All-star team vote opens as 50 nominees await fans’ support

With only eight games remaining in this season, all handball fans can now have their say on the selection of the greatest stars of the VELUX EHF Champions League 2016/17 as the All-star team voting opens. For the first time the vote is presented by Salming, the competition’s official partner.

The past four editions of the vote generated a great interest and only in the last year over 80.000 handball fans took part. New opportunity to choose the star selection of the European top flight is here again.

In its fifth year, the All-star team vote will again ask the fans to cast their online ballots for ten positions - the starting seven plus the best defender, the best coach and the best young player (born in 1994 or younger). There are five nominees in the selection for each position.

Players and coaches from 20 clubs and from 17 nations in the current season have been selected. While six members of the 2015/16 All-star team can make it back to the elite company, there are no fewer than 25 new names (50 %) in the nomination list.

The vote will be open until Tuesday 30 May 2017 (midnight) and for the first time also the media representatives and a panel of experts will contribute to the final selection. The combined choice of all three branches will be announced during the VELUX EHF FINAL4 event in Cologne on 3/4 June 2017.

Fans who register before submitting their votes can win of 16 attractive prizes from the official partner Salming including the original award “The Spirit of Handball” created by the Swedish-American graffiti artist Shai Dahan. The artpiece will be handed over to the new All-star team members.

Players have been nominated on the basis of their comprehensive performance throughout the season so far; not just their goal-getting prowess, but also their performance in defence, the number of blocks, assists and reaction in crucial moments during each match.

Enter the vote of the VELUX EHF Champions League 2016/17 All-star team here.

The players nominated for the 2016/17 season are:

Goalkeeper
Mattias Andersson (SWE) – SG Flensburg-Handewitt/GER
Ivan Stevanovic (CRO) – HC PPD Zagreb/CRO
Thierry Omeyer (FRA) – Paris Saint-Germain Handball/FRA
Gonzalo Perez de Vargas (ESP) – FC Barcelona Lassa/ESP
Cyril Dumoulin (FRA) – HBC Nantes/FRA

Left wing
Uwe Gensheimer (GER) - Paris Saint-Germain Handball/FRA
Magnus Bramming (DEN) – Team Tvis Holstebro/DEN
Jonas Källman (SWE) – MOL-Pick Szeged/HUN
Timur Dibirov (RUS) – HC Vardar/MKD
Valero Rivera (ESP) – FC Barcelona Lassa/ESP

Left back
Momir Ilic (SRB) – Telekom Veszprem/HUN
Mikkel Hansen (DEN) – Paris Saint-Germain Handball/FRA
Karol Bielecki (POL) – KS Vive Tauron Kielce/POL
Sajad Esteki (IRI) – Dinamo Bucuresti/ROU
Mathieu Grebille (FRA) – Montpellier HB/FRA

Centre back
Gabor Csaszar (HUN) – Kadetten Schaffhausen /SUI
Andre Schmid (SUI) – Rhein-Neckar Löwen/GER
Kentin Mahe (FRA) – SG Flensburg-Handewitt/GER
Sebastian Skube (SLO) – Bjerringbro-Silkeborg/DEN
Nikola Karabatic (FRA) - Paris Saint-Germain Handball/FRA

Line player
Rastko Stojkovic (SRB) – HC Meshkov Brest/BLR
Julen Aguinagalde (ESP) – KS Vive Tauron Kielce/POL
Andreas Nilsson (SWE) - Telekom Veszprem/HUN
Patrick Wiencek (GER) – THW Kiel/GER
Ludovic Fabregas (FRA) – Montpellier HB/FRA

Right back
Dainis Kristopans (LAT) – HC Meshkov Brest/BLR
Zsolt Balogh (HUN) – MOL-Pick Szeged/HUN
Jure Dolenec (SLO) – Montpellier HB/FRA
Kiril Lazarov (MKD) – FC Barcelona Lassa/ESP
Alex Dujshebaev (ESP) – HC Vardar/MKD

Right wing
David Balaguer (ESP) – HBC Nantes/FRA
Lasse Svan (DEN) – SG Flensburg-Handewitt/GER
Zlatko Horvat (CRO) – HC PPD Zagreb/CRO
Darko Djukic (SRB) – Vive Tauron Kielce/POL
Victor Tomas (ESP) – FC Barcelona Lassa/ESP

Defender
Viran Morros (ESP) – FC Barcelona Lassa/ESP
Timuzsin Schuch (HUN) – Telekom Veszprem/HUN
Rene Toft Hansen (DEN) – THW Kiel/GER
Ilija Abutovic (SRB) – HC Vardar/MKD
Luka Karabatic (FRA) – Paris Saint-Germain Handball/FRA

Young player
Jerry Tollbring (SWE) – IFK Kristianstad/SWE
Nikola Bilyk (AUT) – THW Kiel/GER
Blaz Janc (SLO) – RK Celje Pivovarna Lasko/SLO
Nedim Remili (FRA) – Paris Saint-Germain Handball/FRA
Haniel Inoue Langaro (BRA) – Naturhouse La Rioja

Coach
Xavi Pascual (ESP) – FC Barcelona Lassa/ESP
Patrice Canayer (FRA) – Montpellier HB/FRA
Juan Carlos Pastor (ESP) – MOL-Pick Szeged/HUN
Raul Gonzalez Gutierrez (ESP) – HC Vardar/MKD
Ljubomir Vranjes (SWE) – SG Flensburg-Handewitt/GER

Enter the vote of the VELUX EHF Champions League 2016/17 All-star team presented by Salming here.

Profiles

A complete list of player and coaches profiles can be found on here