SPORT REPORT 2015/16 SPORT REPORT 2015/16 A season of champions A season of champions A HIT WITH HANDBALL Through innovative ideas, inspired concepts and comprehensive services, Infront Sports & Media is helping to build the big moments in handball. Since 1993, the EHF and Infront have worked The EHF EURO is a true showcase for the sport of together in a successful media and marketing handball and appeals to sponsors, broadcasters and partnership that has helped to boost the federation’s fans alike. flagship events. In 2016, the mens’ event achieved a total cumulative Continuous improvements, such as a digital media strategy, audience of 1.65 billion, aired into 175 countries and the implementation of LED advertising technology and the territories worldwide by 75 broadcasters. The last womens’ latest and innovative camera technologies, have delivered event held in 2014 generated a cumulative TV audience of new perspectives, increased commercial value and even 723 million. more gripping action to fans. Our experience. Shared passion. Your success. www.infrontsports.com Twitter @infrontsports EHF Sport Report 2016 From the President Dear handball friends, As you read these lines and the following pages, the 2016/17 season will have left its starting blocks. Younger age category events such as the Men’s 20 EHF EURO in Denmark, the Men’s 18 EHF EURO in Croatia, the corresponding EHF Championships in Georgia, Lithuania and Bulgaria as well as the Women’s 18 European Open in Sweden have been played. Qualification tournaments for the VELUX EHF and the Women’s EHF Champions League will throw off soon. So the question is: What remains of the 2015/16 season, the season that only just passed, but on the other hand is already a part of the EHF’s rich history? While this question is impossible for me to answer for each of you individually, as you all probably have different memories – depending on your nationality or your allegiance to a certain club – I can tell you what I hope will remain. We have created an incredible amount of “I was there” moments over the past 12 months. Who would have thought that in January at the EHF EURO, Croatia would beat Poland by 14 goals to squeeze past the tournament hosts as well as past defending champions France and qualify for the semi-final? Not to mention that only a few days Jean Brihault later Germany, severely hit by several injuries to key players throughout the tournament, topped the podium. EHF President Who would have thought around the 45th minute in the final of the VELUX EHF Champions League that KS Vive Tauron Kielce could turn the game against MVM Veszprém around and even win? Who could have guessed that this final and also the final in the Women’s EHF Champions League would only be decided after penalties? In my eyes all these games have created an “I was there” moment. A moment in the mind of a fan, who watched the game live in the arena or on television, that will last for many years, maybe even forever. And it is these moments which are part of the reason that makes our sport so great! Where else other than in handball can these amazing turnarounds happen, where else other than in handball do we see so much tension packed into just 60 minutes? I hope that in the seasons and years to come we will witness many more matches like the ones just mentioned. But stop! This season was not just about the EHF EURO or the EHF Champions League. It was so much more, starting with the women’s younger age category events last summer all the way to the Women’s Trophy in March and the ebt Finals in May. And let us not forget the EHF’s European Cup competitions. For all of them we have created this Sport Report, covering the period from 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016, which enables you to re-enjoy the highlights of the 2015/16 season. We hope that the memories of these thrilling handball months stay with you forever. Contents A season of champions 4 Hitting the beach 28 Men’s EHF EURO 2016 10 EHF Beach Handball Champions Cup 30 VELUX EHF Champions League 12 ebt Finals 31 Women’s EHF Champions League 14 Meet the All-stars 32 Let’s go clubbing 16 Season 2016/17 calendar 38 Men’s EHF Cup 18 EHF European Cups 20 Competition results 40 Handball – a passion that never stops 62 A summer of youth 22 W17 EHF EURO 24 W19 EHF EURO 25 European Youth Olympic Fesitval 26 Women’s Trophy 27 3 EHF Sport Report 2016 Germany win the EHF EURO 2016 4 EHF Sport Report 2016 5 EHF Sport Report 2016 KS Vive Tauron Kielce win the VELUX EHF Champions League 6 EHF Sport Report 2016 7 EHF Sport Report 2016 CSM Bucuresti win the Women’s EHF Champions League 8 EHF Sport Report 2016 9 EHF Sport Report 2016 Top marks for hosts as Germany win gold The EHF and its exclusive media and marketing partner, Infront Sports & Media, released record figures after the Men’s EHF EURO 2016 Expectations were high ahead of the Men’s EHF EURO 2016 in Poland in January as the country staged its first major international handball championship. The event and its host, the Polish Handball Federation, promised much and delivered in spades, receiving all-round praise for the organisation of the championship in the cities of Krakow, Katowice, Wroclaw and Gdansk. Europe’s top 16 national teams thrilled record number of spectators and TV viewers in a tournament that saw underdogs prevail and favourites, including the defending champions France, crumble. The title was ultimately to go to Germany, something which prior to the tournament few people would have predicted. Their win, the nation’s second in the history of the competition, was nothing short of a sensation, also back home in Germany where 13 million people followed the final match against Spain on television. Missing many of their top stars, the young German side grew as a team throughout the championship and was inspired by the outstanding performance of their goalkeeper, Andreas Wolff. Spectator record in sport-loving Poland Speaking at the closing press conference, the EHF President, Jean Brihault, described the tournament as a resounding success, saying: “The EHF EURO 2016 has been the biggest and one of the best to date. In sport-loving Poland our event received huge support. This explains FACTS & FIGURES the new spectator record for an EHF EURO with over 400,000 spectators across all four venues.” The President of the Polish Handball Federation, Andrzej Krasnicki, said: “It has been a big success for Poland, for our sport and handball. We worked with fantastic people and had fantastic time. We want to thank all stakeholders including volunteers. We have one winner and the 1.65 billion 400,622 winner was handball.” global TV spectators audience Media coverage worldwide A huge global audience followed the action and the latest news live from #ehfeuro2016 Poland, with almost 1,200 media representatives on site and TV coverage by 75 TV stations in more than 165 countries and territories. 1 billion 60 million The official website ehf-euro.com broke all records with more than one impressions digital reach million visitors and 10 million page impressions and more than 1.5 million live streams were watched on the federation’s video platform, ehfTV.com. Social media also played an important role in the EHF’s coverage with content distributed across a wide range of social media channels. Fans could follow the event on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. In a sold-out TAURON Arena in Krakow the Germans defeated Spain 24:17 A Whatsapp service was introduced for the first time and the federation’s (10:6) to take the trophy and further extended the Spanish losing streak in team of mobile reporters were active throughout the event providing live EHF EURO finals, which includes losing to Sweden in 1996, Russia in 1998 coverage on a new Snapchat channel ehf_live. and France in 2006. With this win Germany received the jackpot, taking home not just the championship plate but also a direct ticket to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio and, together with Spain and third-placed Croatia, direct qualification to the World Championship in France in January 2017. See the full competition results on pages 40 and 41 10 EHF Sport Report 2016 Sporting sensations, great atmosphere EHF Secretary General Michael Wiederer discusses what impressed him most at the EHF EURO 2016 EHF Secretary General, Michael Wiederer, provides his conclusions on the EHF: From a sporting viewpoint, do you agree that it was a ‘tournament Men’s EHF EURO 2016 from an organisational and sporting angle, as he of surprises?’ begins to look ahead to Croatia 2018. Michael Wiederer: To be honest, I did not expect those semi-finalists, except for Spain, as they belonged to the previous medal contenders. EHF: After two great weeks of handball in Poland, how do you rate the For the development and the promotion of handball, it is great that new cooperation of the EHF with the Polish Organising Committee? nations, or nations that had been out of the spotlight for several years, are on the stage and back in the focus. Michael Wiederer: The cooperation with the Polish organisers was very fruitful and demonstrated at the highest level. Both expectations The EURO has proved the depth of top European handball, not only by were satisfied.