German referees Geipel and Helbig to lead final in Cologne

No teams from Germany have qualified for the VELUX EHF FINAL4 2019 in Cologne, but the host nation will still be represented on court in the final.

German referee pair Lars Geipel and Marcus Helbig will officiate the gold-medal match of the anniversary 10th edition of the marquee event in the LANXESS arena in Cologne on Sunday 2 June.

Geipel and Helbig are familiar faces at the VELUX EHF FINAL4: they also led the final in 2017, when Vardar beat PSG to the title, and they were in charge of the semi-final between eventual champions Kielce and PSG in 2016. The experienced duo has led European Cup matches since 2004 and has also officiated at numerous national team events, including various EHF EURO tournaments.

The European Handball Federation has announced the nominated officials for the VELUX EHF FINAL4 2019, where Veszprém, Kielce, Barça and Vardar will battle it out for the VELUX EHF Champions League 2018/19 title.

Overview of nominations for the VELUX EHF FINAL4 2019:

Semi-final: Telekom Veszprém HC vs PGE Vive Kielce, Saturday 1 June, 15:15 hrs
Referees: Slave Nikolov and Gjorgji Nachevski (MKD)
Delegates: Marco Trespidi (ITA) and Viktor Konopliastyi (UKR)

Semi-final: Barça Lassa vs HC Vardar, Saturday 1 June, 18:00 hrs
Referees: Zigmars Sondors and Renars Licis (LAT)
Delegates: Øyvind Togstad (NOR) and Robert Dujardin (FRA)

3/4 Placement Match: loser Veszprém/Kielce vs loser Barça/Vardar, Sunday 2 June, 15:15 hrs
Referees: Duarte Santos and Ricardo Fonseca (POR)

Final: winner Veszprém/Kielce vs winner Barça/Vardar, Sunday 2 June, 18:00 hrs
Referees: Lars Geipel and Marcus Helbig (GER)

The VELUX EHF FINAL4 2019 takes place on 1/2 June in the LANXESS arena in Cologne. It is the 10th time that the finals tournament of the VELUX EHF Champions League comes to the German city.

Barça have won the title in Cologne two times (2011 and 2015); both Kielce (2016) and Vardar (2017) have won once. Veszprém are yet to lift this trophy.