27.05.2018, 11:11
Ticket sales for 2019 starts

NEWS: The start of the ticket sales for the 2019 edition met with enourmous interest again.

Ticket sales for 2019 starts

2019 marks an anniversary for the VELUX EHF FINAL4 as it will be for the 10th time that the highlight of the VELUX EHF Champions League will be played in the LANXESS arena. The earliest chance to secure a seat arrived already on Saturday a few hours before the first semi-final throw-off. The ticket sales started around 11:30 hrs when the doors to the area around LANXESS arena opened.

Like in the years before a long line was formed with hundreds of handball fans from around the world patiently waiting. At temperatures around 26°C umbrellas were used here and there for creating some shade.

Edit Veres waited with her husband quite far in the tail of the queue. “I’m here for the third time already but it’s my husband’s fifth time here in Cologne.” They are from Veszprém, easily recognisable by their red shirts. Although their team is not in Cologne they are looking forward to the matches and support “Vardar of course.”

A few metres away, closer to the ticket station there are around ten Spanish guys, some with neutral shirts and some in jerseys of Vardar. “He just bought it here,” says Nalo Eyardar about his friend Adrian from Mallorca. “Only this year I hope Vardar will win.” They all played handball together but now they all live in different cities. For Nalo it’s his first time at the VELUX EHF FINAL4, for Adrian the second time and for their friend Carlos already the seventh time.

“It’s already my eighth time here and I plan to mark in two years my tenth time,” says Bettina Gadecke from Cologne, wearing a THW shirt. “Unfortunately Kiel didn’t make it to the FINAL4 so I will cheer for the players of Montpellier because for me they are the underdogs.” That the own team isn’t part of the highlight of the VELUX EHF Champions League isn’t a reason not to come to Cologne – for anyone. “It’s not just about supporting for your team, it’s also about the atmosphere and rooting for the sport of handball.”

A bunch of fans from France also patiently waited in the line. “We have been in line for a while now but it is like this every year so we know we will get the tickets and they won’t be sold out. This is our ninth time, and next year it will be the tenth time we are coming to the FINAL4. We will support any French team that qualifies,” they said.

“I have been in line for 10 minutes now but now I think I should have came earlier because I think I will be here for a while more. At least this is fun. Fans from all over the world are coming here and everyone is having fun, there is music, beer.. this makes it easier to wait,” said Johann from Cologne.

“I have already been to the FINAL4 last year and we have tickets for this year as well. This year it will be the first time we are taking our daughter with us so now we are buying tickets for next year and we hope she will also like it. We are trying to get her to like handball from very early,” said a mother from Cologne.

The online ticket sales for the 2019 edition will be launched already on Monday morning.

TEXT: Iris Magerl, Carina Schmidt, Andreja Piskac / br