15.06.2018, 10:20
High hopes for a premiere in the centre of Europe

EHF CONGRESS 2018: Germany has hosted just one EHF EURO event, the very first Women’s EHF EURO in 1994. Now the nation is looking to host a men’s event, the EHF EURO in 2024

High hopes for a premiere in the centre of Europe

The German Handball Federation was a trailblazer at the start of EHF EURO history as the host of the first Women’s EHF EURO in 1994

Exactly 30 years later, the German Handball Federation DHB hope for their premiere in the men’s competition, as organiser of the Men’s EHF EURO 2024. The EHF Congress will award this event on Wednesday, 20 June 2018 in Glasgow.

“As host of the EHF EURO 2024, we want to produce an impact to use the potential of handball as good as possible and continue this story of success of the EHF EURO. Germany offers top conditions with large and up-to-date arenas in cities with international flair,” said Andreas Michelmann, President of the German Handball Federation.

Germany successfully hosted the record-breaking 2007 Men’s World Championship, the 2017 Women’s World Championship with more than 320,000 spectators and a sold-out final weekend in the Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg.

Since 2010, the LANXESS arena Cologne has hosted the VELUX EHF FINAL4. And four times (2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018), German cities have organised the EHF Cup Finals. Hamburg has also been the venue for the German Cup finals for the past 20 years.

The bid for the Men’s EHF EURO 2024 goes in line with those benchmark events and locations: all arenas, which are part of the bid, can accommodate more than 10,000 spectators. The whole country is involved with cities including Munich, Cologne, Hamburg, Berlin, Mannheim and Hannover - and the opening match could also break the audience world record for handball: it is planned in Düsseldorf’s ESPRIT Arena with approximately 50,000 fans.

In total, up to 750,000 spectators can attend the matches of the 24 participating teams in a handball-crazy country with more than 750,000 active players in more than 10,000 handball clubs.

If awarded the organisational right by the EHF Congress in Glasgow, Germany 2024 would be the first EHF EURO with 24 teams also hosted by only one country, in the centre of Europe.

“We can offer short ways for all groups of participants, such as teams, fans and officials. We can count on a great infrastructure in terms of logistics, travel, accommodation and hotel capacities in all potential host cities.

Germany is easy to reach from all European countries by plane, train or car and all inner-German travel infrastructure such as motorways, high-speed train connections and flights are of highest global standard,” says Mark Schober, CEO of the German Handball Federation.

Besides, German Handball Federation plan the first “European Handball Summit” in cooperation with SPONSORS – one of the leading European sports business publishers and summit organisers on the fringes of the EHF EURO 2024.

Experts in sports business and handball from all participating countries and high-class speakers for marketing, sports media and entertainment will be invited. The summit is described as a platform for a broad transfer of knowledge and an exchange between different types of sports and handball experts from big and small handball nations.

“We are sure that the whole European handball family will profit from the EHF EURO 2024 in Germany. Thanks to the potentially high revenues the European Handball Federation have a bigger opportunity to spread more money for the development of handball throughout whole Europe,” says Schober, who also underlines that in case of a single event host, one more team can qualify and be part of the EHF EURO 2024.

Bid links:

EHF EURO Beyond 2020 website
EHF EURO Beyond 2020 official bid presentation
Germany official bid website

TEXT: Björn Pazen/jjr