision taken 

by the Congress.” And this assessment 

proved correct. 

The motion drafted by the working 

group on “European Championships 

in the Future” was presented at the 4th 

Ordinary EHF Congress in Budapest on 

3 and 4 April 1998 and finally adopted 

by a large majority. In January 2006, the 

Men’s European continental tournament 

was held in Croatia as the first one staged 

in winter. The women’s national teams 

had been playing their European Championships 

in December already since 

1996. At the same time, the number of 

EHF EURO entrants was stepped up from 

twelve to 16 teams, but only from 2002 

onwards. 

The 2nd Men’s EHF EURO in Spain 

marked another organisational milestone. 

As the Spanish organising committee 

had not opted for traditional venues 

like Barcelona and Granollers, as indicated 

in their bid, but instead chose cities 

and halls with less affinity to handball, 

spectator attendance, except at matches 

featuring the home team, was paltry. As a 

consequence, the EHF claimed the right to 

veto major changes of this kind in future 

events. 

71

“Spain has taught us to remain firmly 

in control. We have since been working 

on media concepts that involve the host 

while at the same time safeguarding European 

interests,” said Secretary General Michael 

Wiederer after the 2000 ECh in Croatia. 

Since that time, the manifold activities 

conducted in organising an ECh by the EHF 

as owner of the event, by the organising 

committee, the hosting national federations, 

media and TV partners as well as the 

sponsors have been closely coordinated. 

One concrete consequence of the unexpectedly 

low spectator figures in Spain 

in 1996 was the change of the venues 

originally planned for the 1998 ECh. The 

games were moved from Rimini and Pesaro 

to Bolzano and Merano in order to attract 

more supporters from Germany. Another 

example: inspections held prior to 

the 2000 ECh showed that Split was excessively 

prone to windy and foggy conditions, 

which prompted the EHF to decide against 

the port city on the Adriatic Sea in order 

to avoid problems with the timetable. 

The 1996 tournament in Spain was 

marked by the politically sensitive return 

of the Yugoslav team, which after the Balkan 

wars had been excluded from international 

tournaments for several years. The 

Spanish team, on the other hand, showed 

first signs of its great potential by reaching 

the final. There, however, the home team 

lost narrowly 22-23 against the strong 

Russian team. Two years later, in Italy in 

1998, the tournament was marked by a 

strong showing of the Swedes led by playmaker 

Ljubomir Vranjes. After beating title 

defender Russia in the semi-finals (27-24), 

they kept the – again strong – Spanish team 

under control and won 25-23, carrying off 

the second continental title to Scandinavia. 

When EHF officers looked back on the 

EHF’s first decade in 2001, they were able 

to note the development of the European 

Championships with pride and satisfaction. 

That moving the tournament to winter 

had been the right decision had already 

emerged at the 4th ECh in Croatia. After 

many dramatic encounters, which culmi- 

72

“Hosting an ECh 

after Sweden will 

be a challenge. 

They have set a 

standard that is 

hard to rival” 

EHF Executive Board Member 

Tor Lian after the Men’s EURO 2002 

nated in the ECh final of Zagreb, where the 

Swedes triumphed for the third time after 

beating Russia, the tournament had genuinely 

evolved into a new beacon event. 

According to EHF President Staffan 

Holmqvist, the European Championships 

were characterized by strong athletic performance, 

with entrants playing at largely 

comparable levels of performance. There 

was no two- or three-tier class system like 

in Ice hockey. “Six years ago, the handball 

market was rigidly structured, and a new 

product like the handball ECh was hard 

pressed to find its place and acceptance,” 

recalled Wiederer. 

“This has meanwhile been achieved in a 

process that has occasionally proved painful. 

The ECh is the top-quality event, as is 

gradually being reflected in media acceptance 

and media presence. More than 30 

countries are reporting from the ECh here 

in Croatia – live or with a time lag. This is 

more than has ever been attained in any 

WCh.” As a logical consequence, the twoyear 

rhythm of the tournaments was maintained. 

Wiederer: “After all, we cannot 

take any decisions that go against the markets 

and hence against the overall interests 

of European handball. For the sport of 

handball, the two-year rhythm is a matter 

of substance, not just of finances.” 

That the decision to raise the number 

of EHF EURO entrants was as good as gold 

was demonstrated in the year 2002, which 

was celebrated as a climax in tournament 

history. What happened in Sweden in January 

was a genuine handball fairy tale, with 

the number of tickets sold virtually exploding 

and crowds filling even huge arenas like 

the Stockholm Globen. A total of 276,282 

tickets were sold, more than double the 

previous record. Cumulative viewership 

rose to about 500 million. 

In this tournament of superlatives, exciting 

games were guaranteed: Croatia, 

who went on to win the WCh title one year 

later, took last place in the Sweden EURO. 

Iceland, on the other hand, delivered a 

brilliant performance, led by their famous 

left-handed player Olafur Stefansson. The 

highlight of the event was the final at the 

Globen, in which the experienced Swedish 

home team met the young German team 

in a match that went into extra time: finally, 

Sweden lived up to its reputation as an ECh 

specialist and won their fourth title. “Europe 

is strong enough to enter 16 teams,” 

EHF Secretary General Michael Wiederer 

had opined before the tournament – and 

he was proven right. 

After the Sweden tournament, EHF officer 

Tor Lian had an inkling that not all future 

tournaments would feature similar 

records. “Hosting an ECh after Sweden will 

be a challenge,” the Norwegian said. “They 

have set a standard that is hard to rival.” 

This foreboding was indeed to materialise 

with regard to a number of parameters. On 

the other hand, the establishment of a set 

routine for procedures and processes prior 

to and during the event, which had been 

rigorously promoted by the EHF, proved 

very helpful to subsequent tournament organisers. 

Accreditation systems, ticketing 

procedures, information systems deployed 

during the tournament and also the provision 

of flooring by the EHF – all this was to 

be professionalised even further, promised 

EHF Secretary General Michael Wiederer 

after the Sweden ECh. To raise these standards, 

the EHF also engaged in an exchange 

of views with representatives of UEFA, 

the Union of European Football Associations, 

whose President Lennart Johannsen 

had watched the dramatic final between 

the home team and Germany from the 

VIP stands. 

Given the infrastructure available it was 

almost to be expected that the 6th EHF 

73

74

EURO in Slovenia would not be break any records 

in terms of tickets sold. For this, the capacities 

of Hala Tivoli in Ljubljana and the other 

arenas at Koper, Celja and Velenje were just not 

big enough. But the ECh was again well organised 

and boasted a great atmosphere. Some 88 

percent of tickets were sold, and the organisation 

committee directed by Zoran Jankovic was 

showered with praise from all sides. With welltrained 

security guards at hand, the organisers 

retained tight control of the politically charged 

encounters between the nations of ex-Yugoslavia, 

which had been classified as high-risk matches. 

“The organisers have invested a lot of time 

and money,” lauded Helmut Höritsch, the EHF’s 

Senior Development Manager. 

On the other hand, the EHF had to deal with 

criticism of the playing format used in Slovenia 

as it emerged that the rule change resulting 

in the “fast middle” had made the game much 

faster and hence made even more demands on 

the players’ physical strength. In view of this development, 

the EHF had already added one additional 

rest day compared with the 2002 ECh. 

“The players are of course exposed to enormous 

levels of stresses and strains,” said Höritsch. 

“The ECh, however, is what it is: a top product.” 

In due course, the EHF reacted to the new conditions 

by significantly extending the tournament 

in order to provide more time for regeneration. 

While, initially, the tournament had been played 

over ten or eleven days, the 2016 ECh in Poland 

lasted 17 days – a concession to safeguard the 

professional players‘ physical health. 

Where media coverage was concerned, the 

2004 event in Slovenia as well as later tournaments 

continued the trend of a steadily increasing 

viewership. In 2004, the EHF EURO matches 

attracted about 709 million viewers in a total of 

190 countries. Two years later, this figure rose to 

760 million spectators. The 2010 competition 

held in Austria was the first to hit the milestone 

of a television audience of one billion. In 2012, 

in Serbia, the cumulative number of spectators 

almost reached 1.5 billion. The development 

in the social media was likewise breath-taking: 

during the EHF EURO 2010 in Austria, the 

ehf-euro.com internet platform was accessed 

by a new record of about ten million users. Almost 

one million fans watched videos on the 

EHF‘s YouTube channel. These figures reflect the 

great appeal that the EHF EURO had attained by 

that date as the “most challenging tournament in 

global handball”. At the same time, the number 

of TV stations and journalist accreditations kept 

rising. 800 journalists were accredited in Switzerland, 

in Austria even around 1200. 

75

“This was the 

biggest project 

we ever handled” 

TV2 sports director Morten 

Stig Christensen after the 

Women’s EHF EURO 2002 

Even though the EHF EUROs 2006 to 

2010 were not held in “traditional” handball 

countries, the marked upward trend in 

these measurable parameters was neither 

interrupted nor stopped. The EHF hence 

fulfilled its mandate, as the umbrella federation, 

of developing the sport in a sustainable 

manner even outside the major handball 

markets. 

The next new record in ticket sales was 

registered in Serbia in 2012, with approximately 

300,000 tickets sold. This 

figure was boosted even further in the 

EHF EURO held in Denmark. The figures 

recorded in Norway in 2008 (180,000) 

were likewise considered very strong. Basically, 

all of these parameters confirm that 

there is a trend leading towards handball 

mega-events. 

This trend is certainly also attributable 

to the entrants’ closely-matched strength. 

This was underlined in the 2016 ECh in 

Poland, when two crass outsiders – Germany 

and Norway – reached the semi-finals. 

While France, Denmark and Poland 

were the greatest disappointments of the 

tournament in terms of performance, the 

showings of teams like Sweden, Russia and 

Slovenia were not significantly inferior to 

the final medalists. The times when EHF 

EUROs were dominated initially by Swe- 

76

den and France (title winner in 2006, 2010, 

2014) and Denmark (2008, 2012) seem 

to be definitely over. The 2018 ECh in Croatia 

is expected to see more than eight hot 

medal contenders among the entrants. 

Against the backdrop of this enormous 

uptrend, the decision taken by the EHF Congress 

in Dublin in 2014 to increase the number 

of EHF EURO entrants from 16 to 24 

nations from 2020 onwards, was certainly 

appropriate. After all, beside the well-established 

handball nations there have always 

been quite a few strong handball nations 

that only just failed to qualify for participation 

in the EHF EURO, among them, for 

example, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and 

Austria, but also Switzerland and Portugal. 

For these teams, playing in the EHF EURO 

offers a big opportunity to make their sport 

more popular in their home countries longterm. 

Another compelling argument said 

that the EHF and the organising committees 

could not afford the absence of economically 

important members such as Germany, as 

had happened in the EHF EURO 2014. 

Originally, the increase in the number of 

participants had only been planned from 

2022. At the initiative of the three organisers 

of the 2020 ECh in Sweden, Norway 

and Austria, this increase took effect early 

following a unanimous vote at the 2014 

EHF Congress in Dublin. The playing format 

has already been defined: in each of 

the three countries, two preliminary round 

groups (of four teams each) will be played, 

with two teams each qualifying for the main 

rounds in Sweden and Austria. The finals 

will be staged in Sweden. While the sporting 

outcome is still highly uncertain, one thing is 

for sure: 2020 is going to mark new records 

in EHF history. 

77


The Media Call has become an 

institution in every EHF EURO. 

Before the semi-finals, the media 

get to talk to the professional 

players and coaches of the 

best teams of the tournament. 

Here, Norwegian coach 

Christian Berge is taking 

questions at Krakow. 

78

79


The Women’s European Championships 

have recently also hit record after 

record. In the wake of the Women’s EHF 

EURO 2014 in Hungary and Croatia, the 

EHF and its marketing partner Infront 

Sports & Media reported the largest 

audiences in the event’s history. The 

cumulative number of spectators 

amounted 723 million, up 90 percent 

versus the Women‘s EHF EURO 2012 and 

more than 50 percent above the previous 

all-time record registered in the Women’s 

EHF EURO 2006 in Sweden (461 million). 

In terms of broadcast hours, the results 

are equally remarkable. With 1,919 broadcast 

hours, the women’s 2014 tournament 

in Hungary and Croatia further 

confirms its upward trend through an 

impressive 65 per cent climb of 758 

hours compared to 2012. Overall, the 

tournament was aired in 145 countries, 

following agreements brokered by Infront 

with 85 broadcasters receiving an HDTV 

signal produced with up to 15 cameras 

per match. 

The strong increase was a result of the 

successful, market-by-market sales approach 

by Infront, which has seen a much 

broadened reach in South America, as 

well as intensified news coverage worldwide. 

Together with the Men’s EHF EURO, 

2014 was the strongest year in terms of 

exposure for European handball, totalling 

4,252 broadcast hours. 

Jean Brihault, EHF President, commented: 

“These extremely positive audience 

figures underline once again the huge 

worldwide following that the EHF EURO 

events enjoy, whilst at the same time 

showing us just how popular the women’s 

game is with TV audiences. The continued 

investment by the EHF and our partners 

Infront in digital media is also paying 

dividends, helping us to attract an ever-increasing 

number of new fans to our sport.” 

Overall, the digital campaign for the 

Women’s EHF EURO 2014 resulted in 

improved visitor numbers across all available 

platforms. Strong fan engagement 

80

has been fostered even further through 

the tournament’s social media outreach 

across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 

The re-launched official championship 

website at www.ehf-euro.com attracted 

more than 3.3 million page views from 

275,000 unique visitors. Particularly 

striking was the increase in the number of 

mobile users, benefitting from the website’s 

new responsive design. 

Streaming was offered through the dedicated 

ehfTV.com channel, with in excess 

of 550,000 video streams watched live 

and on-demand. In addition, handball fans 

were able to enjoy near-live clips and daily 

programme teasers together with special 

highlights on the championship’s official 

YouTube Channel, resulting in more than 

2.3 million minutes of video watched. 

The increased exposure was beneficial 

not only for the sport and its fans but also 

the eight official sponsors that Infront 

had secured for the women’s championship: 

Actavis (generic pharmaceuticals), AJ 

(office furniture), Bauhaus (workshop, 

house and garden specialist), bring (transport, 

warehousing and logistical services), 

engelbert strauss (workwear), Gjensidige 

“The players are 

of course exposed 

to enormous 

levels of stresses 

and strains. The 

ECh, however, is 

what it is: a top 

product” 

Helmut Höritsch, EHF senior manager, 

after the Men’s EHF EURO 2004 

in Slovenia 

(insurance), Grundfos (pump systems) 

and Intersport (sports goods retailer). 

These are impressive results considering 

that women’s team sports – and this 

applies not only to handball – have traditionally 

required more complex marketing 

efforts. The recognizable determination 

not to make any difference in organising, 

developing and marketing men’s and women’s 

handball was documented by EHF delegates 

as early as at the umbrella organisation’s 

founding session in 1991. And it was 

hence only logical that the history of the 

Women’s EHF EURO also commenced in 

the year of 1994. 

As a matter of fact, the 1st Women’s EHF 

EURO held in Germany (17 to 25 September 

1994) enjoyed a better start than 

the men’s. In many respects, the level of 

performance was higher than in the men’s 

first-ever event in Portugal. After the inaugural 

game, which was played by very evenly-matched 

teams and drew large crowds, 

with the Danes finally gaining the upper 

hand over the home team in the final, the 

EHF was very happy with the results. Media 

coverage was rated as “overwhelming” as 

more than 53 million viewers in 15 countries 

watched the television broadcasts and 

more than 400 print journalists reported 

on the matches from five venues. In addition, 

the first-ever tournament was also a 

big success financially, with the host receiving 

a DM 400,000 share out of the profit. 

The Women’s EHF EURO obviously also 

benefited from the tournament being 

moved to winter. In December 1996, when 

Scandinavian fans celebrated the matches 

played in Denmark, viewership rose to 

a new all-time high. That year, the home 

team defended their title in the Herning 

final against Norway 27-23 in front of 

4500 spectators. The entire event thrived 

on the fantastic atmosphere created by 

the Danish handball fans’ enthusiasm for 

women‘s handball after the Danes had taken 

Olympic gold just a few months earlier. 

Building on these achievements, women’s 

handball was at times even more popular 

in the handball heartland of Denmark than 

men’s handball. 

The euphoria and enthusiasm that had 

marked Herning was not quite matched 

81

y the Netherlands, the hosts of the 3rd 

ECh 1998. This did not come as a surprise, 

though. Compared with the first 

two tournaments, almost all media and 

economic parameters were down. Nonetheless, 

the decision to award the tournament 

to a country with little handball 

tradition was strategically well-founded. 

Umbrella organisations such as the EHF are 

always keen to develop new markets. In 

sporting terms, the Norwegians took their 

revenge in Amsterdam for their defeat in 

the 1996 final and started their own winning 

streak in the EHF EURO. 

Two years later, the Ukraine and the 

new European Champion Hungary were 

the first to break the Scandinavians’ predominance 

– this time around, in Romania, 

a country with a long-standing handball 

track record. In terms of spectator numbers, 

Romania marked new records in 

2000, including 93,450 tickets sold. The 

cumulative TV audience of 156 million 

viewers also exceeded by far the records of 

the three previous championships. 

The Women’s EHF EURO 2002 in Denmark 

finally set entirely new standards. 

This tournament, too, quickly demonstrated 

that increasing the number of entrants 

to 16 teams had been the right move. The 

entire tournament offered exciting, top 

class sport. That the entrants were well 

matched was demonstrated by the relatively 

poor results of two long-standing 

handball nations: Germany in place eleven 

and Sweden only in place 15, while Denmark 

again scored victory over Norway. 

The great popularity of Danish handball 

players was reflected in the TV ratings of 

the final in Denmark: on 15 December 

2002, more than 2.2 million Danes out of 

the country’s 5.6 million inhabitants were 

watching as the home team beat neighbouring 

Norway 25-22 in the bouncy 

atmosphere of the Arhus Arena, with 

star goalkeeper Karin Mortensen saving 

24 goals. 

The high levels of technology and staffing 

deployed by the Danish TV station 

TV2 to produce all (!) of the 48 matches 

live was extraordinary and a harbinger of 

things to come. The final was broadcast 

live to 29 countries. Overall, the ECh was 

83


84

“These extremely positive 

audience figures underline 

once again the huge worldwide 

following that the EHF EURO 

events enjoy, whilst at the same 

time showing us just how popular 

the women’s game is with 

TV audiences. The continued 

investment by the EHF and our 

partners Infront in digital media 

is also paying dividends, helping 

us to attract an ever-increasing 

number of new fans 

to our sport” 

EHF President Jean Brihault about 

the Women’s EHF EURO 2014 

85

86

“It was fascinating 

to see, not only 

how handball fever 

spread across 

Europe, but also 

how fans engaged 

with the content 

provided – 

eager to immerse 

themselves in the 

tournament” 

Stephan Herth (Infront Sports & Media) 

analysing the Men‘s EHF EURO 2016 

in Poland 

televised to more than 50 countries (in 

1994 it had only been 15). “This was the 

biggest project we ever handled,” said TV2 

sports director Morten Stig Christensen, 

currently Secretary General of the Danish 

Handball Federation. Financially, the host 

also did pretty well: Dansk Handbold Forbund 

(DHF) made a profit of more than half 

a million euro out of the EHF EURO 1996. 

Interestingly, in 2002, a debate was 

sparked in women‘s handball that in 

men‘s handball was conducted only two 

years later: a committee of athletes asked 

the EHF to ease the playing schedule of the 

Women’s EHF EURO in order to allow the 

players from the Scandinavian professional 

leagues more time for regeneration. 

Again, the EHF listened to their concerns 

and initially extended the tournament 

from ten to eleven days. From 2008 onwards, 

the Women‘s EHF EURO lasted 

13 days, since 2014 it has finally been 

15 days. 

Records were also broken in the tournaments 

that followed: in the Women’s EHF 

EURO 2004 in Hungary, the organiser sold 

more than 124,000 tickets. The event was 

covered by more than 40 TV stations. Two 

years later, in Sweden, the number of journalist 

accreditations rose above 500 for 

the first time and has since remained stable. 

The EURO 2008, in FYR Macedonia, 

was the first top event of women‘s handball 

that was covered also by the Dubai Sports 

Channel. A new record, with 220,000 

tickets sold, was set in the Women’s EHF 

EURO 2010, the first one co-hosted by two 

countries – Denmark and Norway. 

In parallel to the men’s events, the EHF 

also continuously enhanced the corporate 

identity of the Women’s EHF EURO. 

The aim was to use images of the event to 

create high recognition value. This was 

achieved, for example, by using uniform 

flooring in all EHF EUROs. When floors 

came in yellow and blue, the spectators realised 

immediately that an EHF EURO was 

being played. When the EHF logo and the 

entire corporate identity were updated, 

the floor colour scheme was adjusted as 

well. From 2016 onwards, EUROs will be 

played on light blue/dark blue flooring. 

One typical feature of the Women’s EHF 

EURO has always been the predominance 

of Scandinavian teams. Especially the 

Norwegians, under the guidance of their 

coaches, have left their mark on the 

Women’s EHF EURO over the past decade 

with their outstanding high-speed game. 

The Norwegians took victory in five of 

the most recent six tournaments. In the 

EHF EURO 2012 in Serbia, the team saw 

another triumph within easy reach but, in 

the final, lost against Montenegro in extra 

time due to a streak of bad luck. 

These results might suggest that events 

have become boring from a sporting perspective. 

Nothing could be further from 

the truth. The spate of surprises witnessed 

in the tournaments show that the teams’ 

sporting performance in the Women’s EHF 

EURO is closely matched. In 2010, the 

great handball nation Germany, regarded 

as a potential winner, was forced out as 

early as the preliminary round. In the EHF 

EURO 2006, superpower Denmark took 

the last place in its main round group. 

87

88

Moreover, there have been recognisable 

shifts in the hierarchy of European women’s 

handball. Nations like Spain, who took silver 

in the EHF EURO 2008, and France have 

gradually become stronger in the course of 

time. For many years, the Russians used to 

travel to EUROs as title hopefuls. The tale 

of the fabulous emergence of Montenegro 

as a great handball nation and their winning 

of the title in 2012 would fill several 

books. Last, but not least the Swedes, led 

by superstar Isabell Gulldén, have proven 

their increasing strength. They – alongside 

the French, the Spanish and, more recently, 

also the Netherlands players – are ready to 

play at the very top at any time. 

Of course, the history of the Women‘s 

EHF EURO has also known setbacks. The 

biggest crisis in tournament history was 

certainly the decision taken by the Nederlands 

Handball Verbond in June 2012, 

to withdraw as organiser of the Women’s 

EHF EURO. This forced the EHF to hurriedly 

call for a fresh round of bids for the tournament. 

Fortunately, the Serbian Handball 

Federation, which had just hosted the Men’s 

EHF EURO 2012 to everybody’s satisfaction, 

volunteered to fill the gap and, with 

great passion and attention to detail, organised 

a tournament that truly did honour 

to a Women’s EHF EURO. The dramatic final 

of Montenegro vs. Norway played in the 

huge Belgrade Arena was watched by some 

10,000 fans – another new record for the 

final of a Women‘s EHF EURO. 

As the withdrawal of the year 2012 

shows, the history of the Women‘s EHF 

EURO has not been without some disruption 

and turbulence. Basically, however, the 

tournament has seen a fantastic development 

since it was first staged in 1994. As 

far as organisation is concerned, the Women’s 

EHF EURO is among the best that women’s 

handball has to offer. The number of 

tickets sold has risen steadily in the course 

of time while viewership and reach have 

increased by leaps and bounds in recent 

years. And also in terms of athletic 

performance, the EHF EURO – just like the 

89


90

The first impression is 

important: over the years, 

the EHF has been 

consistently developing 

the EHF EURO’S corporate 

identity. A new feature 

in the EHF EURO 2016 

in Poland was the new 

flooring in two different 

shades of blue. 

91


This is also part of the EHF EURO: 

meeting new cultures. 

At the EHF EURO 2008 in Norway, 

EHF members enjoy a joke at 

Stavanger’s Petroleum Museum. 

92

men’s – has earned its reputation of being 

the most challenging tournament in the 

world of handball. 

The future of this outstanding event has 

already begun, with the 12th Women’s 

EHF EURO due to start very soon: From 

4 to 18 December, Svenska Handbollförbundet 

will be playing host to the best 

women’s teams of Europe due to compete 

in Stockholm, Kristianstad, Malmö, Helsingborg 

and Gothenburg. Judging by the 

performance that was on display in Sweden 

in 2006, the upcoming event is likely 

to break new records – particularly as the 

home team led by Isabell Gulldén, this 

year’s Champions League winner, will be 

among the favourites and eager to end the 

predominance of their Norwegian neighbours. 

In December 2018, the Fédération 

Française de Handball (FFHB) will welcome 

the best national teams taking 

part in a Women’s EHF EURO. Two years 

later, Denmark and Norway will again 

be hosting a mega-event. With hosts like 

these, one does not have to be a prophet 

to forecast a bright future for this 

tournament. 

93

94

WHERE 

THE 

FUTURE 

PLAYS 

OUT 

Big stars like Nora Mørk, Christina Neagu, Domagoj Duvnjak, 

Nikola Karabatic and Niklas Landin Jacobsen gained their first 

international experiences in EHF tournaments for younger age 

categories. These events have also offered delegates and 

referees the opportunity to hone their skills for higher-level 

assignments yet to come and have hence served as 

schools for (handball) life. 

95

99

YOUTH EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS 

“On the way to the top, 

the youth and junior 

championships were 

crucial to my development 

even if it was not 

always easy, eventually 

I was playing in the junior 

team parallel to being 

in the senior team” 

Domagoj Duvnjak 

100

Anybody who wanted to 

gaze into the crystal ball 

of women’s handball was 

well placed if they were 

present at Rotterdam’s 

Topsportcentrum on 14 August 2011. 

In the middle of the Dutch summer, 

before the start of the actual season, teenagers 

were playing here for the crown 

of European handball, in the final of the 

Women’s 19 European Championship. Pitted 

against each other were Denmark, the 

country with the great handball tradition 

and a virtually inexhaustible pool of talents, 

and crass outsider Netherlands, where 

the sport of handball had time and again 

been confined to a marginal existence. 

On that day, however, this clash of cultures 

was all but invisible. Supported by 

2,100 fanatic spectators, the Dutch hosts 

gave the Scandinavians a really hard time. 

Goalkeeper Tess Wester saved three of 

the favourites’ penalty throws and quite 

generally did a a great Job saving the ball 

the ball (and was celebrated as her team’s 

best player). The tournament’s top scorer, 

Lois Abbingh, scored nine goals. Angela 

Malestein as right wing and playmaker Estevana 

Polman even exhibited such a strong 

performance that they were even voted 

into the tournament’s All-star team. 

In the end, after a tough fight, the Netherlands 

were honourably defeated 27-29, 

but had gained some invaluable experiences 

in a match played at the highest level. 

They felt how close they had come to the 

big handball national Denmark. While they 

lost a final, they won great motivation for 

the future. 

Some four years later, the core of this 

team had a fantastic run that took it to the 

next final – the final of the Handball World 

Championship 2015 in Denmark. They 

lost again, though, this time against Norway. 

But the Netherlands had made it to the 

global top, and for good, as shortly thereafter 

the team also qualified, for the first 

time, for the Olympic handball tournament 

in Rio de Janeiro. And who knows, perhaps 

both these finals were only just a harbinger 

of the rise of Dutch handball at large. 

These Dutch teenagers, who used a youth 

tournament as a catapult lifting them to the 

top of world handball, are just one eminent 

example in the history of younger age category 

tournaments held under EHF auspices. 

For many of the stars, these tournaments 

were the first time they were exposed to 

an international atmosphere and got a 

sense of what it was like to compete with 

other excellent players of their generation.

as ist eine zweizeilieg Bildunterschirft, 

ür dieses Bild. 

102

Any other examples? – 2006 saw the start 

of the stellar career of Domagoj Duvnjak 

in Estonia, when he led his Croatian team 

to victory in the EHF Men‘s 18 European 

Championship and was voted Most Valuable 

Player (MVP). “To be voted the Most 

Valuable Player at the Men’s 18 European 

Championship was for me the sign that I 

had a certain talent. From out of the youth 

national team: many of the players have 

transitioned well into the senior men’s 

team“, said Duvnjak. “You have to take it 

one step at a time. On the way to the top, 

the youth and junior championships were 

crucial to my development even if it was 

not always easy, eventually I was playing 

junior team parallel to being in the senior 

team.” 

And then there was Christina Neagu. The 

Romanian back took part in the Women’s 

17 European Championship 2005 and 

the Women’s 19 European Championship 

2007, where as Top Scorer and All Star 

she already signalled her enormous potential. 

“In Romania there is a tradition of 

good coaching for the younger generation 

of players, but it is only through the international 

tournaments such as the YAC European 

Championships that you see where 

you stand in comparison and where you 

need to improve. Moreover, these competitions 

are the way to the adult competitions 

and that is a great motivation,” said 

Neagu. Both Duvnjak and Neagu quickly 

became mainstays of their national teams 

and won the highest honours: both have 

won the title of World Handball Player of 

the Year. 

And it is this learning and this experience 

that the EHF seeks to promote. “These European 

Championships for Younger Age 

Categories serve a very important purpose 

for the up and coming generations,” said 

EHF Secretary General Michael Wiederer. 

“The EHF regards this as one of its core missions. 

With the tournaments, we have created 

a rhythm that allows a young player 

to play close to 100 international matches 

before moving on to the senior men’s or 

women’s competitions. For young players, 

these tournaments and events thus already 

become a way of life.” 

It was therefore no coincidence that the 

history of the EHF started, in a way, with the 

Youth European Championships. The first 

qualifications for this event had already 

been played in the spring of 1992 even 

before any decision had yet been taken 

on where the EHF office would finally be 

located. On 1 September 1992, only four 

weeks after the inauguration of the Office 

in Vienna, the Women’s Youth European 

Championship was started in Miskolc, Hungary 

– “without any structures in place yet,” 

as Wiederer recalls. 

The beginning of this history was in any 

case marked by much acclaim and interesting 

trends. The finals in Miskolc were 

watched by some 3,000 fans and two 

matches featuring the Hungarian hosts were 

even televised live. And when the young 

Norwegians won the first final in EHF history 

against Denmark 17-14, the competitors 

were amazed by the winners’ professional 

attitude. Even back then, the young Norwegian 

players were training together once 

a week, which enabled them to attain the 

level of performance of a Bundesliga team, 

as the German coach Renate Schubert observed. 

It was hence already at this inaugural 

tournament that the first signs of the Scandinavians’ 

future predominance began to 

show. 

The large degree of improvisation that 

was necessary at this pioneering stage was 

highlighted in the Men’s Youth European 

Championship, which started at Winterthur, 

Switzerland and its environs on 7 September 

1992, just one day after the Miskolc 

final. At that time, everything had been organised 

in great haste, with teams accommodated 

in Swiss civil protection shelters, 

in spartan twelve-bed rooms. When the 

Portuguese delegation lodged a sharp protest, 

arrangements were changed at short 

notice. While two teams spent the night in 

the assembly halls of two schools, the Portuguese 

moved to a hotel paid for by the 

Portuguese federation. 

This was not the reason, though, why the 

players from south-western Europe were 

the surprise winners of the tournament, having 

defeated Norway (28-27) in the semifinal 

and Russia (30-24) in the final, in extra 

time. The true foundation of their triumph 

had again been the very long and painstaking 

preparation of the team, who spent 

58 days practising (the other teams had 

dedicated significantly less time to training). 

This very first tournament already featured 

103

“In Romania there 

is a tradition of 

good coaching 

for the younger 

generation of 

players, but it is 

only through the 

international tournaments 

such as 

the YAC European 

Championships 

that you see where 

you stand in comparison 

and where 

you need to improve. 

Moreover, 

these competitions 

are the way to the 

adult competitions 

and that is a great 

motivation” 

Christina Neagu 

105

YOUTH EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

“These European Championships for 

Younger Age Categories serve a very 

important purpose for the up and 

coming generations. The EHF regards 

this as one of its core missions. With 

the tournaments, we have created 

a rhythm that allows a young player 

to play close to 100 international 

matches before moving on to the 

senior men’s or women’s competitions. 

For young players, these 

tournaments and events thus already 

become a way of life” 

EHF Secretary General Michael Wiederer (2016) 

players that later were to rise to celebrity 

status in their sport. One of them was the 

young German goalkeeper, the first goalkeeper 

to be named World Player of the 

Year in 2004: Henning Fritz. 

That these youth tournaments served as 

handball’s school of life not only for players, 

but also for referees and functionaries, 

is clearly illustrated by 1992 appointments. 

Serving as EHF representatives in 

Hungary were Jozef Ambrus (SVK) and Jan 

Tuik (NED), in Switzerland Karl Güntzel 

(SUI) and Manfred Prause (GER) – four people 

that were to mark the initial years of the 

development of the EHF organisation. The 

qualification for the Men’s Youth European 

Championship saw the German referee 

pairing Bülow/Lübker, who went on to officiate 

in the WCh finals in Cairo in 1999. 

The final round in Winterthur was conducted 

by the Swedish referees Hansson/Olsson, 

who twelve years later were to meet 

goalkeeper Henning Fritz in the Olympic 

final of Athens. 

The EHF‘s YAC tournaments were supplemented 

in 1994 by the first-time staging 

of the Women’s and Men’s Junior European 

Championships, which have since been 

played every two years, and Youth European 

Championships staged in odd years 

since1997. In the years 2004 and 2005, 

respectively, the tournaments were renamed. 

Since 2004, the Men’s 18 and 

20 European Championships (men aged 

up to 18 and 20, respectively) have been 

played in even years and, since 2005, the 

Women’s 17 and 19 European Championships 

(women aged up to 17 and 

107

19, respectively) in odd years – always 

in addition to the International Handball 

Federation’s (IHF) Youth and Junior 

World Championships. 

There has been not change to the fact 

that these YAC tournaments basically offer 

a glimpse of the future of handball. This aspect 

alone would fill volumes. The Russian 

left wing Emilia Turey, for example, provided 

a sample of her great potential in 2002, 

when she was elected as a member of the 

all-star team in the Junior European Championship. 

The same year, the Men’s Junior 

European Championship All-star team included 

back Karol Bielecki (POL), goalkeeper 

Boris Ristovski (MD) and the Slovene 

players David Spiler and Matjaz Brumen, all 

of whom continued to be key handball figures 

in their respective countries for many 

years to come. 

In the Women’s 19 European Championship, 

left back Karolina Kudlacz from Poland 

was the pre-eminent player. One year 

on, in the Women’s17 European Championship 

2005, Allison Pineau from France 

excelled as playmaker. Another year on, 

the Men’s 20 European Championship in 

Innsbruck showcased an exceptional vintage 

of players: MVP Zarko Sesum (SRB) 

was fast-tracked into professional handball 

along with All Stars Mikkel Hansen, Henrik 

Toft Hansen (both DEN), Martin Strobel, 

Uwe Gensheimer (both GER), Ivan Cupic 

from Croatia and the Swedish goalkeeper 

Johan Sjöstrand. 

In 2007, the Women’s 17 European 

Championship whisked Norwegian right 

back Nora Mørk right onto the stage of 

world handball followed, one year later, in 

the U18 tournament in Brno, by the German 

right back Steffen Fäth and, in the U20 

tournament in Romania, the Danish keeper 

Niklas Landin Jacobsen. In the Men’s 20 

European Championship 2012, finally, the 

Spanish right back Alex Dujshebaev and left 

back Stipe Mandalinic (CRO) moved into 

the limelight. 

Among more recent prominent examples 

have been the three German Junior 

European Champions 2014, Simon Ernst, 

Jannik Kohlbacher and Fabian Wiede, who 

only two years later won the Men’s 12th 

EHF EURO in Poland. In the same year, the 

most outstanding high-potential of Austrian 

handball, Nikola Bilyk, was voted MVP at 

the Men‘s 18 European Championship. 

A glance at the All Star nominations of 

recent events shows that these provided 

reason for joy mostly for Russian and 

French fans, but also for supporters of Portugal 

and Denmark. The French, for example, 

may regard the All Star nominations 

of Ludovic Fabregas and Melvin Richardson 

(son of Jackson) in the Men’s 18 European 

Championship 2014 as a promise of a 

bright future. Among the female talent, the 

Russians Elizaveta Malashenko (MVP W17 

European Championship 2013) and Anna 

Vyakhireva (MVP W19 European Championship 

2013) caught the public’s eye along 

with Portuguese player Monica Sores, the 

top scorer of the Women’s 19 European 

Championship 2013. 

It would only be logical to expect that 

these players, who took their first steps on 

the big international stage in EHF YAC tournaments, 

will evolve into eminent handball 

personalities at the senior level in the 

near future. And, who knows, there may be 

another future world-class player among 

them... 

109

EHF 

EUROPEAN 

CHAMPIONSHIPS 

1992 TO 2016 

111

112

113

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS 1992 TO 2016 

MEN’S EUROPEAN 

HANDBALL CHAMPIONSHIP 

YEAR VENUE WINNER 

2016 Poland Germany 

2014 Denmark France 

2012 Serbia Denmark 

2010 Austria France 

2008 Norway Denmark 

2006 Switzerland France 

2004 Slovenia Germany 

2002 Sweden Sweden 

2000 Croatia Sweden 

1998 Italy Sweden 

1996 Spain Russia 

1994 Portugal Sweden 

WOMEN’S EUROPEAN HANDBALL 

CHAMPIONSHIP 


2016 Sweden 

2014 Hungary/Croatia Norway 

2012 Serbia Montenegro 

2010 Denmark/Norway Norway 

2008 FYR Macedonia Norway 

2006 Sweden Norway 

2004 Hungary Norway 

2002 Denmark Denmark 

2000 Romania Hungary 

1998 Netherlands Norway 

1996 Denmark Denmark 

1994 Germany Denmark 

MEN’S 20 EUROPEAN 


*Men’s Junior European Championship 1996 - 2002 


2016 Denmark Spain 

2014 Austria Germany 

2012 Serbia Spain 

2010 Slovakia Denmark 

2008 Romania Denmark 


2004 Latvia Germany 

2002 Poland Poland 

2000 Greece Yugoslavia 

1998 Austria Denmark 

1996 Romania Denmark 

MEN’S 18 EHF EURO 

**Men’s 18 European Handball Championship 

*Men’s Youth European Championship 1992 - 2003 


2016 Croatia France 

2014 Poland France 


2010 Austria Croatia 

2008 Czech Republic Germany 

2006 Estonia Croatia 

2004 Serbia & Serbia & 

Montenegro 

Montengro 

2003 Slovakia Iceland 

2001 Luxembourg Russia 

1999 Portugal Hungary 

1997 Estonia Sweden 

1994 Israel Spain 

1992 Switzerland Portugal 

MEN’S 18 EUROPEAN 

HANDBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS 


2016 BUL/GEO/LIT Hungary 

WOMEN’S 19 EUROPEAN 


*Women’s Junior European Championship 1996 – 2002 


2015 Spain Denmark 

2013 Denmark Russia 

2011 Netherlands Denmark 


2007 Turkey Denmark 

2004 Czech Republic Russia 

2002 Finland Russia 

2000 France Romania 

1998 Slovakia Romania 

1996 Poland Denmark 

WOMEN’S 17 EUROPEAN 


*Women’s Youth European Championship 1992 – 2003 


2015 FYR Macedonia Denmark 

2013 Poland Sweden 

2011 Czech Republic Russia 

2009 Serbia Denmark 

2007 Slovakia France 

2005 Austria Denmark 

2003 Russia Russia 

2001 Turkey Russia 

1999 Germany Romania 

1997 Austria Spain 

1994 Lithuania Ukraine 


114

IHF/EHF MEN’S CHALLENGE TROPHY 

* Men’s Challenge Trophy 1999 - 2007 


2011 Malta/Ireland Moldova 

2009 Malta/Moldova Finland 

2007 Luxembourg/Georgia Georgia 

2005 Ireland Moldova 

2003 Malta Moldova 

2001 Latvia Latvia 

1999 Cyprus Cyprus 

IHF/EHF WOMEN’S CHALLENGE TROPHY 

* Women’s Challenge Trophy 2000 - 2007 


2016 Georgia Faroe Islands 

2014 Greece Bulgaria 

2012 Bulgaria Bulgaria 

2010 Israel / Estonia Finland 

2008 Cyprus Finland 

2006 Bosnia Bosnia 

Herzegovina Herzegovina 

2004 Italy Italy 

2002 Azerbaijan Azerbaijan 

2000 Belgium Bosnia Herzegovina 

MEN’S BEACH EHF EURO 

*Men’s European Beach Handball Championships 


2015 Spain Croatia 

2013 Denmark Croatia 

2011 Croatia Croatia 

2009 Norway Croatia 

2007 Italy Russia 

2006 Germany Spain 


2002 Spain Spain 

2000 Italy Belarus 

WOMEN’S BEACH EHF EURO 

*Women’s European Beach Handball Championships 


2015 Spain Hungary 

2013 Denmark Hungary 


2009 Norway Italy 

2007 Italy Croatia 

2006 Germany Germany 



2000 Italy Ukraine 

MEN’S 19 BEACH HANDBALL 






WOMEN’S 19 BEACH HANDBALL 





2011 Croatia Hungary 





2012 Georgia Russia 

2008 Hungary Hungary 





2012 Georgia Hungary 

2008 Hungary Hungary 

1994 Germany Denmark 




2016 Portugal Spain 




2016 Portugal Netherlands 

115

117

118

THE CLUB 

COMPETITIONS 

THE META- 

MORPHOSIS 

FROM UGLY 

DUCKLING TO 

FLAGSHIP 

EVENT 

When, in the summer of 1993, the EHF took over the task of organising 

the club competitions, things looked pretty dismal: marketing was 

virtually non-existent, the sports-political situation was sensitive. 

The beginnings were hence complex, but a number of cautious reforms 

have since turned the Champions League and the EHF Cup into 

premium products of club handball. Today, the VELUX EHF FINAL4 is 

the event pulling the largest crowds in European handball. 

119

CLUB COMPETITIONS 

“The thrill got bigger 

and bigger. Every year 

the VELUX EHF FINAL4 

becomes a melting pot 

for the world of handball 

and LANXESS arena welcomes 

the ‘who‘s who’ 

of the sport” 

Jean Brihault at the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in Cologne (2016) 

124

When, at the VELUX EHF 

FINAL4 2016, the last 

ball had landed in the 

net, Julen Aguinagalde, 

who had scored 

the goal, dived right into the goal and 

grabbed the ball. The Spanish pivot from 

KS Vive Tauron Kielce obviously wanted to 

get hold of an item to keep as a souvenir. 

He was fully aware that this was a historical 

moment. And indeed, the way the VELUX 

EHF Champions League 2016 final unfolded 

at Cologne’s LANXESS arena seemed 

so removed from real life that without 

such a piece of evidence handball historians 

might one day come to the conclusion 

it never really happened. 

It was a tournament that all handball 

fans will remember for a long time to 

come. On the very first day of the VELUX 

EHF FINAL4, in the first semi-final match 

Kielce vs. Paris St. Germain, the winner 

was determined only in the last few seconds 

of the game. The second match 

even went into extra time, with MVM 

Veszprém finally gaining the upper hand 

over THW Kiel. The match for the third 

place played on the finals day likewise had 

20,000 fans holding their breaths. And 

then there was this final match, which 

left fans simply flabbergasted as they 

watched Kielce annihilating Veszprém’s 

nine-goal lead, then the lead changing 

repeatedly in extra time, and the winner 

of the world’s most important club 

event being finally determined by sevenmetre 

throws. 

This was fantastic handball – not only because 

it was played at the highest level of 

performance, but because it also revealed 

the mental obstacles that had to be overcome 

and showed the efforts involved 

in scoring such a victory, all within a very 

narrow time span. “The thrill got bigger 

and bigger,” as EHF President Jean Brihault 

finally summed it up. Simply unique, however, 

was the atmosphere among the spectators, 

who had turned the tournament 

into a place where all of European handball 

wanted to be. Brihault: “Every year the VE- 

LUX EHF FINAL4 becomes a melting pot 

for the world of handball and LANXESS 

arena welcomes the ‘who’s who’ of the 

sport.” 

The event has evolved into a work of 

art composed of many facets. The VELUX 

EHF FINAL4 has grown into one of the top 

events on the European sports calendar. 

“The fan groups do not need to be separated 

by police or security – they celebrate 

a big party together, so everybody contributes 

to this event,” said Brihault. EHF Secretary 

General Michael Wiederer shares 

125

In pure sporting terms, the EHF Champions 

League was dominated by two great teams 

throughout the 1990s. In the women’s 

competitions, it was the multiple Austrian 

champion HYPO Niederösterreich, personified 

by its manager and coach Gunnar 

126

Prokop. Between 1989 and 2000, HYPO 

was eight-time winner of the world’s most 

prestigious club title, including four times 

the EHF Champions League title. This 

made HYPO the most successful women’s 

team in handball history. 

127


Brihault’s general impressions of the 

event: “Every time I land in Cologne prior 

to the start of the tournament, the tension 

is still rising. There is no VELUX EHF FI- 

NAL4 routine, but annual challenges. But 

it makes things easier when you have the 

same partners every year, so you have mutual 

control of the event.” 

International handball celebrities have 

abundantly praised the event. “It is always 

great to be back in Cologne. The atmosphere 

is simply brilliant; the fans go off like 

fireworks in the stands. This is handball at 

its best,” said Swedish handball star Stefan 

Lövgren, who had previously served 

as an ambassador of the event. Francois 

Xavier Houlet, a former French international 

and EHF Cup winner with Gummersbach, 

works together with Daniel Saric 

and praises the VELUX EHF FINAL4: “This 

is the temple of handball.” Other famed 

former pros, among them Marcin Lijewski, 

Iker Romero and VELUX testimonial 

Lars Christiansen, also gave the event full 

marks. “This atmosphere is great, amazing,” 

said Germany’s EHF EURO 2016 hero 

Andreas Wolff. 

Only three weeks earlier, European 

women’s handball had likewise celebrated 

a top-level club event. In the Women’s 

EHF FINAL4 played in Budapest’s sold-out 

Papp Laszlo arena, 12,000 fans had been 

treated to thrilling, top-class handball. 

There, too, the winner of the Women‘s 

EHF Champions League was determined 

only by seven-metre throws. The title 

finally went to the Romanian champion 

CSM Bucuresti, who beat Györi Audi ETO 

KC 29-26. Celebrated players were CSM 

goalkeeper Jelena Grubic, who was voted 

MVP of the tournament, and the Swedish 

goal-getter Isabell Gulldén. 

For EHF Secretary General Michael 

Wiederer, the combination of tournament, 

organisation and venue is already a 

story of success. “Three years ago we were 

asked by the top clubs of European women’s 

handball to create an event like we did 

with the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in Cologne,” 

he recalled in Budapest. And the EHF went 

the same way with the pinnacle event of 

women’s club handball as they did with the 

male counterparts. “We had a premiere in 

Budapest and then extended the contract 

for two more years. Currently we are in the 

state of negotiations with the Hungarian 

Handball Federation as the organiser of 

the event. They would like to have a longterm 

contract,” said Wiederer. 

Anyone who looks today at the gigantic 

scope of these final tournaments, at 

the many shows and entertainment of- 

128

fers around the playing court, at the large 

crowds in the stands and at the dedication 

and enthusiasm with which the athletes 

work throughout the season to get to the 

place of their desires, can hardly image 

how modest and complex the beginnings 

of the European Cup were; how hard and 

rocky the road was that led to this pinnacle 

event and that started with the first official 

game in Skopje on 25 August 1993, 

at 8.15 p.m., under the auspices of a still 

young European Handball Federation. In 

the elimination round of the Women’s 

Champions Cup, the first whistle was 

blown by the referee almost “in private“. 

The match was played by the Macedonian 

club RK Djorce Petrov Skopje versus the 

Bulgarian club Lokosport Plovdiv (34-17). 

The referees Klucso/Lekrinszki were from 

Hungary. 

That this dynamic development has 

been anything but unremarkable is underlined 

by the history of club competitions 

in the era before the EHF’s foundation in 

1991. The idea of staging such a tournament 

had already been voiced in 1937, 

when handball magazines in Austria and 

Germany called for a “Mitropa Cup for 

handball” modelled on the then popular 

precursor of the football European Cup. 

“What about a Central European cup 

for club teams?” – This was the question 

raised by Deutsche Handball-Zeitung 

when asked what their wishes were for the 

year of 1952. 

When UEFA, the Union of European 

Football Associations, launched their 

European Cup in 1955, handball soon 

followed suit – both competitions were 

the result of an initiative started by the 

French sports magazine L’Equipe. The European 

Cup of National Champions, as it 

was called then, was indeed quite popular 

at a number of venues. It was obvious, 

however, that the International Handball 

Federation (IHF) had problems with the 

long-term marketing of the competition 

to potential sponsors or TV partners and 

with raising its popularity continuously in 

countries outside Germany. “One should 

not overestimate the volume of revenues 

that can be generated by European Cup 

games,” said IHF Director Friedhelm Peppmeier 

in 1983. “If you don’t have German 

contenders in the finals, revenues will 

go down to zero due to a lack of interest in 

other countries.” 

After the EHF had been founded in November 

1991, it soon became clear that 

the European Cup would also be organised 

under the auspices of the new umbrella 

organisation. The global IHF had lost any 

interest in club competitions, as IHF Manag- 

129


130

“Every time I land in 

Cologne prior to the start 

of the tournament, the 

tension is still rising. There is 

no VELUX EHF FINAL4 

routine, but annual 

challenges. But it makes 

things easier when you have 

the same partners every 

year, so you have mutual 

control of the event“ 

Michael Wiederer at the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in Cologne (2016) 

131


“One should 

not overestimate 

the volume of 

revenues that can 

be generated 

by European Cup 

games. If you 

don’t have German 

contenders 

in the finals, 

revenues will go 

down to zero due 

to a lack of 

interest in other 

countries” 

IHF Managing Director 

Friedhelm Peppmeier (1983) in Poland 

ing Director Frank Birkefeld announced in 

Vienna in November 1992: “I am glad we 

are rid of them”. IHF Secretary General Raymond 

Hahn likewise made it known that 

the European Cup had only created problems 

and headaches for the worldwide 

federation. The EHF finally agreed with the 

International Handball Federation that it 

would take charge of club competitions 

only from the 1993-94 season onwards, 

as it had started operating as a federation 

only as of 1 August 1992. 

Even before the first draw was held in Vienna, 

the EHF administration had already 

decided to make some major changes to 

the old IHF playing format. The system 

under which preliminary qualifications 

were only held on a regional basis was 

terminated. Responsibility for the new 

seeding system was entrusted to the Swiss 

Markus Glaser. He had been recruited by 

EHF Secretary General Wiederer from 

March 1993 as he had already gathered 

valuable experience in organising the 

European Cup for the global federation. 

How Glaser went about developing this 

ew seeding system is one of the great legends 

of early EHF history as he “built” the 

format while on his way to holiday in the 

United States. Sitting on the airplane he 

worked out the key factors and details 

of the seeding list and, upon arrival, sent 

them by fax to the EHF Office in Vienna. 

While the way in which this “first-ever 

ranking” was calculated has meanwhile 

been modified a couple of times, 

“the format has basically survived to this 

very day,” according to Glaser. 

In the initial years, when the European 

Cup was organised by the EHF, the biggest 

challenges were attributable to the Balkan 

wars. “At that time, many matches in Croatia 

had to be moved to different venues as 

the situation was simply too dangerous,” 

Glaser said. “The EHF simply could not 

132

Before the EHF staged the first draw for 

European Cup matches on 10 August 

1993, the EHF Congress 1993 held in 

Antwerp had taken the first fundamental 

decisions regulating club competitions. 

The IHF Cup played since 1981 was renamed 

EHF Cup from the 1993-94 season 

onwards. In order to resolve potential calendar 

problems, the EHF created the “City 

Cup” (for teams placed third in national 

leagues) as a fourth club competition beside 

the Cupwinners’ European Cup and 

the competition of national champions – 

previously, many major leagues, among 

them most prominently Germany’s Bundesliga, 

had asked for additional places 

in the European Cup. The European Cup 

of National Champions was likewise restructured 

and renamed: starting from 

the group phase of the year 1993-94, 

the competition, played by a total of eight 

teams in two groups of four, was henceforth 

called the “Champions League”. 

risk exposing spectators and players to 

bombing or shelling.” It took many years 

for the conflicts in the territory of former 

Yugoslavia to be finally resolved politically 

and peace to be restored in a way that 

made it possible to come to sensible arrangements 

also where sports were concerned. 

Unrestricted drawing had always 

been one of the key elements of EHF competitions, 

but resulted in numerous “problem 

matches”, some of which had to be 

played on neutral ground. 

The legacy that the EHF had accepted 

by taking over the European Cup competitions 

from the International Handball 

Federation was also challenging and complex 

in many respects. Up until that date, 

marketing activities had hardly been undertaken. 

The EHF also had to start from 

scratch again organisationally, as the political 

and geographical changes in the East 

of Europe had resulted in a new political 

landscape. And then there were the warlike 

events in the Balkans. The European 

Cup had been smashed to pieces, not 

only metaphorically speaking. It is also 

all the more remarkable that the club 

competition have evolved into beacon 

events such as the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in 

Cologne and the Women’s EHF FINAL4 in 

Budapest. 

Naturally, with the creation of their 

Champions League, the EHF did model 

some elements from big brother football, 

but in one specific point, the handballers 

were way ahead of the footballers: from the 

very beginning, there was an equal Women’s 

Champions League. The first playing 

system, which has until today been constantly 

updated and necessarily modified, 

saw 32 national champions play in two KO 

rounds, before eight teams would move on 

to the Group Phase playing a round-robin 

system against each other in both men’s 

and women’s competitions. Previously, 

there were only knock-out rounds. The 

winner of the Group Phase then made it 

to the final. In the men’s competition, the 

first finalists were Teka Santander (Spain) 

and ABC Braga (Portugal). In the women’s 

competition, it was a repeat of the National 

Champions finals with HYPO Niederösterreich 

playing against Vasas Budapest. 

In the first year in particular, the EHF, of 

course, had to overcome major start-up 

problems. As the administrative system 

was not up and running yet, the Federation 

refrained from sending delegates in 

the inaugural season. Moreover, the Office 

in Vienna was facing substantial technical 

problems in issuing players’ passports as 

there were quite a few cases in which the 

nationalities of the successor states of the 

133


“It is always 

great to be back 

in Cologne. 

The atmosphere 

is simply brilliant; 

the fans go off 

like fireworks in 

the stands. This is 

handball at 

its best” 

Stefan Lövgren at the VELUX EHF 

FINAL4 in Cologne (2016) 

former Yugoslavia were hard to define. But 

a start had been made. 

The first playing system survived the first 

three seasons up to and including 1995- 

96, in both the men’s and the women’s 

competitions. Yet even at this early stage, 

the huge sporting and economic potential 

of the Men’s Champions League already 

started to emerge. The Croatian champion 

Badel Zagreb, for example, played 

all group matches and even the home 

match of the 1995 Champions League 

final against winner Bidasoa Irun in soldout 

arenas, attracting crowds of 12,000 

spectators. For German champion THW 

Kiel, the Champions League was likewise 

good business, said jubilant manager Uwe 

Schwenker. Schwenker happily raked in 

some 600,000 Deutschmark in revenues 

for the club, as the three home matches 

against Irun, OM Vitrolles and Dukla 

Prague were nearly sold out. 

Due to smaller arena capacities and the 

lesser appeal of women’s handball in the 

relevant markets, revenues from ticket 

sales did not reach similar levels in the 

134

135


“The Champions League brings the 

elite clubs of our continent together 

and the other European Cup 

competitions also guarantee top 

European events. However, as the 

conditions for club matches differ 

tremendously from country to 

country, it is extremely difficult to 

find a competition system that suits 

the needs and capacity of everybody” 

EHF President Staffan Holmqvist (2002) 

Women‘s Champions League, as had in fact 

been expected. Indications of the big potential 

yet to be tapped, though, were visible 

in the finals of the Women’s EHF Cup 

1994, when the Danish club Viborg HK attracted 

more than 5,000 supporters in the 

first leg of the final against the Hungarian 

players of DVSC Debrecen. 

In pure sporting terms, the EHF Champions 

League was dominated by two great 

teams throughout the 1990s. In the women’s 

competitions, it was the multiple Austrian 

champion HYPO Niederösterreich, 

personified by its manager and coach Gunnar 

Prokop. Between 1989 and 2000, 

HYPO was eight-time winner of the world’s 

most prestigious club title, including four 

times the EHF Champions League title. This 

made HYPO the most successful women’s 

team in handball history. 

Prokop’s counterpart in men’s club handball 

was the Spanish star coach Valero Rivera, 

who at FC Barcelona had first started 

and then dominated a great era. The glorious 

Catalans continued the Spaniards’ winning 

streak in 1996 and, up to 2000, took 

the title five times running. The high social 

esteem that handball players enjoyed at 

the time was highlighted by the attendance 

of King Juan Carlos of Spain at the second 

leg of the final versus Zagreb at Palau Blaugrana 

in 1999. That year, Inaki Urdangarin, 

the King’s future son in law, was among the 

key protagonists of the team along with 

left wing Xavier O’Callaghan, pivot Andrei 

Xepkin and goalkeeper David Barrufet. 

FC Barcelona was still the dominant 

team when the EHF Champions League 

playing system was first reformed for both 

the women‘s and the men‘s events before 

the 1996-97 season. The revised system 

provided for four groups of four teams 

each, not all of which had to play qualifying 

matches to enter the group phase (teams 

that were big league champions were seeded). 

While under the previous system only 

the group winners had advanced to the 

finals, from then on, the two top teams of 

each group went on to play in the quarter-finals, 

which, like the further rounds, 

were played as knock-out matches. This 

resulted in a significant expansion of the 


136

The next major modification of the European 

Cup system was adopted by the 

EHF for the 2000-01 season. Henceforth, 

all champions of the seven leading nations 

were qualified directly for the group 

phase of the Men’s Champions League. 

The teams of the nations placed 8 to 15 

were given guaranteed access to the second 

round. The system adopted for the 

Women‘s Champions League proved truly 

groundbreaking and forward-looking: 

here, the EHF allowed the seven nations 

leading the EHF ranking to enter two teams 

each. In this respect, the women were true 

pioneers, being three years ahead of the 

men. In the EHF Cup (Men’s and Women’s), 

the seven leading nations were given 

the right to enter two teams each. Only 

the playing format of the Cupwinners’ Cup 

remained unchanged. 

At the same time, the Challenge Cup 

was introduced to replace the City Cup. 

This tournament has been designed for 

nations unable to obtain the relevant 

number of Champions League or EHF 

Cup places. The teams from the federations 

ranked 1 to 7 do not participate in 

the Challenge Cup. The EHF deliberately 

sought to promote competitions for clubs 

from nations that were unable to match 

the standards of those with a strong handball 

culture. This reform also proved beneficial, 

as the past 16 years have impressively 

shown. 

By 2000, all club competition mechanisms 

were running smoothly, but marketing 

of the European Cup competitions, 

including the Champions League, was still 

inadequate. In contrast to the EHF EUROs, 

the EHF had failed to find a partner for centralised 

marketing of the European Cup 

competitions in 1993-94. The rights for 

marketing EHF Champions League matches 

and other competitions rested with 

the EHF, of course. Yet, initially, it proved 

impossible to achieve a major breakthrough 

in marketing television rights for 

the matches. What happened instead was 

a constant struggle for more viewers and 

revenues, even though European handball 

was increasingly gaining ground compared 

with other team sports. 

The idea of having the EHF Champions 

League marketed centrally by a strong 

partner, like the EHF EUROs, had already 

been placed on the agenda of the 2000 

EHF Congress in Tel Aviv. A motion to 

this effect was intensely debated before 

centralised marketing of the Men’s and 

the Women’s Champions Leagues was finally 

adopted with effect from the 2001- 

02 season. “A new partnership has been 

signed with the company Sponsor Service 

to optimise the marketing of the product 

(EHF Annual Report 2000). 

The project was launched initially for 

the Men’s Champions League. One year 

later, EHF President Staffan Holmqvist 

announced that the scheme was to be 

extended to the Women’s Champions 

League. “Still there is a lot of work to be 

done before everything is perfect. The EHF 

will also work to create such a tournament 

for women as soon as possible and for the 

future to get similar conditions in all the 

European Cup Tournaments. However, 

everybody must be aware that this is a very 

difficult task.” 

At the end, however, this partnership 

with the Norwegian agency was not successful 

financially, and the relationship 

was therefore terminated in 2003, when 

the agency ran into financial problems. 

Nonetheless, in the 2001-02 season, 

TV viewership in the Men’s Champions 

League rose to almost 600 million. Most 

importantly, the collaboration produced 

some important initial momentum for the 

development of the Champions League’s 

corporate identity. With the “EHF Champions 

League” a new brand was created as a 

first step towards the brand-building process. 

At the same time, the playing system 

was modified substantially. The reform 

process had started already at Vösendorf 

near Vienna in November 2001, when 

the future of the Champions League was 

on the agenda of the European Handball 

Vision Forum held to mark the EHF’s tenth 

anniversary. The complexity of the task of 

bringing together divergent interests was 

hinted at by EHF President Holmqvist in 

2002: “The Champions League brings the 

elite clubs of our continent together and 

the other European Cup competitions also 

guarantee top European events. However, 

as the conditions for club matches differ 

137

138

“The new look 

Champions 

League, with its 

fresh and unified 

approach is 

a huge step 

for European 

handball” 

EHF President Tor Lian 

comments the new brand (2006) 

tremendously from country to country, it 

is extremely difficult to find a competition 

system that suits the needs and capacity of 

everybody. Despite the fact that a lot of improvements 

have been made in this area, a 

lot work still remains to be done.” 

The reform was finally implemented 

after a Champions League Convention 

in February 2003. Based on this convention, 

the EHF Executive resolved in March 

2003 that, from the 2003-04 season 

onwards, only national champions would 

be eligible to play in the Men’s Champions 

League. As this rule guaranteed or in 

any case greatly facilitated access to the 

EHF Champions League for high-calibre 

brands such as FC Barcelona or THW Kiel, 

all stakeholders gained more planning security. 

Henceforth, the federations of major national 

leagues such as Bundesliga or Asobal, 

which held top places in the EHF ranking, 

were allowed to enter a maximum of 

three or two clubs in the EHF Champions 

League. At the same time, the number of 

contenders in the group phase was raised 

to 32, who played in eight groups of four 

to determine the teams playing in the last 

sixteen. The group phase alone thus saw 

96 matches and, due to the newly introduced 

last sixteen round, the number of 

knock-out matches increased to 30. 

139


140

“In Cologne, we are the 

organiser and work with 

local partners with whom 

we have developed a very 

trusting relationship 

over the years. We also 

have full control of entertainment 

inside and 

outside the arena. 

This enables us to really 

shape this event” 

David Szlezak, Managing Director of EHF Marketing (2016) 

141


142

“This option 

opens marketing 

potentials for the 

future and allows 

more nations to 

take part in 

this event. A consequence 

also 

coupled with this 

system is the fact 

that more elite 

clubs from top 

handball nations 

can take part in 

the Champions 

League in the 

future” 

EHF President Holmqvist about the new 

Champions League system (2003) 

“With this new format we want to open 

this high-class competition to even more 

nations than in the past. We believe that 

this will add yet another degree of excitement,” 

the EHF said in a communication. 

“This option opens marketing potentials 

for the future and allows more nations 

to take part in this event. A consequence 

also coupled with this system is the fact 

that more elite clubs from top handball 

nations can take part in the Champions 

League in the future,” said EHF President 

Holmqvist.´ 

From that date onwards, each group 

featured at least one elite team, which 

further increased the attractiveness of 

this top event. Initially, Germany and 

Spain each entered three teams in the 

EHF Champions League. Two entrants 

each came from Denmark, Hungary, 

Croatia and Slovenia, plus nine national 

champions and qualified teams. “Going 

down this road was the obvious thing to 

do,” said Uwe Schwenker, at that time 

manager of THW Kiel. Other functionaries 

such as Csaba Hajnal (Veszprém) 

also regarded the new format as a logical 

development. 

The new system also increased the 

sporting quality of the tournament, which 

from then on saw several representatives 

of high-class leagues vying for the title in 

the most valuable club handball competition. 

One example: in the 2003-04 series, 

SG Flensburg-Handewitt was among the 

best clubs in the world when they scored 

double victory in Germany and entered 

the Champions League finals. Under 

the old system, SG would not even 

have been allowed to take part in the 

event as the previous year’s runners-up 

champion. EHF President Holmqvist 

thanked all those who had contributed 

to the reforms: “These were a result of intensive 

talks with clubs, federations and 

league representatives to find a common 

route for the future. The EHF has always 

placed great emphasis and importance on 

club completions and their development, 

which was the reason behind the introduction 

of a Champions League Convention.” 

The collective efforts were soon 

crowned by success. In the 2003-04 season, 

the Men’s Champions League broke 

all records. More than half a million spectators 

flooded into the arenas, more than 

330 TV broadcasts were registered, and 

the clubs won more than half a million 

euro in prize money (the women close 

to 400,000 euro). The EHF Cup even attracted 

more than 700,000 spectators, 

almost three times as many as in the 

1999-00 season. 

These figures, of course, were attributable 

to the fact that the teams playing in 

the EHF Men‘s Champions League were 

more evenly matched than ever before. 

In the spring of 2002, the new champion 

143


“The EHF Cup in this novel form has 

proven itself, and for the clubs it is 

an attractive stepping stone to the 

Champions League. This is our new 

success story. The new competition 

has now found its own place in the 

handball landscape; it now has its 

own identity, its own place next to 

the VELUX EHF Champions League” 

EHF President Jean Brihault at the EHF Cup Finals in Nantes (2016) 

SC Magdeburg with their star player Olafur 

Stefannson ended the predominance of 

the Spanish clubs, which had continued 

until 2001 (Portland San Antonio). They 

were succeeded by the French champion 

HB Montpellier, whose triumph in 2003 

saw the rise of new star Nikola Karabatic. 

Finally, in 2004, RK Pivovarna Lasko Celje 

was the first Slovenian champion to gain 

victory in the world‘s more prestigious 

tournament. 

Quotes from the victorious pros illustrate 

the great value that the athletes were 

meanwhile attaching to this title. “Winning 

the Champions League is like taking 

Olympic gold with the national team,” 

said French goalkeeper Christian Gaudin 

after winning the title with Magdeburg. 

“This is a dream come true, it’s impossible 

to put into words what I’m feeling,” said 

Olafur Stefansson, when in 2009 he lifted 

the trophy for the fourth time with BM 

Ciudad Real. 

For the women, winning the Champions 

League was likewise the ultimate that an 

athlete could aspire to. “This was a massive 

match with an atmosphere I’ve never 

experienced before. This is the greatest 

moment in my wohle career!” said German 

pivot Anja Althaus after her triumph 

with Viborg HK in 2009. In the women’s 

tournament, the development was basically 

similar to the men’s. When the 

era of HYPO Niederösterreich had ended, 

a struggle ensued between the increasingly 

strong Scandinavian clubs and 

the highly ambitious clubs from Eastern 

Europe. Post-2000, the Danish clubs 

Slagelse and Viborg won the Women‘s 

Champions League five times, the Slovenian 

champion Ljubljana, the Hungarian 

champion Györ and the Montenegrin 

champion Budocnost Podgorica two times 

each. 

The first assessment of the reform of the 

Men’s Champions League was in any case 

quite positive. “The new playing system in 

the Men’s Champions League brought a 

number of new countries and TV stations 

to the competition. The EHF is now doing 

part of the Champions League marketing 

’in house‘ and has significantly improved 

the hours of TV-broadcasting. At the same 

time, relations with new partners were created 

in order to develop the product contin- 

144

General Michael Wiederer said in January 

2005. “The Champions League has been 

working since we started to take care of TV 

marketing ourselves. With currently 35 TV 

agreements in 32 participating countries 

we have seen enormous growth.” 

The positive experiences with in-house 

marketing finally prompted EHF officers 

around President Tor Lian and Secretary 

General Michael Wiederer to institutionalise 

marketing in a newly started subsidiary. 

In July 2005, the EHF launched a new company 

under the name of EHF Marketing, 

which has been focusing primarily on the 

product development of the European club 

competitions, with the EHF Handball 

Champions League on the business agenda 

in the initial phase. Decisive steps were 

taken as early as the second half of 2005, 

with the introduction of a TV Highlight 

Magazine and greater TV coverage around 

Europe. 

uously in all aspects,“ (EHF Annual Report 

2004). “There are still many challenges to 

face, but the current positive development 

proves that it is going in the right direction.” 

Among the challenges was still marketing. 

Since 2003-04, the EHF had done its own 

marketing of EHF Champions League TV 

rights and, partly, also marketing of perimeter 

and floor advertising, and successfully so. 

Prior to the 2003-04 season, the EHF had 

started the by now long-standing partnership 

with insurer Uniqa and, prior to the 

2006-07 season, entered into a partnership 

with sports floor manufacturer Gerflor, 

which has likewise continued to date. 

For the 2004-05 season, the EHF again 

registered new viewer records. According 

to an analysis of TV audiences in eleven 

European countries, the EHF’s premium 

product EHF Champions League reached 

more than 350 million viewers. This was 

also the result of the media strategy aimed 

at producing moving pictures and delivering 

them through multiple channels. 

“Competing sharply with volleyball and 

basketball, handball has carved out for itself 

a very good position,” EHF Secretary 

Further activities in 2005 included the 

presentation of the new logos for the EHF 

Cup, Cup Winners’ Cup and Challenge Cup 

competitions. Trailblazing was the development 

of a new look for the Champions 

League and of additional key tools for staging 

this top event in the summer of 2006. 

“The new look Champions League, with its 

fresh and unified approach is a huge step 

for European handball,” EHF President Tor 

Lian was pleased to announce. The Annual 

Report 2006 stated: “EHF Marketing, 

together with its partners, have worked 

hard with the Champions League clubs to 

present the Champions League with a new 

look. Alongside the newly developed Corporate 

Event Identity, the Regulations for 

the Men’s Champions League have also 

been newly drawn up, going into greater 

detail in the event management side of the 

competition. A Broadcaster Manual and 

the selection of a pool of EHF Marketing Supervisors 

to support both the clubs and the 

marketing and TV partners at the matches 

will give a further boost to the product.” 

A unique floor design supplied by partner 

firm Gerflor also contributed to the 

new look. “This will give the Men’s Champions 

League a universal look with its ‘black 

and blue lagoon’ colours, taking the Men’s 

Champions League into a new generation,” 

as reported in the EHF Annual Report 

145


“The signing of Stefan 

Lövgren as FINAL4 ambassador, 

the communication 

strategy prior to 

the event, the flags and 

banners in the City of Cologne, 

the production of 

the trophy by a renowned 

artist and its completion 

and presentation in the 

presence 

of the audience all 

contributed to the 

build-up of an extreme 

level of expectations 

and interest” 

EHF President Tor Lian after the first FINAL4 event (2010) 

146

147

148

“It was the purely Spanish 2011 

final pitting Barcelona against Ciudad 

Real that broke the ice. When 19,600 

spectators were standing up in the 

last minute of the final to celebrate 

both teams it was for all to see that 

this was a handball event, not a home 

event. Today, the VELUX EHF 

Champions League has reached 

a level where the question of 

which club will play in the FINAL4 

no longer matters” 

EHF Secretary General Michael Wiederer (2016) 

2006. Thanks to the standardised floor, 

TV viewers can now tell immediately that 

they are watching a Champions League 

match. 

Since 2002, all details relating to the organisation 

of European Cup competitions 

have been discussed in obligatory workshops 

attended by the stakeholders. “The 

aim of this workshop was to provide all 

teams with an update of information concerning 

the situation of TV rights as well as 

marketing activities“ (source: EHF Annual 

Report 2002). “Teams were provided 

with all necessary material concerning the 

2002-03 competition and the occasion 

gave the team representatives the opportunity 

to make the first organisational 

arrangements with each other.” Since 

2006, clubs and media partners have been 

supported at each venue and match by 

an EHF Marketing Supervisor, who has 

been helping with the implementation of 

manuals and rules. 

Other things also developed beautifully. 

Prior to the Men’s Champions 

League 2005-06 season, the EBU 

produced the first TV signal for the 

draw, which was held as a formal affair 

at the Museum of Catalan History 

in Barcelona. Since then, live streaming 

has been a media standard. When, on 

29 June 2007, the EHF hosted a Champions 

League gala entitled “Celebrate the 

Passion” at Vienna’s Uniqa Tower to mark 

its 15th anniversary, officers and 300 

honorary guests, among them the stars 

Bojana Popovic and Nikola Karabatic, were 

able to look back on the fantastic development 

that the tournament had taken. 

In the previous season, more than 

210 million TV viewers had watched the 

Champions League matches. Of the Men’s 

Champions League matches, 524 hours 

were televised; of the Women‘s Champions 

League matches, which were still 

played in four groups of four teams each 

149


150

“This was a 

massive match 

with an atmosphere 

I’ve never 

experienced 

before. This is 

the greatest 

moment in my 

whole career!” 

German Pivot Anja Althaus after 

winning the EHF Champions League 

with Viborg HK (2009) 

(with much fewer matches), more than 

230 hours. Especially the partnership with 

the Eurosport TV channel sent viewership 

records tumbling. The second leg of the 

Men’s Champions League 2007 – THW 

Kiel vs. SG Flensburg-Handewitt – had 

been covered by twelve cameras. In the 

2006-07 season, the ehfcl.com website 

published more than 500 pieces on the 

Men‘s Champions League and more than 

300 on the women’s tournament. As a 

new feature from 2007 onwards, a standard 

musical intro has been played at the 

start of all Champions League games: the 

“Anthem of the Champions”. 

Two years later, EHF Marketing reported 

that significantly more than 30 European 

TV channels were broadcasting the games 

of the Women‘s and the Men‘s Champions 

Leagues. Another milestone in terms of 

global reach was the partnership entered 

into with the Dubai Sports TV channel in 

2009. This channel guaranteed to bring 

European club handball to more than 100 

million households in the Middle East. 

In the meantime, the EHF Champions 

League playing format was updated once 

again by introducing a main round from 

the 2007-08 season onwards. In the 

Women’s Champions League, the two 

top teams of each group of four qualified 

151


for the main round, which was played in 

two groups of four, with the winner finally 

to be determined by knock-out matches 

in the semi-finals and finals rounds. This 

system survived until the 2013-14 season. 

In the men’s competition, the best 16 

teams of the preliminary round advanced 

to the main round, which was played by 

four groups of four, with only the group 

winners entering the semi-finals which, 

like the finals, were played as knock-out 

matches. In the subsequent year, the EHF 

already added a quarter-final after the 

main round, which offered those placed 

second in their respective groups another 

chance to win the title. 

The expansion of the EHF Champions 

League, however, spelled the end of a competition 

that the EHF had created in the 

year 1996: the European Club Championships, 

which had been open to the winners 

of the four European Cup competitions. 

The first men’s event hosted by TBV Lemgo, 

the winner of the Cup Winners’ Cup 

competition, in Bielefeld just before Christmas 

1996, was won by FC Barcelona. In 

the final tournament (known by that date 

as the Champions Trophy) staged in Veszprém 

in 2008, victory was taken by BM 

Ciudad Real. For the women, the EHF had 

organised the first European Club Championship 

as early as 1994, with HYPO Niederösterreich 

winning in Viborg. The final 

event was then also conducted in 2008, 

when Champions League winner Zwesda 

Zwenigorod won the title at Chekhov. 

From the 2015-16 series onwards, the 

VELUX EHF Champions League has been 

played by two groups of eight in the preliminary 

round in close co-ordination with 

the clubs, which have meanwhile been 

integrated into the EHF organisation (see 

chapter on Structure). Now, the two group 

winners directly enter the quarter-finals. 

Those in places 2 to 6 go on to the last sixteen 

where they will encounter two further 

clubs, winners from groups C and D. When 

the plan for the FINAL4 tournament had 

proven successful in the Men’s Champions 

League, the EHF launched the same system 

in the Women’s Champions League prior 

to the 2013-14 season but left the qualification 

round with 16 teams (four groups) 

in place. 

In the years after 2010, the EHF continued 

fine-tuning the format of a number 

of European Cup competitions. By abolishing 

the Men’s Cupwinners’ Cup after 

the 2011-12 season, the Federation also 

streamlined competitions in the EHF Cup 

below the premium product, the EHF 

Champions League. As a next step, it was 

decided to stage the Men’s EHF Cup finals 

likewise in the Final 4 format, at the end 

of the 2012-13 season. The inaugural 

tournament played in Nantes was won by 

Rhein Neckar-Löwen after a dramatic final 

against hosts HBC Nantes. 

Another major milestone in the Men’s 

Champions League was the launch of 

the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in Cologne in the 

2009-10 season. The idea had been conceived 

by EHF officers already years earlier 

with the objective of developing better 

marketing opportunities for the EHF 

Champions League but had always been 

thwarted by various circumstances. When 

the EHF Executive finally adopted the final 

tournament in Cologne, it also approved 

a new playing system for the preliminary 

round. Henceforth, 24 teams were to play 

in four groups of six for the places in the last 

sixteen, which, like the quarter finals, were 

to be played as knock-out matches. The reduction 

from 32 to 24 teams streamlined 

the event and, thereby, raised the level of 

sporting performance. 

152

As the 2016 final tournament in Nantes 

showed, this new format has also proved 

successful. “The EHF Cup in this novel form 

has proven itself, and for the clubs it is an 

attractive stepping stone to the Champions 

League. This is our new success story. 

The new competition has now found 

its own place in the handball landscape; it 

now has its own identity, its own place next 

to the VELUX EHF Champions League,” 

as outgoing EHF President Jean Brihault 

summed it up. 

“It seems like we have the EHF Cup almost 

on a par now with the Champions 

League, it is not a minor competition and 

we have the ambition to help it develop 

even further. It would therefore be more 

or less logical to also merge the Women’s 

Cupwinners’ Cup with the EHF Cup as of 

the 2016-17 season,” Brihaut said. “Having 

seen its success, it now feels natural to 

apply the formula to the women’s competition.” 

Wiederer stated: “This decision will 

strengthen European women’s handball in 

general, as more clubs have the chance to 

bridge the gap to the current top clubs. To 

have a merged competition with a group 

phase below the EHF Champions League 

will ignite a professionalisation of women’s 

clubs all over Europe.” 

The most important step in the economic 

and sporting evolution of the European 

Cup competitions, however, was doubtless 

the introduction of the VELUX EHF FI- 

NAL4 for the year 2010. How sustainable 

and attractive this tournament has been 

and still is for the EHF’s partners has been 

proven by the partnership with the Danish 

VELUX Group, which, when the event was 

announced for the year 2010, signed on 

as title sponsor of the EHF Champions 

League and has since regularly convened 

its distribution partners at the Cologne 

tournament. 

“The decision to stage the tournament 

and the choice of Cologne as its venue was 

also a big risk, though, for if only 5,000 

fans had turned up, the FINAL4 would 

have been dead,” EHF Secretary General 

Michael Wiederer recalls. Such concerns 

proved unfounded, though, as only 200 

seats of the huge LANXESS arena remained 

vacant when the event was first launched 

in 2010. “The signing of Stefan Lövgren 

as FINAL4 ambassador, the communication 

strategy prior to the event, the flags 

and banners in the City of Cologne, the 

production of the trophy by a renowned 

artist and its completion and presentation 

in the presence of the audience all contributed 

to the build-up of an extreme level of 

expectations and interest,” EHF President 

Tor Lian was pleased to note after the first 

FINAL4 event. 

Another milestone of the VELUX EHF 

FINAL4 was the year 2011. The second 

153

“Winning the 

Champions 

League is like 

taking Olympic 

gold with the 

national team” 

French goalkeeper Christian Gaudin 

after winning the EHF Champions 

League with SC Magdeburg (2001) 

edition of the event in Cologne disproved 

the critics’ main argument that the tournament 

would work only if won by a German 

club. “It was the purely Spanish 2011 

final pitting Barcelona against Ciudad Real 

that broke the ice. When 19,600 spectators 

were standing up in the last minute 

of the final to celebrate both teams it 

was for all to see that this was a handball 

event, not a home event,” Wiederer recalls. 

“Today, the VELUX EHF Champions 

League has reached a level where the 

question of which club will play in the FI- 

NAL4 no longer matters.” This was last 

demonstrated in the 2016 VELUX EHF 

FINAL4 when, for the first time, the final 

was played by two teams that were neither 

from Germany nor from Spain – and this 

did not make any difference to the atmosphere 

in the LANXESS arena. 

That the origins of the participating clubs 

are meanwhile of almost no relevance at all, 

is illustrated by the enormous demand for 

tickets. At the 2016 finals weekend, tickets 

on sale for the 2017 event were sold 

out within hours. The fans have truly embraced 

the VELUX EHF FINAL4 as a holistic 

experience with bombastic showy elements 

before the games, the opening ceremony 

on Friday night with fantastic musical 

acts and all that comes with it. Cologne has 

evolved into a genuine European handball 

institution, according to Wiederer. “The FI- 

NAL4 is not only a beacon event in sporting 

and organisational terms, but has always 

been a great meeting place for the world of 

handball.” 

154

One of its great advantages is the fact 

that, in staging the VELUX EHF FINAL4, the 

EHF does not have to deal with changing 

organising committees, as is the case with 

the EHF EUROs. “In Cologne, we are the organiser 

and work with local partners with 

whom we have developed a very trusting 

relationship over the years. We also have 

full control of entertainment inside and outside 

the arena. This enables us to really 

shape this event,” says David Szlezak, 

FINAL4 Manager and, since 2016, also 

Managing Director of EHF Marketing. “It 

is like coming back to a familiar place. 

Everyone knows where to find things. 

We are not continually confronted with 

new situations. Processes can be organised 

more easily.” For this reason, 

the EHF has extended its agreement 

with the LANXESS arena until 2020 

and has thus created planning security. 

The new format and the EHF’s evaluation 

catalogue, which regulates clubs’ participation 

in the VELUX EHF Champions 

League, have likewise proven helpful, 

according to Wiederer. “Many more 

games were on an equal level, and 

as the system is quite flexible we can 

adapt the number of participating teams 

if needed. But for the upcoming season 

the system will remain completely 

the same, then we will do an evaluation.” 

The clubs’ response has been very 

positive. 

With the VELUX EHF FINAL4, the EHF 

has reached dimensions that appeared 

utopian when it first took control of the 

club competitions in 1993. Today, hundreds 

of media representatives attend club 

handball’s flagship event and TV reach has 

become huge. In addition, Cologne has 

earned for itself a reputation of being at 

the vanguard of professional handball, as 

technologies such as goal cameras and instant 

replay were tested and implemented 

here at a high level for the first time. The 

future of European club competitors, epitomised 

by the Cologne tournament, is in 

any case bright. Wiederer says: “We can 

expect another top event in 2017.” 

155

156

YES, 

WE 

CAN! 

The development of handball has always been one of the 

EHF’s core tasks. In the 1990s, the focus of educational 

programmes was initially on the development of young 

talent and on coaching and refereeing. Today, the Competence 

Academy & Network (CAN) manages a wide 

spectrum of activities apart from competitive handball. 

157

DEVELOPMENT

“I am very proud of the 

support from the EHF 

and I am pleased to put 

my effort into handball. 

The studies were a 

great platform of 

knowledge presented 

by our lecturers” 

Graduate Grit Jurack about the EHF Handball Manager Programme (2016) 

A 

visit by high-ranking dignitaries. 

On the evening of 

27 May 2016, a delegation 

from Brussels paid a visit to 

German Sports University 

in Cologne. Among the Members of the 

European Parliament and the European 

Commission was also Bogdan Wenta, the 

coach of the Polish Vice World Champion 

2007. The political leaders had accepted 

an invitation extended by the EHF to attend 

a formal ceremony in which the first 

graduates of the EHF Handball Manager 

Programme were presented with their 

certificates on the eve of the VELUX EHF 

Final4 2016. “This is a very good and 

effective approach based on the dual career 

concept,” Wenta said in praise of the new 

education programme. 

The graduates had passed their tests the 

day before. The atmosphere in which EHF 

President Jean Brihault opened the ceremony 

with a speech sprinkled with humorous 

remarks was therefore duly relaxed. 

“This study guarantees education and sustainability 

in European handball. The original 

idea was addressed to us by the clubs 

and thanks to the great cooperation we 

finally managed to implement these studies. 

We are proud of this great cooperation 

with the German Sports University,” said 

Brihault. Brihault, EHF Secretary General 

Michael Wiederer along with Helmut 

Höritsch (EHF Competence Academy & 

Network) and Carmen Manchado (EHF 

Competitions Commission) handed over 

the certificates to the group of managers. 

Some of the graduates had influenced 

handball as players for decades. Together, 

Henning Fritz and Holger Glandorf had 

won the World Championship in Cologne 

in 2007. Grit Jurack was one of the key 

figures in the great era of HK Viborg. Other 

graduates had a business background and 

159

DEVELOPMENT 

attended the seminar to further their professional 

development, among them the 

two Bundesliga managers Benjamin Chatton 

(Hanover) und Axel Geerken (Melsungen), 

who was named Best Student of the 

Year. Emmanuelle Bru (HBC Nantes) has 

likewise been working successfully in her 

club’s management for quite a long time. 

The participants had nothing but praise 

for the high-calibre lecturers. “All lecturers 

are top of the line in their respective fields,” 

Chatton said. “I am very proud of the support 

from the EHF and I am pleased to put 

my effort into handball. The studies were a 

great platform of knowledge presented by 

our lecturers,” said Jurack, whose attendance 

had been sponsored by the Women‘s 

Handball Board. 

This was the backdrop against which 

the cooperation project between the 

EHF and German Sports University had 

evolved – to prepare future managers for 

their duties in the handball business. Instruction 

was provided in five comprehensive 

modules: “Economic and legal requirements 

of team sports”, “Team sport 

governance and handball management”, 

“Sport marketing and sponsorship”, 

“Financing and licensing” and “Media and 

communication training”. 

“We started our initiative two years ago 

and these studies will bring handball forward 

in the future, will professionalise 

this sport. The programme, conducted 

by the German Sports University, is much 

better than the manager programme in 

basketball and the one planned in football,” 

said Butzeck, director of Forum Club 

Handball (FCH), one of the initiators of 

the programme, who also attended the 

awarding ceremony. 

Programme Director Dr. Stefan Walzel 

was highly satisfied with the outcome of 

the first year of the European Handball 

Manager Certificate studies. “We can be 

proud of these certificate studies and the 

achievement, as handball now is the role 

model for other European sports. Those 

new European handball managers are the 

best ambassadors for the programme. All 

graduates did a great job parallel to their 

demanding jobs at clubs or federations.” 

Meanwhile, word has got round of the 

high quality of teaching in Cologne. The 

next professional development pro- 

160

“This study guarantees education 

and sustainability in European handball. 

The original idea was addressed 

to us by the clubs and thanks to the 

great cooperation we finally managed 

to implement these studies. We 

are proud of this great cooperation 

with the German Sports University” 

EHF President Jean Brihault about the EHF Handball Manager Programme (2016) 

gramme, to be held in English, was immediately 

fully booked. Among those who registered 

were participants from Finland, the 

Netherlands, the Faroe Islands, Montenegro, 

Croatia and Denmark, including some 

outstanding former professional players 

such as the Spaniard Iker Romero (World 

Champion 2005) and the Dane Lasse Boesen 

(European Championship 2008). 

“This shows that demand is substantial and 

confirms the need to conduct such education 

programmes,” said Helmut Höritsch 

from the EHF, like Butzeck and Manchado 

a member of the programme’s academic 

advisory board. 

The manager programme is one of the 

numerous and comprehensive activities 

that the continental federation has been 

pursuing since its foundation with great 

dedication and commitment to promote 

the sustainable development of handball. 

One can understand why the matches of 

the EHF EUROs and the club competitions 

attract more media interest,” says EHF 

Secretary General Michael Wiederer: “But 

one thing is clear: programmes designed 

to advance and educate young people, to 

enhance the professional qualification of 

coaches and managers and to address areas 

still in need of further development, 

such as women‘s handball or beach handball, 

are the third essential core task of our 

organisation – and must continue to be in 

the future.” 

The determination and serious efforts 

which the EHF has been applying to this development 

work is highlighted by a glance 

at the institutions that existed in the early 

years of the federation’s history. In the federation’s 

first Technical Commission, elected 

in 1992 as a precursor of today‘s Executive 

Committee, Jesus Guerrero Beiztegui 

(ESP) was already specifically assigned responsibility 

for “Youth, schools sport and 

development“. “The EHF will do everything 

to raise the popularity of the game and to 

promote it in countries in which it is not yet 

as well established as in the major handball 

nations,” was how EHF Vice President 

Hans-Jürgen Hinrichs phrased the umbrella 

organisation’s vision at the time. 

The first major project initiated by the 

EHF in this context was the European Day 

of mini handball, staged jointly with the 

International Handball Federation across 

Europe on 1 October 1994. The aim was 

to give six-to-ten-year olds an opportunity 

161

“The EHF will do 

everything to 

raise the popularity 

of the game 

and to promote 

it in countries in 

which it is not 

yet as well 

established as in 

the major handball 

nations” 

Vision of EHF Vice President 

Hans-Jürgen Hinrichs in 1992 

to get to know and love the sport of handball. 

The concrete description of the project 

read as follows: “The objective being 

pursued is to reach as many children and 

their families through a large number of 

events (e.g. game days, tournaments, festivals, 

camps, etc.). To achieve the widest 

possible publicity and media coverage for 

the ‘minihandball venture’ it is planned to 

get schools, clubs, municipalities, sponsors 

and business people – as licensees – involved 

in the organisation of these events.” 

One of the first working groups set up by 

the EHF met in Vienna on 28-29 August 

1993 to organise this project. Its members 

were: Rinck (FRA), Nilsson Green (SWE, on 

behalf of the IHF), Guerrero (ESP), Hjorth 

(DEN), Oppermann (GER), Garcia (POR), 

Sollberger (SUI) and Helmut Höritsch as 

the EHF administration’s responsible project 

manager. The project involved the production 

of brochures and advertising materials, 

the shipment of more than 3500 

mini-softballs and training for more than 

300 coaches. It proved a major success and 

was therefore repeated a number of times. 

163

DEVELOPMENT 

“We can be proud 

of these certificate 

studies and 

the achievement, 

as handball now 

is the role model 

for other European 

sports. Those 

new European 

handball managers 

are the best 

ambassadors for 

the programme” 

Stefan Walzel, 

German Sports University (2016) 

But this was only the beginning. In February 

1994, the Working Group on Development 

discussed future strategies for 

the development of handball outside the 

core countries. This working group was 

likewise made up of high-calibre experts, 

among them Paul Tiedemann, coach of 

the 1980 Olympic gold medallists, who 

had gathered experience as a coach in 

Egypt. The IHF had delegated Kozhukow. 

Güntzel, Wiederer and Höritsch took part 

on behalf of the EHF administration. 

At this meeting, the following themes 

were defined as the principal tasks for 

the future: teaching aids, promotion materials, 

more languages in publications, 

international workshops and courses, 

minihandball promotion and material, 

methods of marketing and advertising, 

ball supply, support of sports contacts 

with other countries, rule experiment 

tournaments. 

On the basis of these deliberations, 

a variety of activities unfolded steadily 

throughout the 1990s. As early as November 

1995, the EHF had agreed joint 

development programmes with the federations 

of Bulgaria, Great Britain, Malta, 

Ireland, the Faroe Islands, Turkey, 

Albania, Cyprus, Azerbaijan, Armenia, 

Georgia, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. A 

number of agreements also provided for 

attendance of the 1st Marketing Seminar, 

held in Vienna from 24 to 26 November 

1995, and for computer training. 

The goals of the workshop were: “To 

find strategies to solve the most pressing 

needs in marketing handball in the new 

member federations, and to identify the 

factors that are instrumental in attracting 

financial resources.” Lecturers were Klaus 

Anders and Horst Lichtner from CWL (today: 

Infront), Erich Epple from UEFA and 

Thomas Weber from Deutscher Handballbund 

as well as Hans-Jürgen Hinrichs 

and Michael Wiederer from the EHF. 

164

In the same year, EHF officers showed 

a fine sense of things to come when they 

issued invitations to the 1st EHF Beach 

Handball Experts Seminar held at Marsala/ITA 

on 28 August 1996. This early 

exchange of ideas, organised jointly with 

the Italian Handball Federation, made the 

EHF a pioneer of this discipline, which had 

been launched in Italy at the initiative of 

current EHF member Dejaco. Lecturers 

discussed topics such as “EHF Beach Handball 

Philosophy” (J. Guerrero), “Course objectives, 

Rules, Activities” (T. van Linder) 

and “Technical Development of Beachhandball” 

(S. Montagni). Workshops were 

conducted on rules, refereeing and training 

for handball played on sand. The outcome: 

the desire to cooperate with the global 

federation IHF, the installation of a permanent 

working group on beach handball, 

the wish for the introduction of binding 

rules, the compilation of a beach handball 

calendar and the launch of international 

tournaments under EHF control. 

One year on, the EHF already offered an 

enormous range of events and professional 

development options. On the fringes of 

the 3rd EHF Congress 1996 in Athens, a 

workshop on ‘Women in Handball’ was offered, 

conducted by Tor Lian (NOR). Working 

with the French Handball Federation 

(FFHB), the EHF organised the Top Coaches 

workshop in Paris-Bercy, which provided 

important input for the future training 

of coaches. In addition, a workshop was 

held on the topic “the EHF Office”, plus a 

first Conference for Secretaries General, 

the Lecturers’ Course Europe (in Alanya, 

Turkey) and two EHF Referees’ Courses Europe 

(in Gabrovo, BUL and Nitra, SVK). 

In addition, well-attended workshop 

groups discussed matters such as “Handball 

Marketing in East European Countries” 

and “A Concept for Referees Education and 

Training”. Equally productive was the “Media” 

Working Group held on the fringes of 

the 1996 Women’s ECh at Herning with 

experts such as TV commentators Gulyas 

(HUN, TV), the rights specialist Anders 

(SUI, CWL), and the journalists Pfeistlinger 

(AIPS/AUT for printed media), Uhl (GER/ 

photo), and Vom Wege (GER/radio). 

Many of the thoughts and ideas that 

emerged from this brainstorming session, 

in which EHF President Staffan Holmqvist 

also took part, are current practice today. 

The first EHF/IHF coordination meeting 

on beach Handball was held already on 20 

October 1996. Since that date, the two 

umbrella organisations have been in close 

consultation with each other on this matter. 

The declared target of holding an EHF 

tournament for beach handball as early 

as 1997 proved overly ambitious, however. 

Since 2000, however, the year that 

saw the inaugural tournament at Gaeta/ 

ITA, EHF Beach Handball European Championships 

have been a fixture on the EHF 

event calendar. The first European champions 

came from Germany (women) and 

Spain (men). 

In the meantime, a binding set of rules 

has been developed and a European 

Beach Tour introduced for club teams. 

Since 2001, special courses have been 

held for beach handball referees and 

delegates at regular intervals. Since 2008, 

a Beach handball Commission has been 

regulating fundamental questions of beach 

handball within the EHF. And, of course, 

this discipline has gained added attraction 

for many young handball players since the 

International Olympic Committee (IOC), 

165

DEVELOPMENT 

166

He is a star of indoor handball and 

two-times European Champion with 

the Danish team. Right wing Hans 

Lindberg is also an enthusiastic beach 

handball player, as he proved in the 

Beach European Championships 

2013 at Randers/DEN. 

“This sport is great fun,” Lindberg 

said at the time. “I need action.” 

In the end, he took bronze 

with Denmark. 

167

168

“Within this project 

we will establish 

a new generation 

of referees, 

well-educated 

and with international 

experience 

at a young age. 

They are ready 

for greater challenges!” 

EHF President Staffan Holmqvist about 

the 1st Young referee project (2001) 

in consultation with the IHF, decided to include 

beach handball in the programme of 

the Youth Olympic Games 2018 in Buenos 

Aires, replacing indoor handball. This history 

of beach handball to date in any case 

underlines that the EHF was extremely forward-looking 

in thought and action when it 

took its first look at this discipline in 1996. 

The idea of joining forces with academics 

to find answers to specific questions concerning 

the ongoing development of handball 

and to explore some aspects in greater 

depth had in fact been conceived even 

before the EHF Handball Manager event 

in Cologne. It was in March 1997 that the 

EHF started a close collaboration with the 

University of Gdansk to study a variety of 

issues. “The partnership mainly focuses on 

scientific research and development work 

in the field of handball methods and training” 

(source: EHF Annual Report 1997). 

“One of the possible areas of cooperation 

with the University Gdansk could be: The 

development and adoption of a computerized 

statistic system for match observations 

have been used in the 1996 Women’s 

Junior ECh in POL.“ In addition, projects 

were pursued that aimed at the installation 

of a professional database for the European 

Championships and the capture of 

key parameters for use by the media. 

Another major milestone in structuring 

the training of coaches within the EHF was 

what in 2000 was called the Rinck Convention. 

The starting point of considerations 

seeking to harmonise coach training in Europe 

and to create multiple qualification 

categories was the “Coach meets Coach” 

EHF seminar held at Bressanone (ITA) 

from 6 to 7 June 1998, during the final 

weekend of the 3rd Men‘s EURO 1998. 

On that occasion, lectures were given by 

experts like Manfred Prause (EHF Competitions) 

on Rule Changes, by Antoine David 

(FRA) on Tactic Tools, by Hans Holdhaus 

(AUT) on Anti-doping Measures and by Dirk 

Jännichen (GER) on New Media. Among 

the participants were renowned coaches 

like Velimir Kljaic, Jiri Kekrt, Juan de Dios 

Roman Seco, Daniel Costantini, Heiner 

Brand, Sandor Vass, Lino Cervar, Vladimir 

Maximov, Bengt Johansson and Zoran 

Zivkovic, to name just a few. 

As a follow-up event, a European Coaches 

Symposium was held at the 4th EHF Men‘s 

EURO 2000 in Zagreb. The idea of a European 

License for coaches was finally institutionalised 

at the highest level in Gdansk, 

on 27-28 October 2000, through the 

adoption of the Convention on the Mutual 

Recognition of Coaches Education, known 

as to as the Rinck Convention, named after 

Claude Rinck (FRA), later on an honorary 

member of the EHF, who as Chair of 

the Methods Commission had been one of 

the key promoters of this convention. Even 

at that early date, the agenda already featured 

topics such as “Physiology”, “Technical 

preparation” and “Measurements and 

Evaluation”. 

This convention created the basis of a 

modular European coach training programme. 

The highest level that can be attained 

is the EHF Master Coach. Since 2001, 

courses leading to this qualification have 

been conducted at regular intervals. Initially, 

only six member federations signed 

the Rinck Convention. Therefore, the first 

Master Coaches certified in 2001 only came 

169

DEVELOPMENT 

170

“The EHF Competence Academy 

& Network was established 

as an educational 

service centre for EHF Member 

Federations in order to develop 

and deliver sport specific 

educational and training 

programmes. Competences 

are offered by making use of 

national and international 

handball experts, external 

lecturers from sports science, 

medicine, other sports, business 

(marketing, equipment 

suppliers) and media (press, 

TV, internet) as well as e-learning, 

blended learning and 

interdisciplinary courses of 

various duration” 

EHF Coordinator 

Helmut Höritsch 

171

“We started our 

initiative two 

years ago and 

these studies will 

bring handball 

forward in the future, 

will professionalise 

this sport. 

The programme, 

conducted by the 

German Sports 

University, is 

much better than 

the manager 

programme in 

basketball and 

the one planned 

in football” 

Gerd Butzeck, managing director 

of Forum Club Handball (2016) 

from the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, 

France, Hungary and Russia, among them 

celebrities such as Heiner Brand, Michal 

Barda, Frantisek Taborsky, Lajos Mocsai, 

Vladimir Maximov, Daniel Costantini, Patrice 

Canayer and Olivier Krumbholz 

Additional EHF member federations soon 

followed suit. Today, the coach education 

programme leading to the Master Coach as 

the highest qualification comprises three 

different modules and is generally recog-

nised and accepted owing to its superior 

quality. “The courses were quite tough and 

the Master paper quite a challenge. I was 

one of the youngest candidates, alongside 

well-known names such as Dagur Sigurdsson, 

Bob Hanning, Klaus-Dieter Petersen 

and Christian Schwarzer, who also 

completed the Master Coach programme,” 

said Spaniard Raul Alonso, coach of Austrian 

national league club Schwaz Tirol, after 

he had been awarded his certificate. “I 

learned a lot that will prove useful. Group 

dynamics and the exchange of experiences 

were excellent and have provided me 

with fresh ideas.” In the future, all coaches 

having responsibility for teams entering 

European competitions will be required 

to hold an EHF Master Coach License. 

In the late 1990s, the EHF defined coach 

and referee training programmes for 

young people as an additional new priority. 

The 1st EHF Youth Coaches’ Course 

was conducted at Partille/SWE on 27 

and 28 June 1998, on the fringe of the 

renowned youth tournament held near 

Gothenburg. Further courses followed in 

Estoril (POR) and Rotenburg (GER) in 1999. 

From an early date on, the EHF’s aim has 

been to also provide training for referees 

at a high level – and, as history has shown, 

quite successfully. 

Among the participants of the 1st Young 

Referees Course, likewise held in Partille 

from 1 to 6 June 2000, were the young pairs 

Horacek/Nowotny (CZE), Gjeding/Hansen 

(DEN) and Lazar/Reveret (FRA). These 

three pairs went on to officiate at many 

major matches, and some of them still do. 

And this is exactly what the EHF had in mind 

when it initiated the Young Referee Project 

in 2001. EHF President Staffan Holmqvist 

said: “Within this project we will establish 

a new generation of referees, well-educated 

and with international experience at a 

young age. They are ready for greater challenges!” 

Another of the EHF’s core tasks in the development 

of handball is the promotion of 

women’s handball. This topic was on the 

agenda already back in the mid-1990s, at 

the 3rd EHF Congress in Athens, for example. 

Further initiatives were the Women’s 

Action Plan in 1999, the installation of a 

system with “women coordinators” and 

a Women’s Handball Day in 2000, when 

the EHF was proactively recruiting female 

members, asking them to take part as 

coach, as player or as delegate or functionary. 

“The European Handball Federation 

is convinced that it is important to make 

handball more accessible for women and 

to help them to overcome regional and 

cultural barriers,” (EHF Annual Report 

2000). 

Five years ago, the EHF re-launched this 

promotional effort by creating the Women’s 

Handball Development Programme. 

On the fringe of the Women’s 19 European 

Championship 2011 in Rotterdam; a group 

of experts around the renowned coach Marit 

Breivik (NOR), including Narcisa Lecusanu 

(ROU), Linde Panis (BEL), Carmen Manchado 

(ESP) and Katrine Thoe Nielsen (DEN), 

compiled a list of requests, which Carmen 

Manchado finally presented at the 10th 

Conference of Presidents. The key items 

were: 

• The introduction of a Women’s Handball 

Board 

• Measures for more female representatives 

in European handball 

• A full time position dedicated to 

women’s handball at the European 

level 

• Branding of women’s handball at the 

European level 

• The restructuring of competitions for 

young female players 

• Recruitment projects for girls and 

studies on ball size 

The success of this initiative can be seen 

today in each Annual Report of the EHF. 

The Women’s Handball Board has meanwhile 

been created on an equal footing with 

the Men’s Professional Handball Board, but 

focuses strongly on the development of 

women‘s Handball and of “Women in 

Handball”. 

In addition to numerous initiatives started 

by national federations at the external 

and internal levels, one of the major champions 

of this process was Jean Brihault in 

his then function as Vice President. He not 

only designed the structure of the Professional 

Handball Board, but also presented 

a plan for the Women‘s Handball 

Board at the Congress. Meanwhile, women 

are represented in almost every Commission. 

Within the EHF administration, 

the share of female members has always 

been quite large. 

173

DEVELOPMENT 

174

“The courses were quite tough and 

the Master paper quite a challenge. 

I was one of the youngest candidates, 

alongside well-known names such 

as Dagur Sigurdsson, Bob Hanning, 

Klaus-Dieter Petersen and Christian 

Schwarzer, who also completed the 

Master Coach programme” 

Raul Alonso, coach of Austrian national league club Schwaz Tirol, 

after getting the EHF Master Coach certificate (2015) 

The EHF launched further programmes 

aimed at enhancing the quality of the game 

and, in a broad-based effort, winning new 

members for the handball family, especially 

children and adolescents. Numerous 

publications were issued in print and 

video in order to make handball popular 

in those countries where the sport lacks 

a long-standing tradition. “The Steps to 

Handball” was the title of a brochure published 

in 1997. One year later, the EHF 

launched the Mini Winnies project, which 

used cartoon characters to teach children 

not only handball, but also fair play. 

Groundbreaking, finally, was the EHF 

symposium on “Handball at School”, 

which had been developed jointly with 

the Hellenic Handball Federation and was 

finally held in Thessaloniki from 25 to 27 

April 2002. As a follow-up event, the 

“Handball at school” conference was 

staged on the fringes of the EHF 20 Men’s 

European Championship in Innsbruck 

(AUT) four years later. The key question 

was: “How to motivate pupils/children and 

how to motivate teachers/parents/universities.” 

Participants from 24 countries 

held a lively debate about potential solutions 

and ideas. Today, the “Handball at 

School” project, which has, of course, been 

inspired by the Minihandball Day organised 

in the early days of the EHF, is one of the 

most successful and most important projects 

in the evolution of European handball. 

Professional support for EHF development 

programmes is provided by a large 

number of renowned EHF lecturers and 

outside experts covering coaching, refereeing, 

and beach handball. 

In 2001, the S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Milestones, 

Accepted, Realistic, Time-Limited) 

programme was launched, which seeks to 

support children and adolescents aged 10 

to 18 in countries where handball must yet 

be developed. This may involve, for example, 

beach handball, but also the nomination 

of young people for coaching and refereeing 

courses and support in the shape of 

balls or goals. These projects are evaluated 

on an ongoing basis and terminated, if 

targets are not met: “The EHF can stop the 

support, if the implementation does not go 

smoothly or the programme does not follow 

the schedule agreed upon.” 

And then the EHF created the Foster Project, 

which encourages countries with a 

long-established handball tradition to forge 

partnerships with so-called “lesser handball 

countries” for the purpose of transferring 

their know-how. Again, this has been 

175

an extremely effective project. Norwegian 

handball, for example, has been supporting 

pioneers in Georgia for many years. As 

another example, the Hungarian Handball 

Federation has been providing assistance 

to Latvia. 

For the past ten years, the EHF has been 

promoting wheelchair handball. For this 

purpose, educational videos were produced 

and publications printed. “We have 

to be aware of our responsibility to sportsmen 

and women who are not able to play 

handball in the traditional manner,” was 

the outline of the EHF’s motives in the Annual 

Report 2006. “Handball should not 

be limited to age, gender or physical condition. 

Handball is a sport for all with no borders. 

The EHF has therefore been working 

on the pilot project ‘Wheelchair Handball’. 

After less than one year of preparation, 

the EHF was able to organise its first wheelchair 

handball demonstration in cooperation 

with the 5-time winner of the Austrian 

Wheelchair Championship, the ‘sitting 

bulls’ first European tournament on the 

occasion of the 2006 Youth Handball Convention 

dated 18 November 06.” In 2013, 

wheelchair handball was part of the European 

Open in Gothenburg (SWE) – a first 

tangible success. 

To members striving for ongoing development, 

the EHF provides support in other 

areas as well. In 2008, the EHF released an 

Arena Construction Manual with detailed 

descriptions of the key requirements to 

be considered in building modern handball 

arenas. This Manual had been developed 

by office-based experts working with 

Jan Tuik, Chairman of the Competitions 

Commission, who had studied the most 

effective use of venues, including routing 

systems for EUROs, for many years. 

Two years later, the continental federation 

started an EHF Infrastructure Support 

Programme designed to assist smaller but 

ambitious member federations in developing 

a modern administrative system. 

The EHF also sponsored projects such as 

Street Handball, which had been largely 

masterminded by the Danish international 

player Lasse Boesen. 

The EHF has also been pushing for more 

proactive collaboration with academics 

and, to this end, has regularly organised 

scientific conferences since 2011. Today, 

the EHF maintains close relations with the 

Union of University Handball Teachers 

(UUHT), which ensures the international 

propagation of recent advances in handball 

teaching and research. The EHF also 

cooperates closely with the University Las 

Palmas/Gran Canaria, whose work is dedicated 

to referee education and school projects 

– EHF referee video teaching material, 

2D and 3D animated promotion web tools 

for minihandball and „Handball at School“ 

developed by the University of Las Palmas”. 

A major part of these activities have been 

centrally controlled and coordinated by 

the EHF Competence Academy & Network 

(EHF CAN) established at the EHF office 

in 2008. “The EHF Competence Academy 

& Network was established as an educational 

service centre for EHF member 

federations in order to develop and deliver 

sport specific educational und training 

programmes,” explains EHF Coordinator 

Höritsch. “Competences are offered by 

making use of national and international 

handball experts, external lecturers from 

sports science, medicine, other sports, 

business (marketing, equipment suppliers) 

and media (press, TV, internet) as well as 

e-learning, blended learning and interdisciplinary 

courses of various duration.” 

One of the most important tasks of 

EHF CAN is the provision of a variety of 

177

DEVELOPMENT 

178

teaching resources, says Höritsch. The EHF 

CAN also serves as a documentation centre 

which carefully archives development 

and educational programmes. At the same 

time, the EHF CAN also addresses the future 

of the game and technical support 

for the coaching process as well as referee 

education, including game administration 

(goal line proof, instant replay). A concrete 

example of this work were the field tests in 

the 2015-16 season, carried out with Fivers 

players at the Wien-Margareten sports 

hall. The object of these tests was “measuring 

the game”: small chips attached to 

the handball players’ bodies were used 

to capture the players’ position data, distances 

run, speeds and height of jumps. 

To put it briefly: the game was practically 

broken down into its components by the 

computer. 

This project opened up completely new 

possibilities for presenting the sport of 

handball to the public, as it provides broadcasting 

TV stations with facts and figures to 

illustrate the fine points of handball in the 

VELUX EHF Champions League, for example. 

But this is only one side of the coin. The 

other side is the new options that the data 

collected offer in the context of training science. 

Academics, coaches, engineers, data 

specialists and TV experts have yet to find 

out, however, how the data recorded may 

actually produce benefits for the game in 

the future. 

This is still going to take some time, but 

is another concrete example of how proactively 

the EHF CAN is working for the 

future of handball. No matter at which 

level, whether in teaching, in science, in economics 

or in recruiting new members: the 

development of handball is never complete; 

the socio-aesthetic aspects of our team 

sport are of great significance as a contribution 

to society. The EHF CAN‘s mission 

should therefore always be “to serve the 

sport and its people”. 

179

PARTNER 

STATEMENTS 

European handball, at this stage of its development, has a dual responsibility: 

towards itself and towards the rest of the (handball) 

world. Towards itself it has the duty to continue developing its competitions 

and their global economy while preserving the principles 

and values that have always been the fundamental ingredients 

of handball in Europe. The basis of this humanistic approach is that 

the development of performance should never jeopardise personal 

development. Towards the rest of the world it has the duty to 

continue contributing to the development of handball on the other 

continents: in team sports, the strength of your opponent is by definition 

constitutive of your own. The EHF is the institutional bearer 

of these responsibilities and is excellently equipped to face them. 

Jean Brihault (EHF President) 

Thanks to the EHF, European handball has become a role model for 

handball worldwide. Now, in order to further promote and develop our 

sport, we have to work on ideas how to make our sport more attractive 

and how to reach our target groups. I look forward to a continuous fruitful 

and productive collaboration between IHF and the European Handball 

Federation to further develop our sport. 

Dr. Hassan Moustafa (President International Handball Federation) 

While watching the handball tournament during the Olympic Games in 

Rio de Janeiro, it was obvious to see what a great competition we have 

in our sport. In the future we have to protect the quality of our sport, 

we don’t need a complete change of the rules, and we have to show 

the spectators worldwide that we live up to true sportsmanship. To be 

able to guarantee a top-level competition we have to protect our main 

actors - the players - we need top-level performances, we don’t need 

random activities. Together with the EHF we have been able to get the 

voices of the players heard, but this can only be the first step of a long 

process; we are looking forward to find solutions to protect the players 

and our sport. 

Marcus Rominger (President European Handball Players Union) 

180

With its breathtaking athleticism, gripping intensity, lightning-fast 

breaks, and unmatched team spirit, handball is rightly poised to continue 

growing in popularity across the world. VELUX Group is looking 

forward to sharing this journey with the EHF, and we will continue to 

highlight the drive, passion, teamwork and positive values that VELUX 

Group shares with the sport. Handball has a great future, and VELUX 

Group will be there to share the excitement with the fans. 

Michael K. Rasmussen 

(Director Marketing VELUX Group) 

The world of sports is changing. Old sports disappear and new competitors 

are on the rise. Sport becomes an event - a show, and the stars 

are highly paid. In order to attract the younger generation, we need to 

modernise and simplify our sport. We need a strategic plan on how to 

develop handball Europe-wide, which includes ‘emerging nations’ i.e. 

England. Hopefully, in a few years we will have a real European league 

with top teams from all nations as the flagship and pulling locomotive 

of our sport. European top clubs are ready to work in this direction in a 

fair partnership together with the EHF! 

Xavier O’Callaghan (President Mens Forum Club Handball) 

181

PARTNER STATEMENTS 

Having maintained a global, longstanding and valuable cooperation 

with the EHF, Gerflor can only envisage the continued support of this 

exhilarating sport. The EHF EURO events hosted across Europe remain 

a great opportunity to promote and activate the celebration of handball 

and with Taraflex floors as an integral part of these events; Gerflor continues 

to contribute to the universal presentation of handball as well as 

the EHF corporate identity. The European Handball Federation is a 

great benchmark for all handball organisations and as the sport 

continues to excel, Gerflor anticipates a lasting collaboration with an 

organisation that places creativity and innovation at the fore. 

Pierre Lienhard & Lionel Arlin 

(Director International Operations & Event Manager of Gerflor) 

The sport of handball has developed greatly since 1991 – not only internationally 

but especially in Europe under the guidance of the EHF. 

The increased profile of the sport and the European club competitions, 

especially the yearly highlight of the innovative EHF VELUX FINAL4 

Champions League, has brought the sport into a very positive light. We 

have always been able to rely on the EHF to provide optimum working 

conditions for the media and AIPS is extremely honoured to have EHF 

as one of our official partners. The partnership is cemented in the 

yearly “Media Get-together” jointly organised by the EHF, AIPS Handball 

Commission and the city of Cologne. Congratulations on the silver 

anniversary of one of Europe’s most dynamic sports federations! 

Gianni Merlo (President International Sports Press Association) 

The future is very positive for European handball in general and 

women’s handball in particular. Handball is the best team sport for 

women, both for players and spectators, with its technique, speed and 

thrill. Handball has everything what modern people want. 

Arne Elovsson (EHF Vice-President) 

Women are becoming more active in sports today; and the share of 

women in sports is constantly growing. Handball shall use this trend 

to stimulate growth in the women sector. Jean Brihault put emphasis 

on women’s handball in the past – and this has to be continued in the 

future! It is easier to become the leading Olympic women’s team 

sport than it is to become n°2 (after football) in men’s team sports. 

This should be the target. The EHF and women’s clubs need to closely 

cooperate to achieve this! 

Zsolt Akos Jeney (President Women´s Forum Club Handball) 

182

It has been a great honour for us to accompany and support the EHF for 

25 years of development and growth. Jointly, we have delivered both 

spectacular sports moments and strong commercial success. And the 

future looks equally promising: European handball is on the right path 

to master digital opportunities, access new markets and engage more 

and more fans around the world. Handball, its teams and stories build 

an essential part of the European sports landscape, and Infront will 

cease no effort to further strengthen the position and impact of the EHF 

flagship events going forward. Our Infront and broader Wanda Sports 

team truly lives and breathes handball – sharing the passion of our EHF 

colleagues for the sport. 

Philippe Blatter 

(President & CEO Infront Sports & Media AG) 

Aristotle said “the secret of being able to, lies in wanting to”…in all my 

positions as a player, and on the other side of the court, I have met so 

many people who are really willing to work for our beloved sport. The 

future of handball will be a bright one. Our social interaction is currently 

undergoing a radical change towards a digital transformation; thus 

sport in general and handball need to adapt to this new situation and its 

demands. But, the basis of successful handball will always stay the same: 

contribute to your team and experience the great power of moving together 

in the same direction. 

David Szlezak (Managing Director EHF Marketing GmbH) 

Founded in 1991 with more or less only one person in an office with a 

desk and a chair, the EHF made a tremendous development in the last 

25 years. EHF and EHFM pushed the European Championships and the 

Champions League to an extraordinary level, and established a high 

professional administration in Vienna. I am convinced that the European 

handball family will master the challenges of the next 25 years and 

improve the status of handball in a changing society and media world. 

Frank Bohmann 

(President European Professional Handball Leagues Association) 

183


Through the fortunate support of the City of Vienna and the Austrian 

Olympic Committee, in 1991, the EHF succeeded in bringing the 

seat of the organisation to Vienna. Through the work of the European 

Handball Federation, handball has developed enormously both in 

public perception and quality in recent years. Through the presentation 

of our sport at European Championships or the Champions 

League Final4, the EHF managed to establish handball as a premium 

European sport. We all wish a successful future for our sport of 

handball. 

Gerhard Hofbauer (President Österreichischer Handballbund) 

The European Handball Federation has led the way in promoting handball 

to a global audience. We have seen handball audience numbers 

continue to grow with increasing levels of engagement. Over the last 

years MP & Silva managed to involve new broadcaster and consolidate 

the number of more traditional broadcast partners, all resulting into a 

significant year on year increases in the number of hours showing the 

sport across multiple territories. MP & Silva is proud of its strong relationship 

with the European Handball Federation and looks forward to 

strengthening this partnership with the view to taking the distribution 

and the awareness of European handball events to the next level. 

The future looks immensely positive for handball and its fans. 

Roberto Dalmiglio (Managing Director Europe MP & Silva) 

184

Having lived and participated in these 25 years of our young European 

Federation, my first words are dedicated to all the dreamers that have 

built a strong, democratic, cooperative and very professional organization 

without losing the spirit of sport. In Europe, handball is a sport 

with high educational value, essential in any school and small community, 

and strong and spectacular with all the conditions to be leader in 

the biggest sport events. To win the future, we have to win the youth in 

each school, in each city, in all European countries promoting equal opportunities, 

especially the innovation and education, and cooperation 

between all stakeholders. The future is ours and the EHF will continue 

to be our pride. 

Rui Coelho (President EHF Court of Handball) 

Our sport must continue to be developed further; developments in the 

area of technology and business that previously would have taken two 

generations now takes place within a few years. We must preserve the 

essence of our exciting sport and affiliate the new generation to us through 

innovation and emotion as active and ordinary consumers. 

Michael Wiederer (EHF Secretary General) 

185

PHOTOS 

PROLOGUE 

Pages 16-17 European Cup 1983/84, THW 

Kiel (Wiemann) vs. Metaloplastica Sabac (Basic) 

Page 18 scene European Cup Final 1972: Partizan 

Bjelovar vs. VfL Gummersbach Page 20 first 

row: European Cup Final 1967, Dukla Prag vs. 

VfL Gummersbach. Second row: Joachim Deckarm 

in action vs. Tatabanya (1979) – European 

Cup-trophy, 1974 Page 21 Karl Güntzel. 

STRUCTURE 

Pages 22-23 meeting Executive Committee in 

2014 Page 24 second row: Tor Lian – Staffan 

Holmqvist (left). Third row: Joanna Mucha, 

Jean Brihault, Andrej Krasnicki Pages 25-26 

11th Ordinary Congress 2012, Monte Carlo 

Page 27 first row: 10th Ordinary Congress 

2010, Kopenhagen – Claude Rinck, Jozef 

Ambrus Page 28 Veronique Pecqueux-Rolland 

(left), Nodjyalem Myaro Page 31 Jean Brihault, 

Jan Tuik (background) Page 32 Second row 

(from left): Markus Glaser, Helga Magnusdottir, 

Jerzy Eliasz, Ralf Dejaco – Andrea Moser. Third 

row: Arne Elovsson, Jesus Guerrero (above), 

Janusz Czerwiński Pages 36-37 12th Ordinary 

Congress 2014, Dublin Page 38 Markus 

Glaser Page 39 Sian Rowland Page 40 first 

row: Frantisek Taborsky (left), Claude Rinck 

– EHF-Headquarter. Second row: Executice 

Committee 2012, Monte Carlo. Third row: 

Predrag Boskovic, Leopold Kalin Page 41 first 

row (from right): Gerhard Hofbauer, Martin 

Hausleitner. Third row: Andrea Moser, Ralf Dejaco 

(from left) Page 44 first row: Jean Brihault, 

Marcus Rominger – Lidija Bojic-Cacic. Second 

row: 10th Extraordinary Congress , Limassol 

(Cyprus) – Morten S. Christensen. Third row: 

Gerd Butzeck, Joan Marin, Jesus Guerrero – Tor 

Lian. Forth row: 10th Ordinary Congress 2010, 

Kopenhagen Page 46 first row: Alexander 

Toncourt – John Pedersen, Vesna Lazic. Second 

row: Tor Lian, Prince Frederik from Denmark 

– Hans Holdhaus, Helga Magnusdottir Page 

47 first row: Christoph Gamper – Georgeta 

Lecusanu, Viktor Poladenko. Second row (from 

left): Helga Magnusdottir, Leopold Kalin, Jan 

Tuik, Sandor Andorka, Jesus Guerrero, Carmen 

Manchado – Marsha Brown, Michael Wiederer 

Page 48 first row: Janka Stasova – JJ Rowland. 

Second row: Hans-Jürgen Hinrichs, Dr. Hassan 

Moustafa, Peter Mühlematter. Third row: Frantisek 

Taborsky – TV-Reporter (Eurosport), Tor 

Lian. 


Pages 54-55 Winner Men’s Euro 2016: Germany 

Page 56 first row: feature Men’s EURO 

2016. Second row: Lukas Nilsson, Laszlo Nagy 

Pages 57-58 Winner 11th Women’s EURO 

2014: Norway Page 59 first row: Montenegrin 

Fans, Women’s EURO 2014. Second row: 

Anita Kulcsar in 2000 Page 61 Dragan Skrbic, 

Michael Wiederer, Uros Zorman (from left) 

Page 62-63 Messecenter Herning, 11th Men’s 

EURO 2014 Page 64 Final Women’s EURO 

2014 Pages 66-67 Dagur Sigurdsson, 9th 

Men’s EURO 2010 Page 68 first row: Winner 

4th Men’s EURO 2000: Sweden – Markus Baur, 

Daniel Stephan (from left). Third row: Sann 

Solberg, Heidi Løke – 7th Men’s Euro 2006, 

Lars Christiansen Page 69 Aron Palmarsson 

Page 70 first row: Krakow Hall at the 12th 

Men’s EURO 2016. Second row: semi-final 

Germany-Norway, EURO 2016 – Vladimir 

Maksimov. Third row: Winner 11th Women’s 

EURO 2014: Norway Page 72 Nikola Karabatic 

(left), Luka Karabatic Pages 74-75 Jérôme 

Fernandez, 10th Men’s Euro 2010 Page 76 first 

row: Magnus Wislander, Oleg Khodkow, Staffan 

Olsson, Igor Lawrow, final 4th Men’s EURO 

2000 – Talant Dushebajew in action, 2nd 

Men’s EURO 1996. Second row: Genius Ivano 

Balic against defender Didier Dinart – Renato 

Vugrinec and teammates, 6th Men’s EURO 

2004 Page 77 Thomas Mogensen (left), Momir 

Ilic (2012) – Fan 11th Men’s EURO 2014. 

Second row: Lasse Svan Hansen – Ivano Balic, 

Jesper Jensen Pages 78-79 Media Call, 12th 

Men’s EURO 2016 Page 80 Sabina Jacobsen 

(left), Isabelle Gulldén Page 82 first row: Kiril 

Lazarov – Marta Mangué Gonzalez. Second row: 

Medal Ceremony, 11th Women’s EURO 2014. 

Third row: Estevana Polman (left), Sanne van 

Olphen –11th Women’s EURO 2014 

Page 83 first row: Jelena Eric, Tatjana Logvin. 

Second row: Alain Portes Pages 84-85 Cabral 

Barbosa Page 86 first row: media – Thierry 

Omeyer, Zita Newerla. Second row: Stadthalle 

Vienna, 9th Men’s EURO 2010. Third row: 

Timeout Coach András Németh – Heidi 

Løke in action. Forth row: mixed zone 11th 

Men’s EURO 2014 Page 88 first row: Hanna 

Fogelström – Guro Røen, Kjersti Arntsen. 

Second row: Lina Olsson Rosenberg – Winner 

4th Women’s EURO 2000: Hungary – Heidi 

Johansen. Third row: Mette Vestergaard Larsen 

– feature referee. Forth row: Katrine Lunde 

Page 89 first row: Carmen Martin Berenguer. 

Second row: trophies Women’s EURO 2014. 

Third row: scene Women’s EURO 2000, 

Romania. Forth row: camera on the pitch, final 

Women’s EURO 2014 Pages 90-91 feature 

Men’s EURO 2014 Pages 92-93 EHF members 

2008 in Stavanger. 

YOUTH EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS 

Pages 94-95 scene Men’s 18 EURO, Estonia 

Page 96 Benoit Konkoud, Men’s 18 EURO 

186

2014 – party Time Women’s U 19 EURO 2013 

Page 97 Domagoj Duvnjak Page 98 Christina 

Neagu – Medal Ceremony Women’s 19 EURO 

2013 Page 99 Medal Ceremony Men’s 20 

EURO 2006 Pages 100-101 Estonian Team 

Men’s 20 EURO 2006 Page 102 first row: U 

20 Team Austria. Second row: fans Women’s 

17 EURO 2013 – scene Men’s 18 EURO. Third 

row: Domagoj Dunvjak – Medal Ceremony 

Women’s 17 EURO 2013 Page 104 first row: 

Medal Ceremony Women’s 17 EURO 2013 – 

Mikkel Hansen. Second row: Opening Ceremony 

Men’s 20 EURO 2006. Third row: referee 

Women’s 17 EURO 2013 – Nikola Bilyk Page 

105 Sweden vs. Germany, Men’s 20 EURO 

2006. Second row: Winner Mens‘ 18 EURO 

2014: France. Third row: Women’s 19 EURO 

2005 Page 106 first row: Mait Patrail – features 

Youth European Championships. Second row: 

group phase Women’s 17 EURO 2013 Page 

108 first row: Winner Women’s 19 Euro 2013: 

Russia. Second row: Qualification Event, Faroe 

Islands – Women’s 19 EURO 2013. Third row: 

Bronze Medal Women’s 19 EURO 2013: Denmark 

– Dionne Visser Page 110 first row: Daniel 

Stephan, Stefan Kretzschmar. Second row: 

Coach Marit Breivik (left), Kjersti Grini. Third 

row: Silver Medal EHF 18 EURO 2006: Denmark 

Page 111 Medal Ceremony Women’s 

17 EURO 2013 Pages 112-113 Medal Ceremony 

Women’s EURO 2012 Pages 116-117 

Medal Ceremony Men’s EURO 2012 


Pages 118-119 trophy VELUX EHF Champions 

League Page 120-123 first row: Viborg 

HK, Winner EHF Women’s Champions League 

2009 – Györi Audi ETO KC, Winner MVM 

EHF Champions League 2014 – Budocnost 

Podgorica, Winner 2015 MVM EHF Champions 

League 2015. Second row: FC Barcelona, 

Winner VELUX EHF Champions League 2015 

– SG Flensburg-Handewitt, Winner VELUX EHF 

Champions League 2014 – BM Ciudad Real, 

Winner EHF Champions League 2009 – KS 

Vive Tauron Kielce, Winner VELUX EHF Champions 

League 2016 Pages 123-125 features 

VELUX EHF Final4, LANXESS arena, Cologne 

Page 126 first row: Media Centre LANXESS 

arena. Second row: Michael Wiederer, Medal 

Ceremony MVM EHF Champions League 2015 

Page 126-127 Olafur Stefansson, VELUX EHF 

Final4 2012, semi-final Füchse Berlin vs. FC 

Kopenhagen Page 127 first row: feature EHF 

Champions League 2006/07. Second row: 

medals EHF Champions League Final 2009 

Page 128 Christian Schwarzer (left), Magnus 

Wislander, final EHF Champions League 2000 

– Deja Doler Page 129 Katrine Froelund – 

Bojana Popovic Page 128-129 Laszlo Nagy 

(background) Page 130-131 Opening Show, 

VELUX EHF Final4 2015 Pages 132-133 

Frederik Petersen, Konstantin Igropoulo, EHF 

Cup Final4 2015 Page 134 first & second row: 

features city of cologne. Third row: Stefan 

Lövgren Page 135 first row: LANXESS arena, 

Cologne. Third row: show act VELUX EHF 

Final4 2015 – fans KS Vive Tauron Kielce 

(2016) Page 136 first row: David Szlezak, Peter 

Löscher – Katrine Lunde. Second row: media 

box sky. Third row: fans, VELUX EHF Final4, 

2016 – King Juan Carlos, David Baruffet Page 

139 first row: feature LANXESS arena. Second 

row: Ivan Cupic. Third row: Anita Görbicz Page 

140-141 Opening Show VELUX EHF Final4 

2016 Page 142 Cecil Langanger Pages 146- 

147 Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson Page 148 first 

row: Sandra Toft. Second row: features VELUX 

EHF Final4. Third row: Press Centre – Krzysztof 

Lijewski Pages 150-151 Luc Abalo with fans 

Page 152 Gunnar Prokop Page 153 (from 

left): Jean Brihault, Tor Lian, Michael Wiederer 

Pages 154-155 features final tournaments EHF 


DEVELOPMENT 

Pages 156-157 feature beach handball 

Page 153 feature beach handball Page 160 

feature wheelchair handball Page 162 first 

row: Vanja Antic (front), Jelena Jakovljevic – 

Ole R. Jorstad. Second & third row: features 

beach handball Page 163 first row: referee 

beach handball. Second row: demonstration 

street handball, 2010. Third row: Rui Coelho 

(left), Marco Trespidi (middle), Helmut Wille 

Pages 164-165 feature beach handball Pages 

166-166 Hans Lindberg Page 168 first row: 

Julie Bonaventura (left), Charlotte Bonaventura. 

Second row: feature beach handball 

Pages 170-171 Helmut Höritsch Page 172 

first row: Monika Flixeder. Second row: Peter 

Sichelschmidt. Third row: Doru Simion. Forth 

row: Peter Fröschl Page 174 delegates and 

referees, 11th Men’s EURO 2014 Page 176 

first row: Alfred Gislason, Peter Kovacs. Second 

row: Lino Cervar. Third row: Sebastian Helbig, 

Marcus Geipel, Martin Gjeding, Mads Hansen 

– Johan Ingi Gunnarsson. Forth row: Henrik La 

Cour – Dragan Nachevski Page 176 Jiri Novotny, 

Vaclav Horacek Pages 179-179 feature 

beach handball. 


Page 181 Michael K. Rasmussen Page 183 

Philippe Blatter Page 184 Gerhard Hofbauer 

Page 185 Rui Coelho. 

187

PROJECT MANAGEMENT 

Marsha Brown 

Erik Eggers 

Christoph Gamper 

Thomas Krämer 

JJ Rowland 

Michael Wiederer 

TEXT 

Stadionwelt/Erik Eggers 

DESIGN / POST PRODUCTION 

die Plantage Kreativ GmbH 

Markus Wucherer 

Melanie Hauber 

Kathrin Kopietz (lächle) 

PHOTOGRAPHY 

Axel Heimken 

Imago 

Uros Hocevar 

Horstmüller 

Rafal Oleksiewicz 

Sascha Klahn 

Stadionwelt 

Helmut Steickmann 

EHF Media 

PRINT 

Westermann Druck GmbH (Zwickau) 

All reproduction and representation 

rights reserved. All photographers 

presented in this book are protected by 

intellectual property rights vested in EHF. 

Consequently, none of these photographs 

may be reproduced, modified, 

re-circulated commercially exploited or 

re-used in any form whatsoever. 

all rights reserved by EHF, 

Hoffingergasse 18, 

A-1120 Vienna 

Phone: +43 1 80 151 167 

Mail: office@eurohandball.com 

www.eurohandball.com 

www.ehfmarketing.com 

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