17.05.2013, 01:30
Fourteen countries present on the court of the LANXESS arena

VELUX EHF FINAL4 teams have announced their lists of players for the trip to Cologne

Fourteen countries present on the court of the LANXESS arena

All four teams heading to the VELUX EHF FINAL4 have confirmed their rosters for the fourth edition of the season highlight in the LANXESS arena on 1 and 2 June. In total 69 players will travel to Cologne as only THW Kiel have not used the option to nominate 18 players and will arrive with only 15.

However, the defending champions can of course still call up any additional players from their official season roster in case of an injury.

Although for the second time in a row and for a third time in the history of the VELUX EHF FINAL4 the teams from three countries have qualified to the premier event, no fewer than 14 countries will be represented by their players. The largest contingents of players will be from Spain and Germany with twelve each followed by Poland with eleven.

Croatia leads all countries which do not have their team in Cologne with eight players – three from Hamburg and five from Kielce followed by Sweden with seven (three from both Kiel and Hamburg and one from Barcelona).

Two new countries will extend the all-time list to 23 as Slovakia and Slovenia will have their first ever player (Barcelona's Martin Straňovský and Kielce's Uroš Zorman) at the tournament.

Countries representation at the 2013 VELUX EHF FINAL4: Spain and Germany 12, Poland 11, Croatia 8, Sweden 7, France and Serbia 4, Iceland and Denmark 3, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia 1.

In the previous three seasons players from these countries have already taken part in Cologne: Hungary, Chile, Argentina, FYR Macedonia, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Switzerland and Ukraine.

TEXT: EHF / br