08.10.2015, 02:10
Bringing handball into Italian living rooms

FEATURE: The young Matteo Aldamonte the voice of VELUX EHF Champions League handball in Italian homes

Bringing handball into Italian living rooms

Handball in Italy is a growing flower, and to increase the general interest in handball TV station Sport Italia is broadcasting the VELUX EHF Champions League live since the start of this season.

And the voice of these broadcasts is 26-year-old Matteo Aldamonte.

When he was 18, he created his first handball blog pallamanoitalia.it, the first news website about handball in Italy.

Three years later, he became head of communication for the Italian Handball Federation and since then has been responsible for their website.

Parallel, Matteo started his career at the public TV station Rai Sport covering matches of the Italian handball national team. And thanks to his involvement in handball, he worked as part of the EHF Young Reporter’s Team at the Women’s EHF EURO 2014.

His expertise now is praised by the viewers of the VELUX EHF Champions League matches at Sport Italia.

“Normally we cover two matches, but next weekend we will broadcast four Champions League matches,” Matteo Aldamonte says.

Sport Italia broadcasted the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in 2013 as their first appetizer of the flagship competition, now the handball fans in Italy get the chance to see the top clubs every weekend.

“My colleagues at Sport Italia were surprised by the positive feedback from handball fans from all over Italy, but I know from my experience that the number of fans is rising in Italy.

And there is a big interest in top matches and top players,” says the TV commentator, who chooses the matches to broadcast every week and commentates on the games from a studio in Milan.

This season, Sport Italia has the TV rights for all stages of the competition and hence will keep the Italian fans updated until the end of the main event i.e. the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in May 2016.

“This is my dream job coming to a reality,” Matteo Aldamonte is happy to be able to bring this top competition into the living rooms of all Italian handball fans.

TEXT: Björn Pazen / bc