Zika Bogdanovic
Handball-Planet.com editor
The leaders of Füchse Berlin, Stefan Kretschmar and Bob Hanning, throughout the IHF World Championship 2025, made a collection of critiques and logical ideas that would make handball a extra globally engaging and watchable sport. The vicious circle that world handball is caught in—each with the perfect nationwide groups and the nations that host main tournaments (from Scandinavia to Germany and France)—threatens to cut back curiosity, whereas the “European” label may by no means fade. Whereas the most recent successes of Portugal and Brazil are encouraging, it’s clear to everybody that handball is caught someplace between Herning and Cologne and is in want of latest power.
That power is lacking from the Worldwide Handball Federation. The World Championship was accomplished, however no new requirements have been set. From a media standpoint, it was on the degree of an abnormal event that got here and went. The IHF has lengthy lacked any media technique and is virtually with out a PR staff, whereas the EHF is at a a lot larger degree, however with much less affect on improvement tasks. The EHF organizes a “Corridor of Fame” night in December with recent retirees like Nikola Karabatić and Mikkel Hansen, they usually don’t present up in Vienna? Think about if that occurred to somebody like Dirk Nowitzki?
World Championships, besides in Germany, are principally a spectacle for the native viewers, with few followers from different nations or simply the gamers’ households and a small handball group following the occasion. To touch upon any IHF media or advertising technique, one would first should exist.
The issue is multifaceted, tied to the event of handball guidelines, the absence of great tasks for the event of handball outdoors Europe, the formation {of professional} leagues, and the branding of gamers—each female and male—who needs to be setting new boundaries for publicity.
Golf equipment are usually not serving to on this regard. The most recent instance is the extension of Mathias Gidsel’s contract at Füchse Berlin. Arguably the perfect handball participant on the planet this decade, Gidsel prolonged his contract with the staff from Berlin till 2029. Large factor simply few days after he confirmed epic class and took MVP title in Oslo. We realized of this as a result of somebody, most likely through cellphone, took an image of the participant, his agent, and Bob Hanning in some dimly lit resort room. There was no official assertion in English directed to worldwide media, no message from Gidsel in English, and no correctly crafted promotional video—only a unexpectedly put-together spot exhibiting him throwing darts at a dartboard. With solely round 250,000 views on Instagram, perhaps that spot defeated the competitors (consider or not, essentially the most views in handball world this season had arrival of Petar Djordjic at RK Partizan Beograd), however these numbers are nonetheless insignificant when in comparison with different sports activities (don’t look Luka Doncic commerce to Lakers). It’s an newbie strategy, and we’re speaking concerning the biggest handball participant of at the moment!? And Fuchse Berlin is just not an remoted case.
Who will set the requirements if not the largest golf equipment with the best gamers? About ten years in the past, I discussed to some German colleagues who wrote a e book on the historical past of THW Kiel that the e book needs to be translated into English. They checked out me as if I had stated the Earth was flat. That German handball insularity and closed system, disconnected from the wants of the worldwide handball world, is a major problem proper after the IHF amateurism. The ignorance that you just, as a nation, have the perfect handball product that captivates consideration for 10 months a yr, that you’re primarily the NBA the place the best skills and gamers come collectively, whereas additionally drawing the eye of individuals from Tel Aviv, Belgrade, Plzen, Athens, Alicante, and Lisbon, is a serious drawback for handball as a complete.
Daikin Bundesliga and Bundesliga groups, please adapt the content material to the whole world and perceive that the entire planet is watching you.
Necessary Credit score © Jozo Cabraja / kolektiff
