European trio aim for another global title

The tenth edition of the IHF Super Globe, the World Championship for club teams, will start in Doha on Monday. For the seventh straight time, the Qatari capital is the location for the event, which includes three European teams this year.

German 2015 EHF Cup winners Füchse Berlin are the defending champions, Vive Tauron Kielce are qualified as current VELUX EHF Champions League title holders, while Paris Saint-Germain received a wild card. Kielce and Paris are debutants at the IHF Super Globe.

The playing system is the same as last year, starting with quarter-finals on Monday, followed by semi-finals and placement round on Tuesday. After a rest day the placement matches and the final will conclude the tournament on Thursday. All matches will be staged in the Duhail Sports Arena, one of the 2015 World Championship venues.

Due to the seeding list and the draw, none of the quarter-finals are an all-European: Kielce will face HC Taubate (Brazil), the Pan American representative, followed by PSG vs Esperance Sportive de Tunis H.C (Tunisia), the African Handball Super Cup winners. Berlin will have their quarter-final against Qatar based Asian Club League champions Lakhwiya. The first round will be concluded with the match of Super Globe host Al Sadd (Qatar) and Oceania winner Sydney Uni Handball Club (Australia).

The semi-final pairings will see the winners of Kielce/Taubate vs PSG/Esperance and Berlin/Lakhwiya vs Al Sadd/Sydney, the losers of the respective quarter-finals will move onto the placement matches.

“We are proud to be on this big stage again,” says Bob Hanning, manager of Füchse Berlin. His team started victorious in the Bundesliga, but believes that they are the underdogs at Doha again: “We had this role in 2015 and beat Barcelona and Veszprem to win this prestigious trophy, so why should we change?” Hanning said.

While the German side nearly can play with their full squad at Doha, PSG and Kielce will have to replace several injured key players such as Luc Abalo, Benoit Kounkoud (Paris) or Michal Jurecki, Julen Aguinagalde and new arrival Dean Bombac (all Kielce). “We have competed for three different trophies last season - Polish league, Polish cup and the VELUX EHF Champions League - and took them all. So it would brilliant to add trophy number four,” commented Kielce’s playmaker Uros Zorman.

Eight times in nine IHF Super Globe tournaments so far, a European team were on the winners’ podium. The only non-European Super Globe winner of the trophy was Al-Sadd in 2002. Record winner is Spanish side Ciudad Real Real/Atletico Madrid with three wins (2007, 2010, 2012). Thus Kielce’s coach Talant Dujshebaev can open a new chapter of handball history: he would be the only person in handball to win the Super Globe as player (1997 with Santander) and a coach of Ciudad Real/Atletico. Now Dujshebaev can become the first coach ever to win the trophy with two different teams.

IHF Super Globe 2016 participants:


Host team: Al Sadd (QAT)
Asia: Lakhwiya (QAT)

Defending Champions: Füchse Berlin (GER)

Europe: KS Vive Tauron Kielce (POL)

Africa: Esperance Sportive de Tunis H.C (TUN)

Oceania: Sydney Uni Handball Club (AUS)

Pan America: HC Taubate (BRA)

Wild Card: Paris Saint-Germain Handball (FRA)



The playing schedule (all times local):


5 September 2016: quarter-final matches

13:00 KS Vive Tauron Kielce vs HC Taubate

15:00 Paris Saint-Germain Handball vs Esperance Sportive de Tunis H.C

17:00 Füchse Berlin vs Lakhwiya
20:00 Al Sadd vs Sydney Uni Handball Club


6 September 2016: placement round and semi-finals:
13:00 loser Kielce/Taubate vs loser PSG/Esperance
15:00 loser Berlin/Lakwiya vs loser Al Sadd/Sydney
17:00 winner Kielce/Taubate vs winner PSG/Esperance
19:00 winner Berlin/Lakwiya vs winner Al Sadd/Sydney

8 September 2016: placement matches, final
13:00 placement match 7/8 (losers of placement round matches)
15:00 placement match 5/6 (winner sof placement round matches)
17:00 bronze medal match (losers of the semi-finals)
19:00 final (winners of the semi-finals)