From far and wide to Cologne

All the way from Brazil, already for the fifth time in a row from the USA and by bike from Sweden: Some fans’ travels to the VELUX EHF FINAL4 are truly worth a story

The most difficult part of Marcos Caseiro’s and Enrico Prado’s trip from the Brazilian city of Sao Paolo to the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in Cologne was to get the permission of their wives to travel. “That was the trickiest bit,” says Caseiro tongue-in-cheek.

“But now we are here and it’s a dream come true. We have been trying to come here for five years but never made it. Handball is our passion. We have been playing it for 25 years. We like football, and we will attend a game if possible at the World Cup next month but our passion and love lies with handball. It’s weird for Brazilians, but it’s true,” adds the 35-year-old.

Both of them left Brazil on Wednesday, arrived on Thursday and had already purchased some club merchandise when we met them at the opening party on Friday. “I support Barcelona, but I also very much like Veszprem. I think Barca is going to win,” says Caseiro ahead of the semi-finals. “I have Brazilian-Spanish citizenship, hence for me it’s almost compulsory to support Barca, but they are my favourite team as well,” adds Prado.

While the two Brazilian buddies are in Cologne for the first time, German Joachim Schütz already attends his fifth EHF FINAL4 – even though he has been living in New York City for more than 20 years. Having played as a left back in the second division for Leverkusen when he was still in Germany, it is not only the sport and the chance to catch up with many old friends that bring him to Cologne, but also a certain – let’s say – ‘object of desire’.

For many years Schütz has been collecting balls from important handball matches. At an online auction last year he successfully bid for the final’s ball of the 2013 VELUX EHF FINAL4 and if possible he will try and get his hands on a 2014 ball as well – overall he already owns more than three dozen.

“The oldest one I have is a ball from the World Championship 1982 in Germany. The highlights are the ones that are very hard to get, such as the final ball from the 2008 Olympics or one from the World Championship 2007.”

Last but not least, one of the most exhausting journeys to the VELUX EHF FINAL4 was probably accomplished by Swede Ingemar Gersson and his son Martin. To be in Cologne, they left their home city of Helsingborg days before and cycled all the way: a more than 800km long trip that eventually earned Martin also a place at the ‘Google hangout with the stars’ on Friday at which he had a chance to chat to his idols (see page 15).