All-star team vote reaches new heights with 44,000 fans    

Europe’s handball fans have made their decision as the VELUX EHF Champions League All-star team vote has reached new heights. In its third edition almost 44,000 people have joined the vote – an increase of over 60 per cent compared to last year’s 27,000.     

Fans’ selection of the top players from the 2014/15 season has been announced in Cologne on the fringes of the VELUX EHF FINAL4 weekend. In total 43,981 people cast their online ballots from 8 April to 24 May in a revamped vote.

For the first time also the best coach and the best young player (born in 1992 or younger) have been awarded and voters could choose from among five nominees per position.

Seven out of ten selected stars have also made it to the season’s climax in the LANXESS arena. The ten awarded names represent a colourful canvas of seven different clubs and seven different nationalities.

Veszprem goalkeeper Roland Mikler received the most votes for this position in his first season for the Hungarian champions and replaced last year’s winner Niklas Landin from Rhein-Neckar Löwen.

Although Löwen were stopped in the Last 16 their captain Uwe Gensheimer still made it to the All-star team having won a tight three-way race for the best left wing award with 28.88 per cent, leaving behind Barcelona’s Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson (26.66) and Vardar’s Timur Dibirov (25.57).

On the left back position it was also a narrow decision between two great icons of European handball as Nikola Karabatic of FC Barcelona emerged victorious, only 594 votes ahead of last year’s winner, Veszprem’s Momir Ilic.

However, fans opted for no changes on three positions compared to last year as Paris Saint-Germain playmaker Mikkel Hansen defended his centre back award, Renato Sulic from Veszprem dominated on the line and Barcelona sharpshooter Kiril Lazarov received again the best right back award.

Barcelona’s hat-trick as the club with the largest contingent of awarded players is completed by their captain Victor Tomas, who won the best right wing award in impressive fashion.

The tightest competition of the whole vote took place in the best defender’s post as Rene Toft Hansen from THW Kiel took the award by a margin of only 410 online ballots ahead of Piotr Grabarczyk from Kielce.

The two new positions turned out to be a “family business” as both Vive Tauron Kielce coach Talant Dujshebaev and his son Alex, who plays for HC Vardar, made it on the team.

While Talant, who is still the only one to have won the EHF Champions League as a player and a coach, is vying for his first trophy with the Polish champions, Alex’s team was eliminated in the quarter-final by his father’s side.

The younger Dujshebaev could find at least some solace in the fact he has become a new record vote-getter with 25,059 votes, topping the previous best mark of Renato Sulic from last year (14,997).

2014/15 VELUX EHF Champions League All-star team

Goalkeeper: Roland Mikler (MKB-MVM Veszprem) 32.54% - 14,310
Left wing: Uwe Gensheimer (Rhein-Neckar Löwen) 28.88% - 12,700
Left back: Nikola Karabatic (FC Barcelona) 33.64% - 14,796
Centre back: Mikkel Hansen (PSG Handball) 32.72% - 14,389
Line player: Renato Sulic (MKB-MVM Veszprem) 38.28% - 16,838
Right back: Kiril Lazarov (FC Barcelona) 38.32% - 11,192
Right wing: Victor Tomas (FC Barcelona) 27.68% - 12,173

Best defender: Rene Toft Hansen (THW Kiel) 26.38% - 11,602
Best young player: Alex Dujshebaev (HC Vardar) 56.98% - 25,059
Best coach: Talant Dujshebaev (KS Vive Tauron Kielce) 29.21% - 12,847

Watch the All-star team video here