New trophy unveiled

Its form is inspired by the movement of the ball on the court, the quick passes, the shots and the always-changing formations on the court. In other words: The new trophy for the winning team of the Women's EHF Champions League is a true symbol for handball.

And on Tuesday, on the occasion of the draw for the 2015 MVM EHF FINAL4 at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest (MOME), it was unveiled to the public for the first time.

While the former trophy already made many a player look small due to its sheer size, the new one is truly impressive. It towers at about one metre and weighs more than 10 kilos.

“We felt that our task was to design a trophy that breaks with stereotypes. We built the concept on the dynamics of the game,” said the the two artists Krisztián Ádám and Balázs Sipos.

“This sport, for us, means tactic, quick passes, jump shots, always changing formations. The movement of the ball in the space determines different points, which form the frame of the object.”

The new trophy will be handed over for the first time after final at the 2015 MVM EHF FINAL4 on Sunday, 10 May.

Both Ádám and  Sipos are MOME graduates and formed one of six university teams that had entered the competition to design a new trophy.

At the beginning of the year the European Handball Federation, EHF Marketing and the Hungarian Handball Federation as local organisers had partnered with MOME and gave teams comprised of university graduates the chance to come up with a new design – eventually a jury made up of all stakeholders went for  Ádám's and  Sipos' concept.

"All projects consisted of individualism, had their own values and all design suggestions were of high quality. The winning trophy is feminine, exciting and beautiful," said university rector József Fülöp.

"Eventually the jury decided on the basis of three different elements: We wanted to go away from the traditional form of trophies, we took in account the competition’s female element and we wanted it to connect optically with elements of the Women’s EHF Champion League,” said EHF Secretary General Michael Wiederer.