EHF NEWS 64 – 07.05.2007

2007 Men’s Champions Trophy The 2007 Men’s Champions Trophy will take place in Celje, Slovenia from 20 – 21 October 2007. Celje is no stranger to top events and the city is steeped in handball traditions. The arena in Celje was built for the 2004 Men’s European Championship and has since seen many top class matches, including a Men’s Champions League Final.

The New Event Identity The event, which has been part of the EHF men’s competition compendium since 1996, when FC Barcelona took the title, has previously come under the title of European Championship for Club Teams, and was also commonly known as the Supercup. The EHF is re-launching the event under the new name of Men’s Champions Trophy, which is fitting because the champions of the Champions League, EHF Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup meet a wild card entrant to offer the public this attractive event.

The logo has also been newly designed, incorporating the EHF club competitions’ ball which is present in the logos of all the EHF club competitions. The four stars represent the number of participants and their “champion” status. The logo will be adapted for each event, presenting the colour scheme of each host club, as well as the location of the event.

The participants in the 2007 Champions Trophy are: 2006/07 Champions League Winner GER THW Kiel

2006/07 EHF Cup Winner GER SC

2006/07 Cup Winners’ Cup Winner GER HSV Handball

Wild card for the organiser SLO Celje Pivovarna Lasko

The competitions will be played with two semi-finals and final matches: Saturday 20.10.2007 Semi-finals Sunday 21.10.2007 Final and Match ¾

The matches will be played in the Dvorana Zlatorog Arena Celje, with a 4594 spectator capacity

History of the event The following teams have won the Champions Trophy in previous years:

Winner: Venue: 1996: FC Barcelona (ESP) Bielefeld (GER) 1997: FC Barcelona (ESP) Irun (ESP) 1998: FC Barcelona (ESP) Barcelona (ESP) 1999: FC Barcelona (ESP) Magdeburg (GER) 2000: Portland San Antonio (ESP) Pamplona (ESP) 2001: SC Magdeburg (GER) Kiel (GER) 2002: SC Magdeburg (GER) Magdeburg (GER) 2003: FC Barcelona (ESP) Valladolid (ESP) 2004: Celje Pivovarna Lasko (SLO) Ciudad Real (ESP) 2005: BM Ciudad Real (ESP) Leon (ESP) 2006: BM Ciudad Real (ESP) Köln (GER)