As both the Bundesliga and EHF Champions League throw off this weekend I thought I should start this thread now as a couple of (well at least one) people expressed an interest during the Olympics.
Firstly I feel a little fraudulent in trying to guide you through the world of handball. I play in the UK and whilst I can follow a game I don't have a massive amount of knowledge about the professional game.
I've been doing some reading to bring me up to speed and have been slightly horrified that the ruling bodies appear to take FIFA and UEFA as role models. I know I shouldn't be shocked as this is sports administration but still.
Hassan Moustafa has been president of the IHF for 15 years now, in which time he has recruited 60 new national federations. Which might sound positive except that not all of these organisations appear to have any people who play handball. Oh, and as you ask, yes the IHF does have a 1 member fed = 1 vote system.
As for the EHF they just seem to want to be UEFA. They renamed their European Champions Cup to EHF Champions League the season after UEFA rebranded to the Champions League. They have also dropped a Cup Winners Cup in the past five years. The selection process for the Champions league is also rather opaque, yes there is a coefficient and teams qualify but teams who missed out can also apply and their admission is based "according to a criteria system that looked at eight different fields including past performances, venue, spectator, TV, marketing and media issues, the EHF Executive decided on the teams for Groups A and B, teams for Groups C and D and the qualification teams." Which is why PSG, Nantes and Montpellier are taking part but 2nd placed St Raphael aren't.
I'll cover the group stage structure at a later date as it's a little complicated.
Now I've got that out of my system lets have a look at this weekends fixtures.
This weekend has the mens Champions League qualifying round. Two groups of four teams playing a semifinal on Saturday and a final on Sunday. The winners go through to the group stage of the Champions League.
All times CET
Saturday 3rd September
Champions League
RK Gorenje Velenje (SLO) - Cocks (FIN) 13:30
TATRAN Presov (SVK) - Red Boys Differdange (LUX) 16:15
Bregenz Handball (AUT) - Achilles Bocholt (BEL) 16:45
ABC/UMinho (POR) - Maccabi CASTRO Tel Aviv (ISL) 19:30
DKB Handball-Bundesliga
Rhein-Neckar Lowen - SC Magdeburg 15:00
Spanish Supa Copa
FC Barcelona Lassa - Helvetia Anaitasuna 20:30
All these games should be watchable by most of the board users (certainly ones in UK, US & Australia) just click the fixture and it will take you to the game. Most of these won't have commentary though.
I'd recommend the Rhein-Neckar Lowen - SC Magdeburg as it's the league winners v the cup winners in a regular game (the super cup is tonight at 20:15). I just want to draw your attention to some brilliant team names like Red Boys Differdange, Achilles Bocholt & Cocks.
Firstly I feel a little fraudulent in trying to guide you through the world of handball. I play in the UK and whilst I can follow a game I don't have a massive amount of knowledge about the professional game.
I've been doing some reading to bring me up to speed and have been slightly horrified that the ruling bodies appear to take FIFA and UEFA as role models. I know I shouldn't be shocked as this is sports administration but still.
Hassan Moustafa has been president of the IHF for 15 years now, in which time he has recruited 60 new national federations. Which might sound positive except that not all of these organisations appear to have any people who play handball. Oh, and as you ask, yes the IHF does have a 1 member fed = 1 vote system.
As for the EHF they just seem to want to be UEFA. They renamed their European Champions Cup to EHF Champions League the season after UEFA rebranded to the Champions League. They have also dropped a Cup Winners Cup in the past five years. The selection process for the Champions league is also rather opaque, yes there is a coefficient and teams qualify but teams who missed out can also apply and their admission is based "according to a criteria system that looked at eight different fields including past performances, venue, spectator, TV, marketing and media issues, the EHF Executive decided on the teams for Groups A and B, teams for Groups C and D and the qualification teams." Which is why PSG, Nantes and Montpellier are taking part but 2nd placed St Raphael aren't.
I'll cover the group stage structure at a later date as it's a little complicated.
Now I've got that out of my system lets have a look at this weekends fixtures.
This weekend has the mens Champions League qualifying round. Two groups of four teams playing a semifinal on Saturday and a final on Sunday. The winners go through to the group stage of the Champions League.
All times CET
Saturday 3rd September
Champions League
RK Gorenje Velenje (SLO) - Cocks (FIN) 13:30
TATRAN Presov (SVK) - Red Boys Differdange (LUX) 16:15
Bregenz Handball (AUT) - Achilles Bocholt (BEL) 16:45
ABC/UMinho (POR) - Maccabi CASTRO Tel Aviv (ISL) 19:30
DKB Handball-Bundesliga
Rhein-Neckar Lowen - SC Magdeburg 15:00
Spanish Supa Copa
FC Barcelona Lassa - Helvetia Anaitasuna 20:30
All these games should be watchable by most of the board users (certainly ones in UK, US & Australia) just click the fixture and it will take you to the game. Most of these won't have commentary though.
I'd recommend the Rhein-Neckar Lowen - SC Magdeburg as it's the league winners v the cup winners in a regular game (the super cup is tonight at 20:15). I just want to draw your attention to some brilliant team names like Red Boys Differdange, Achilles Bocholt & Cocks.
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