I missed that Vardar only got through by beating Kiel on away goals.
There really isn't a competitive league in Spain, it's Barcelona and everyone else (although their winning streak did end after 133 domestic games this season when they drew with Guadalajara). I'm not sure that a competitive league is the be all and end all in European Handball though. There are a few clubs in central and eastern Europe who have pretty much a monopoly on the league. However there are enough Champions League games (and SEHA games for some) to make up for one sided domestic matches. I think France and Germany are the only two countries with well developed domestic competitions at the moment.
I thought I mentioned it at the time but apparently I didn't Rhein Neckar Lowen played two games at the same time in March (well not exactly but an hour apart). One in Poland for the Champions League and the other in Kiel for the Bundesliga. It showed the importance of the Bundesliga (or at least the TV deal that the team in Poland was the youth/second string). But it mostly comes down to a power struggle between the EHF and the German federation. The Kielce fans were great though.
Back to the Champions League, the Women's final 4 is
CSM București
Győri ETO
Rostov-Don
HC Vardar
Vardar won their first Macedonian league in 2013 after being bought by Sergey Samsonenko (the Russian bookmaker who also owns the Vardar mens and Vardar football (who have also started performing in European competitions I believe)).
I'd love to have a better understanding of the differences in support and development between mens and womens professional handball. It's not entirely about the money I believe, although it plays a massive part. I idly suggested to a friend that I might go see the Romanian Men play against Austria in June and they just said that the Mens team is rubbish while the Womens team competes at a high level. You do see similar disparities when you look at the teams who qualify for competitions. There is some crossover (France for example) but there are equally countries that only ever have men or women qualify.
There really isn't a competitive league in Spain, it's Barcelona and everyone else (although their winning streak did end after 133 domestic games this season when they drew with Guadalajara). I'm not sure that a competitive league is the be all and end all in European Handball though. There are a few clubs in central and eastern Europe who have pretty much a monopoly on the league. However there are enough Champions League games (and SEHA games for some) to make up for one sided domestic matches. I think France and Germany are the only two countries with well developed domestic competitions at the moment.
I thought I mentioned it at the time but apparently I didn't Rhein Neckar Lowen played two games at the same time in March (well not exactly but an hour apart). One in Poland for the Champions League and the other in Kiel for the Bundesliga. It showed the importance of the Bundesliga (or at least the TV deal that the team in Poland was the youth/second string). But it mostly comes down to a power struggle between the EHF and the German federation. The Kielce fans were great though.
Back to the Champions League, the Women's final 4 is
CSM București
Győri ETO
Rostov-Don
HC Vardar
Vardar won their first Macedonian league in 2013 after being bought by Sergey Samsonenko (the Russian bookmaker who also owns the Vardar mens and Vardar football (who have also started performing in European competitions I believe)).
I'd love to have a better understanding of the differences in support and development between mens and womens professional handball. It's not entirely about the money I believe, although it plays a massive part. I idly suggested to a friend that I might go see the Romanian Men play against Austria in June and they just said that the Mens team is rubbish while the Womens team competes at a high level. You do see similar disparities when you look at the teams who qualify for competitions. There is some crossover (France for example) but there are equally countries that only ever have men or women qualify.
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