With immediate effect, the Croatian National Tourist Board as well as the Istria Tourist Board will become the official destination partners of Europe’s premium club handball competition.

The deal, brokered by the European Handball Federation’s marketing arm, EHF Marketing GmbH, also includes the seasons 2024/25 and 2025/26.

The Tourist Boards will benefit from a range of visible rights in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League, ensuring significant exposure at all matches as well as digital presence on eurohandball.com and EHFTV, the European Handball Federation’s OTT platform.

David Szlezak, EHF Marketing Managing Director, said: “We are thrilled to welcome the Croatian National and Istrian Tourist Board to our flagship men’s club handball competition. The new partnership goes hand in hand with our go-to-market strategy as we drive sustainable business impact in marketing, among others, the EHF Champions League competitions. We look forward to see how top-tier European club handball competition can create an authentic platform for the Croatian National and Istria Tourist Board and deliver targeted sponsorship initiatives.”

Kristjan Staničić, Managing Director of the Croatian National Tourist Board, said: “Croatia is a well-known sporting nation, and our handball teams and players are active throughout Europe. We know that handball as a sport is extremely popular both in Croatia and throughout Europe and that this cooperation with the Machineseeker EHF Champions League will provide even greater promotional opportunities across our key European markets. Creating destination awareness through sport, for both Istria and Croatia has proven to be a winning combination.”

Denis Ivošević, Director of the Istria Tourist Board, said: "Istria has positioned itself on the tourist map as a lifestyle destination of the highest quality with a wide range of exceptional experiences, and it has networked its comparative advantages with key and globally recognizable brands, so in recent years has concluded significant strategic partnerships. We are extremely proud of the sporting orientation of our region, not only as hosts of sports spectacles and top athletes on their conditioning training in our destinations, but also through cooperation with top brands, which we are now continuing through an exciting new partnership with the Machineseeker EHF Champions League. The prestigious new partnership includes the cities of Poreč and Umag as cradles of handball and sports destinations representing the Istria Tourist Board in this project."