Hansen's remarkable journey leads to EHF EURO 2014

When the 12 referee pairs for the Men's EHF EURO 2014 were announced, one of them stood out. Partly because they are one of the most experienced pairs in European handball, but mostly for the remarkable journey that one of them has undertaken the past year.

It is more or less exactly a year ago that Danish referee Mads Hansen was diagnosed with cancer.

For him and his refereeing partner, Martin Gjeding, this put a career to a halt which had taken them to all peaks of international handball such as EHF EURO Events, World Championships and Olympic Games.

They had to cancel their participation at the World Championship 2013, but as Hansen recovered, they passed the initial tests in August 2013 that put them among a first selection of 16 pairs for the EHF EURO 2014, and were then eagerly awaiting the announcement of the final 12 pairs.

It was a wait that turned out to be worthwhile for them.

"We are very happy," says Martin Gjeding. "We were hoping very much to be among the pairs selected. Now we will fully focus on training to get back to our absolute top form."

For Gjeding and Hansen the Men's EHF EURO 2014 marks the second time they will be part of an EHF EURO Event on home court after they already participated at the Women's EHF EURO 2010 in Denmark and Norway at which they, among other matches, whistled the final between Norway and Sweden.

"This is a huge redemption - and the reward for all the hard training I've been through since my last chemo therapy treatment half a year ago," says Hansen.

"It's been an emotional time when we've received a lot of positive feedback and experienced tremendous support. The DHF (Danish Handball Federation) referee committee has supported us throughout the process and showed us great confidence and it all culminates in this selection."

Hansen and Gjeding are determined to give it all they have to prepare in the best way possible for the EHF EURO 2014.

"We need to whistle as many matches as we are allowed to, both in the domestic league and internationally. We also hope for some Champions League matches and matches at preparation tournaments," says Martin Gjeding.