European Handball


Infront’s long relationship with the European Handball Federation has been successful and productive. The EHF European Handball Championships has become a hit with viewers, on television and online. Record numbers are watching this highly physical and demanding sport.

Testimonial

“The European Championships have gone from strength to strength - now firmly established on the sporting market - as has the relationship with its prime TV and Marketing Partner, Infront.”

 

Tor Lian, President of the European Handball Federation

Handball hits new heights


A sporting highlight
Every two years in the second part of January, Europe’s best men’s handball teams meet to contest the European Championship. The women’s teams meet in December of the same year.

The most recent men’s tournament took place in January 2008 in Norway. The competitors included Europe’s best men’s handball nations, including teams from France, Germany, Scandinavia, Spain and Russia, as well as from smaller countries such as Croatia and Slovenia. The 48 games were played in five host cities and the ultimate winner was Denmark, after a thrilling final against Croatia.

Record broadcast coverage
The 2008 event was the most extensively covered and viewed tournament in the history of European Handball Championships. Infront Sports & Media had secured broadcast agreements with more than 70 broadcasters, including a record number of radio stations.

Overall, the tournament was broadcasted in 85 territories — particularly in Europe, the Middle East and Asia — with 1,100 programme hours watched by a cumulative television viewing audience of more than 1.2 billion. This magic billion-plus figure now stands as the new viewing record for a single European Championship event and equals the combined viewing audience from both the men’s and the women’s tournaments in 2006.

Enhanced website
The event was enhanced by an excellent official tournament website — www.ehf-euro.com. This platform was greatly enhanced, offering fans a live online video service for all matches. During the event, 380,000 unique users from 165 countries around the world accessed the site. It was produced by Infront Advanced Media Solutions, Infront’s dedicated competence centre for the distribution of new media sports rights.


Upcoming Events
The Women’s European Handball Championship will take place from 2 — 14 December 2008 in FYR Macedonia with the top 16 European women’s teams. The 47 matches will be played in Skopje and Ohrid. Alongside Norway as defending champion, Russia, France, Germany, Hungary, FYR Macedonia (as organiser), Austria, Belarus, Croatia, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Sweden and Ukraine are qualified for the event.

Venues and dates of the following years

 

  • 2010 Men’s European Handball Championship
    19 — 31 Jan in Austria

  • 2010 Women’s European Handball Championship
    7 — 19 Dec in Denmark/Norway

  • 2012 Men’s European Handball Championship
    17 — 29 Jan in Serbia

  • 2012 Women’s European Handball Championship
    4 — 16 Dec in the Netherlands


Infront Sports Media is exclusive commercial partner of the European Handball Federation for the media and advertising rights of the European Handball Championships.