EURO 2014: the final slot comes down to goal difference between two traditional super powers

Posted on June 16, 2013 by Christer Ahl

Another bitter moment for German men’s handball

Today there were three games of critical importance and I had the opportunity to watch the second half of each of them: Slovenia-Belarus, Austria-Russia and FYROM-Portugal. We often hear, from a European perspective, that the World Championship with its 24 team from all continents emphasizes quantity, whereas supposedly the European Championship with its 16 teams is more about quality. Sorry, but judging from today’s games it is all to apparent that at this stage Europe does not have 16 teams of high quality, so if a true elite event is what is wanted, then a reduction to 12 teams would be necessary. Today’s games, which gave four teams tickets to EURO 2014 were really mediocre. There may have been some drama, but the quality was lacking.

My heading refers to the fact that, prior to today’s game, the German team had to be almost completely resigned to the fate of not qualifying, following their loss to Montenegro earlier in the week, the third loss in four matches against two not so fantastic opponents. So they depended on a miracle today, with a tiny possibility that they might get the spot as the best one of all the third-placed teams in the groups. While Slovenia helped the German cause by almost giving away the game at home against Belarus, it would then have taken a nine-goal loss for Russia in Austria to open the door for the Germans. The Russians did lost by 25-30, but they were never quite on verge of conceding the large margin that would have caused a complete disaster for the Russian handball, after their women’s team got knocked out from the World Championship.

Instead it is now the fate of the proud German team to have another setback, following the failure to qualify for the 2012 Olympics. And this reinforces the concerns that coach Heuberger, like his predecessor Heiner Brand and many German handball fans, has expressed for a while: it does not help to have the superior league in the world, if the successful clubs use their wealth to contract world-class NON-German players, especially for the key positions. This means that both the established German players, and especially the young talents, get limited playing time and are shoved into the background, while all the non-Germans carry their teams and gain all the valuable experience. Of course, in a free-market situation, this is not something that the German federation could easily regulate. In fact, Heuberger was now concerned that the failure to qualify for the EURO 2014 would make the Bundesliga teams inclined to cut back on player availability for the national team, right when the build-up for the 2015 World Championship and, indirectly, the fight for the 2016 Olympics must be started.

In many of the other groups, most of the decisions had been taken before today. However, FYRO Macedonia grabbed a place in EURO 2014 by beating Portugal and joining undefeated Spain from their group. Equally undefeated France was joined by Norway from what seemed to be the easiest group. Similarly, Sweden and Poland had no problems against their opponents. From the German group, the Czech Republic followed Montenegro, and Croatia and Hungary met expectations in their group. As noted earlier, Belarus went through from their group, together with Iceland who finished the group at home against Romania. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about that match-up was that it constituted the farewell celebration for longstanding team captain Olafur Stefansson. Finally, in the group where both Austria and Russia managed to qualify, although Russia just barely as the best third-placed team, the group winner was Serbia. And then, of course, we have the host country (and defending champion) Denmark. The draw for the groups will take place on June 21, and EURO 2014 will open on January 12.

The field (and the groups) for the Women’s WCh now set

Posted on June 15, 2013 by Christer Ahl

Yes, this is handball, but AFTER the game: the Dutch women celebrating their amazing win in Russia.

While much of our own focus in recent time has been on the PanAmerican qualifying for the World Championship next December, the rest of the world has also finished up their similar events. The final piece of the puzzle was the European qualifying last week, so now we had the draw today in Serbia for the World Championship.

The ‘other’ continents had already established their participation. Africa has four slots, because Angola, like Brazil for PanAmerica, earned an extra one. Their teams are Angola, Tunisia (who have progressed a lot in recent years), D.R. Congo, and Algeria. Australia is the ‘usual’ representative for Oceania. Asia has three slots, all of which were taken by East Asian teams: Korea, China and Japan. So after the PanAmerican contingency is now known to be Brazil, Argentina, the Dominican Republic and Paraguay, it was up to Europe to fill the remaining slots.

The European Handball Federation (EHF) generally takes an easy way out when it comes to World Championship qualifying. It is not a secret that the EHF would prefer to have this qualifying based directly on the results of the most recent European Championship, which is really the approach taken in the other continents. And is also seen as a burden for the teams, especially on the men’s side, if full-fledged qualifying through group play, which is the approach used for the European Championship, were to be organized.

So the current method is a compromise, under which the three medal winners (Montenegro, Norway and Hungary) are directly qualified together with the host country Serbia. The remaining participants from the previous European Championship then enter straight into a home and away ‘knock out’ competition together with the survivors from a qualifying event among the ‘lesser’ nations. This approach really depends a bit much on the luck of the draw, together with the caprices of playing just two games. So the losers tend to find it a bit of a ‘double whammy’, as their chances of coming back next time will depend mostly on the draw and the risk of encountering one of the top teams.

This time, as always happens, there were a couple of surprises. Sweden had been a perennial participant in World and European Championships for a number of years now, but this time they were weaker than usual and got kicked out by Poland. But the real surprise was the elimination of Russia, who found themselves on the outside for the first time in many decades. They seemed to have it all sewn up after an away win against the Netherlands, but the Dutch women shocked everyone with an amazing 33-21 victory in the return game. France had to struggle a bit, getting only a tie at home against Croatia, but they came back stronger in the away game. The remaining match-ups had a clearer outcome.

One might now have liked to see some really exciting groups after today’s draw for the World Championship, but I think most people will find the groupings rather boring and predictable. Presumably we will in the end be in for some surprise(s), but I would be hard pressed to speculate about one. The format is such that the four best teams in each group will qualify for the round of 16, with group winners each encountering a fourth-placed team etc. In almost every group it seems rather clear which four teams will advance, and only the internal ranking among them would then be the cause of some suspense. One might wish for teams such as Argentina or Tunisia to surprise a higher-ranked team, but for now it seems that the only battle will be in group B between rivals China and Japan. Here are the complete groups so that you can start your own speculation and possibly disagree with me:

A: Montenegro, Netherlands, France, Korea, D.R. Congo, Dominican Republic
B: Denmark, Brazil, Serbia, China, Japan, Algeria
C: Norway, Poland, Angola, Spain, Argentina, Paraguay
D: Hungary, Germany, Romania, Czech Republic, Tunisia, Australia

Greenland withdraws as host for PanAm qualifying – perhaps opportunity for USA to host?

Posted on June 9, 2013 by Christer Ahl

It seems the Greenland team may yet again have to travel…

The North-Caribbean (NorCa) qualifying for the PanAmerican Championship for men has been planned to be hosted by Greenland in Nuuk in October. The 2014 PanAmerican Championship is, as usual, the event that in turn decides the slots from PanAmerica for the 2015 World Championship. However, judging from firm reports on the Facebook page of the Greenland Handball Federation, they have now reached the conclusion that the hosting of the NorCa event is unrealistic for financial reasons.

Handball is a dominant sport in Greenland, and one of the few sports where Greenland has participated with some success at the international level during the last 10-15 years. So there is a substantial amount of pride involved in the support for the Greenland national team and, up to a point, also a willingness to support it financially. Their federation has made it clear that the event would be viable as far as the local arrangements and expenses are concerned. The crux is obviously the exorbitant cost of having the teams from Canada, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the U.S. find their way to Greenland. There are no easy routes and cheap tickets available, so a charter arrangement via Canada or Iceland would have been the only realistic alternative. But even this would involves expenses in the order of US$ 700.000.

In principle, the travel costs to such events are normally borne fully by the participating teams, but both the Greenland Federation and the PanAmerican Federation have always understood that an event in Greenland would only be viable if sponsors for the travel expenses could be found, as the potentially participating teams simply could not afford it. The International Handball Federation had apparently undertaken to support the endeavor with an amount somewhat below US$ 100.000, something which is an unusual gesture in the case of a continental event. (Of course, it is the IHF that has created the tough situation for Greenland by placing them in the PanAmerican continent…!).

But the support from the Greenland authorities will not be large enough, and the search for sufficient sponsorship in the business sector has apparently been unsuccessful, despite the realization that the event could create valuable PR for Greenland. So disappointed handball fans around Greenland, who had also tried to provide support on an individual basis, now seem to be resigned to the fact that the exciting plans must be scrapped. It must be frustrating also for the national team, considering that these players, just like the women, have frequently had to undertake travel to Argentina and Brazil for qualifying events in previous years. So it had only been fair, if they had now been able to play at home.

It may now seem that the decision by Greenland may open up an opportunity for the U.S. Federation. CEO Matt van Houten alluded to this in his recent interview with John Ryan. Presumably some amount of USOC support could be counted on for such an endeavor. It would be advantageous not just from a financial standpoint but also because it presumably would give an edge to our team. But there are clearly several hurdles that need to be overcome. One perennial problem in connection with intentions in the past to host such events has been the visa question. In other words, for some of the countries involved it has previously turned out to be difficult to obtain guarantees that all their players would be given visas to enter the U.S. Based on past experience, this could hypothetically apply to Cuba, Dominican Republic and Mexico. One would hope that this would not yet again become an insurmountable obstacle if our Federation were to move ahead with the idea of hosting the event.

THN (26 Jan 2007): Greenland Handball: A National Passion: Link

The U.S. Nationals – the good and the bad

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Christer Ahl

the ‘good old days’ — will we see them again any time soon?

In 1975 I attended the U.S. Nationals for the first time, having moved over from Sweden the previous year. It was a bit of a ‘culture shock’, even though I had clearly expected things to be rather different from what I had been used to. The format of the event was quite small, but most of the teams showed handball skills. There were virtually no referees, and the few of us who had this as our main task had to handle a lot of games. Gradually, the Nationals grew in scope, to something roughly similar to what we have today, with two divisions on the men’s side and one relatively homogenous women’s bracket. The number of referees continued to lag in comparison, so the workload was really a bit too much. Both players and referees seemed worn out when the day of the finals arrived.

But two things stood out in those days of the 1970s and the 1980s. First, there was really a very special ‘family’ or ‘pioneer’ atmosphere. Perhaps this was simply because the players and officials had gotten to know each other, but it was undoubtedly also due to the often primitive conditions and the sense that we were fighting against the odds as true amateurs and beginners in a country focused on professional and big-business collegiate sports. When I compare with those days, it is entirely positive to notice that the family/pioneer aspect is still there. This was even noticed and commented on by our visiting world class referees from Germany, whose services had been offered by the IHF. They are used to a more hard-nosed and cold atmosphere from their games and tournaments in Germany and Europe, so they felt it was refreshing.

The second thing that was noticeable in the old days was the contrast between the ‘home-grown’ players and coaches and those with a handball background from elsewhere. As we moved into the 1980s and 1990s, the number of talented players with eligibility for our U.S national teams increased a lot, and this was also reflected in the strength and competitiveness of our national teams. And some of the medal round games in the national championships were high caliber match-ups with predominantly American players. So it seemed that the optimism from earlier years had been justified, and personally I felt glad and privileged to have been able to follow this progress. But when I looked around in Reno, I really started wondering. Because it seemed that while the number of ‘pioneer’ teams from around the country might have increased, the top-quality handball, the great handball moves, were mainly due to either the influx and influence of players from abroad or the instincts of players who used to be really good and now remained rather competitive. The match-up in the men’s ‘Elite’ final illustrates that.

So while it is entirely positive that the ‘family’ atmosphere of an annual rendez-vous is still there, is it not rather frustrating that this may in part be the result of a lack of progress over the last 20-30-40 years? Should we not have reached a stage of being more ‘business-like’, with a true ‘Elite’ event drawing spectators and media coverage? Was it just a blip on the chart when we were so competitive internationally and when the talent pool seemed to grow so quickly in the 80s and the 90s? Well, when I listened to today’s energetic and optimistic handball supporters in Reno, it was as if I heard their predecessors from the 70s and 80s all over again, and it was as if they were not even aware of what we once had but seem to have lost just as quickly! And how can it be that some of the stars from the 90s are still able to fight their way to the medals? Where are all the talents who were assumed to be coming up to replace the old-timers. And here we are again talking about the need for patience and a longer-term perspective…

Of course, I can only admire those who seem ready to do the dirty work of achieving change, whether they never knew the ‘good times’ or whether they did and are prepared to get back there again. And I do not want to compete with John Ryan’s great efforts to review systematically our past experience and to analyze possible strategies and methods for accelerating our progress despite the lack of resources. But I do get concerned when I hear the litanies and excuses that involve the impossible task of keeping up with our PanAmerican rivals. Of course the Brazilians and Argentines seem impossible to beat right now; but how come this happened considering that we ‘trampled’ all over them in the 80s and 90s? And look at the progress of Paraguay and Venezuela in the PanAmerican Championship that just finished: Paraguay qualifying for the World Championship with a base in handball that does not even match that of small region of our country! Venezuela being competitive despite the reality that handball did not exist in that country less than a decade ago! Could the Cuban coaches they borrowed really be that fantastic?

But do not take me for a whiner or a pessimist! I knew what to expect in Reno and I still enjoyed it. It is just that if someone had told me in 1975, or 1984, or 1993, that this is what it would look like in 2013, then I would not have been ready to believe them and I most likely would not have cared to hang in there. But then there is my fanatic interest in handball refereeing, the awareness that our small group of dedicated referees have a thankless task without many opportunities to improve throughout the year. So as long as my services are still wanted, I will try to offer my support and, yes, I will enjoy the family atmosphere. On the other hand, I am no longer bothering to speculate about what it will take, and how long it will take, before U.S. handball is at the top in PanAmerica again and competitive across the globe.

PanAmerican qualifying for Men’s Youth World Championship

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Christer Ahl

not very many of these flags will actually be flying in Venezuela…

Today the PATHF Youth Championship gets underway in San Cristobal, Venezuela. At stake are four slots at the World Championship tournament in Hungary, August 10-23. Regrettably, there is no team representing USA in this event.

In fact, the PATHF Championship points to a discouraging ‘polarization’ within our continent. First, while theoretically such a Championship could have as many as ten teams, only seven eligible teams have entered, so the hosts Venezuela are ’rounding out’ one of the groups with its ‘B’ team. Among these teams, we have Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay, i.e., the four currently most competitive handball nations from the south; in addition, of course, the hosts Venezuela, but also relative newcomer Colombia. There is no representative from Central America, and the only team from the North/Caribbean region is Canada. In other words, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Greenland and Cuba are all missing, just like the U.S. team.

Four teams will qualify, and the format involves two groups of four teams. The way the groups have been drawn, we have a situation where Brazil and Chile surely will advance to the World Championship from group A, ahead of Colombia and the ‘B’ team from Venezuela which obviously is participating outside the competition. The excitement will be in group B, where Argentina should win the group, but where we may have a tough fight among Canada, Uruguay and Venezuela for the remaining slot. Let us hope the Canada will be strong enough to grab that slot, so that we will not have a situation where only teams from the very South are able to advance.

The Youth World Championship will for the first time have 24 teams. Thirteen of them will come from Europe, after Oceania gave up their slot. Most of the currently strong countries on the men’ side will be there (Spain, France, Denmark, Sweden, Croatia, Serbia, Germany, Slovenia, Romania, Austria, Norway, Belarus and host Hungary). Africa will be represented by Egypt, Tunisia, Angola and Gabon, whereas Asia will have Qatar, Japan and Korea. So the teams qualifying from PanAmerica will have their hands full in August. The event will take place in Budaoers and Erd, towns rather close to Budapest, along the highway leading southwest to Lake Balaton and Veszprem.

EHF Women’s Champions League – a final that is worth watching

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Christer Ahl

will this be symbolic: Gyor scoring while Larvik can only watch?

It is understandable that the Men’s Final Four gets much more attention, but it would really be regrettable if handball fans do not take the opportunity to watch the second leg of the Women’s Champions League final Gyor-Larvik on Saturday (EHF-TV, starting local time 15h15, meaning 09h15 on the U.S. East coast).

While some might think that Gyor will have an easy time after having won 24-21 in Larvik last week, the history of the battles between these two rivals suggests that it is far from decided yet. And in any case, it is promising to be a really exciting game between two teams who are full of world-class players. How about Hammerseng, Sulland, Edin, Blanco and Leganger on the Larvik team, with Gyor having Gorbicz, Loke, Lunde-Haraldsen, Radicevic, Amorim and Tervel, just to mention a few of the better known names.

And there is a reason why I speak about ‘rivals’. These two teams have been in more finals in the EHF women’s competitions than anyone else in the last ten years, and there is also a special situation. Two of the dominant players for Gyor are Norwegians, goalie Lunde-Haraldsen who will be measured against her veteran compatriot Leganger, and then of course hard-to-stop pivot Loke, one of the most spectacular players these days. And while the two teams have never met in a European final before, they both have something to prove: Larvik want to get back on the winning track after a total of 3 different titles in the past, while Gyor should be even more desperate after having been in 7 different finals without ever coming out as winners.

The first game, in Larvik, took a number of interesting turns. The home team started out best, but then there was a Hungarian comeback, before Larvik could pull away early in the second half. Many may have thought that this meant the game was about to be decided, but then the Norwegians lost their rhythm and Lunde-Haraldsen was, if possible, even more spectacular than Leganger at the other end The Norwegian attacks became more and more hesitant, and only the counterattacks seemed to work. By contrast, Gyor found some easy openings for their shots and turned the game around.

It will now remain to be seen if the three-goal deficit is too much of a handicap for Larvik, but the interesting things is that in the semi-finals the guest won every time, and especially Larvik managed an impressed turnaround in the away game against Krim. So let us hope for a real thriller in a game that will be played in the Veszprem arena, which is always full of loud and boisterous supporters.

Champions League: all set for Final Four, but did we already have the real final?

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Christer Ahl

Get ready for exciting, first-class handball in Cologne in early June

Of course it is nice to have excitement in virtually all of the eight quarter-final games, and the four participants in the Final Four (Kiel, Barcelona, Kielce and Hamburg) got there in a fair and positive manner. But after you play a very long and often tedious period of group matches, what does it say about the format if you still cannot be sure that the best teams make it to the Final Four!?

It was great to follow the suspense in Kiel-Veszprem and in the Spanish rivalry between Barcelona and Atletico, but please do not try to convince me that Veszprem does not belong in the Final Four. And Atletico also is good enough to have deserved a better chance. It all goes back to the group draw with the enormous contrast between Veszprem/Kiel/Atletico in one group and Kielce/Metalurg/Velenje in another. Plus the regulations that then allow Veszprem-Kiel and Kielce-Metalurg match-ups in the quarterfinals. Having said that, I am joining all handball fans (including frustrated Veszprem and Atletico supporters, I hope) in wishing that we will have a really great Final Four on June 1-2.

Veszprem shocked Kiel in the first game by holding a sizeable lead before Kiel managed to turn it around in the end. And playing at home, Veszprem got the edge in the early going, in part by winning the goalkeeper battle. But sure enough, in the second half Kiel had another great comeback, largely due to scoring from Jicha and Vujin, but also because Palicka provided good relief for Omeyer, while Alilovic got injured. So the final result was, just like in the first game, a one-goal victory for Kiel, much to the frustration of the loud and partisan crowd.

Atletico had not had much luck against Barcelona this season, until inspired veterans Balic and Hombrados gave them the lift they needed in front of their home crowd, with a five-goal margin being the final result. But in Palau, Barcelona came out with a totally different determination, where Saric and his defense quickly drove Atletico to desperation. The result was 11-3 after 20 minutes, before the Madrilenos settled down a bit. But while the margin was down to five at one point, which meant that it was tied on aggregate, Atletico never quite recovered from the early deficit. Saric continued to be fantastic and the Barcelona shooting power was just too overwhelming. So while it was close enough to be exciting almost until the very end, Barcelona came out on top with a total advantage of three goals.

Kielce struggled early in Skopje, but the eventual two-goal margin must have been enough to feel comfortable; because in the today’s home game they were excruciatingly systematic, with an emphasis on strong defense. The second half became a mere formality and the final margin today was 26-15. Hamburg seemed to surprise Flensburg in the first game, with a massive, late surge on the way to a six-goal victory. I must admit that I am saving the viewing of today’s game until the BeIN Sport TV broadcast on Wednesday, but from what I have heard, today Flensburg seemed ready to ‘turn the table’ on their rivals. Ten minutes before the end, they were ahead in the aggregate score, but somehow HSV managed to wake up in time and come out on top by keeping today’s loss to 23-25.

And now we all have our favorite scenarios regarding the draw for the match-ups in the Final Four. Some will want to see Kiel-Hamburg in the semi-final to avoid having an all-German game in the final. Others seem more anxious to avoid having Kiel drawn against Barcelona, as that instead sounds like their ‘dream final’. So does this mean that Kielce will ‘sneak up’ on all the others, or will we find, as some suggest, that the Polish team is overrated after having had an easy group stage? The draw will take place on May 2.

Women’s PanAmerican Championship – the groups are decided

Posted on April 27, 2013 by Christer Ahl

Expect excitement when the women’s PanAmerican event comes up in June

This championship tournament will be played in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic, during the period June 1-8. Accordingly, the draw was held there this morning. Because of Brazil’s favorable placement in the most recent World Championship, PanAmerica is now entitled to field FOUR participants in the next World Championship in Serbia in December this year. This means that there is perhaps more importance than usual attached to the draw, as the top two teams in each group of five will already be qualified for the World Championship, regardless of what subsequently happens in the semi-finals and the medal games.

It seems that this Women’s PanAmerican Championship has already caused some controversy at the qualifying stage. With the new format recently adopted by PATHF, there should now be a ‘guarantee’ for a more serious competition for the slots among the North and Caribbean countries (NorCa). Seven teams would normally be eligible to compete for four slots in the PanAmerican event, although this time one of the slots was already set aside for the hosts from the Dominican Republic. However, it gradually became clear that neither Cuba, nor Greenland would try to qualify. Economic realities undoubtedly had a lot to do with that.

But when it was announced, far too late, that Puerto Rico also would refrain from participating, then it left precisely four teams eligible for the four slots, so the idea of a qualifying tournament became meaningless. The problem was, however, that the Puerto Rican decision came so late that the other teams were all set to travel, in some cases having already spent money on the tickets. Apparently, PATHF has now belatedly realized that this is intolerable, and tangible punishment has been introduced.

In the south, there was also an impression of seemingly strange rules for the qualifying. But the principle is that the ‘big five’ (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay) compete for four slots, while one slot is set aside for the emerging handball countries. So this caused Chile to be eliminated, even though they beat Venezuela in the qualifying event that combined both the big and the emerging nations.

For the draw, it was obvious that Brazil and Argentina would be in the top performance row. Similarly, Uruguay and the Dominican Republic were put in the second row and Mexico together with Venezuela in the third row, on account of their positions in the most recent PATHF women’s championship. The remaining four teams did not participate then, and they appear to have been seeded on the basis of earlier participation, with Canada and USA in the fourth row, leaving Paraguay and Costa Rica for the lowest category. Rows 5, 4, 3 and 1 would be drawn first, and then the Dominican Republic would have the established host prerogative of choosing one of the two groups.

It would seem that, in the third row, Mexico would be a more difficult opponent than Venezuela. In the fourth row, I would not even venture a guess as between USA and Canada, especially without knowing what kind of team USA will be able to field. In the fifth row, Paraguay undoubtedly would the strongest, but probably not good enough to compete seriously for a semifinal spot. Similarly, it might matter less if the hosts, or any other team, would find themselves paired with Brazil or Argentina, as both these two teams would seem safe bets to advance. So one could speculate that the Dominican Republic might avoid the group with Mexico, but perhaps they instead had some suspicions about problems against Paraguay or Canada, because they did choose the group with Mexico, USA and Costa Rica. This group also includes Brazil, which probably will the opponent for USA in the very first round. The complete draw:

Group A: Brazil, Dominican Republic, Mexico, USA and Costa Rica

Group B: Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela, Canada and Paraguay

Again, the top two teams in each group qualify for the World Championship. It is hard to be optimistic from a USA perspective. Mexico will be tough enough, but I would certainly have preferred Uruguay instead of having to face the physically strong home team, who obviously will also have a lot of crowd support.

Champions League: Hand vs. Foot

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Christer Ahl

Rajoy and Merkel — are they betting on the outcome of Champions League?

We are right now at the semi-final stage in football, with some rather amazing German victories this week. In handball, this weekend will offer the return legs of the quarter-finals. This provides a basis for some interesting comparisons and some thoughts about the similarities and differences.

I spent some time review general sports sites on the internet, from outside both Germany and Spain. It was striking, but not surprising, that the football battles drew attention of a magnitude perhaps ten times greater than that afforded to the handball match-ups. Very little was offered about the handball games in countries beyond those directly affected. By contrast, the football got a huge amount of space, with input from football experts, general sports writers and blogging fans. It does remind us in handball that we are not quite in ‘the same league’, as far as media attention, spectator interest, sponsor money and general newsworthiness is concerned. And I do not think we can use the excuse that in football they are already in the semi-finals, while we in handball are just in the quarter-finals…

Of course, we may have a particularly intriguing situation in football this year, with a pair of German-Spanish match-ups. One might think that this means the English and Italian fans would lose interest, but that does not seem to be the case. And for several years we have now had precisely the same rivalry in handball, where only a handful of teams from other countries have had a chance to make an inroad. Whether it is good or bad to have the two superior Spanish teams being drawn against each other in a handball quarter-final is not so clear, but the draw at least ensured that we will have both German and Spanish participation in the ‘Final Four’, something that otherwise might not be so certain, as Kiel is in for a real battle at Veszprem to try to ensure their spot. And there are several comments about the peculiarity of having both sports dominated by clubs from the probably economically strongest country and one of the countries that is really balancing on the edge of the precipice.

The games played in recent days illustrate the obvious impact of the refereeing on games of such high visibility and importance. Fortunately for football, the results were rather one-sided, as there were several controversial situations and decisions. And it seems it always comes back to the same thing: penalty-kicks given or not given, and goals scored from a ‘suspected’ offside position. From my reading the comments of both neutral and biased handball voices, I feel I get confirmation that there may be many more disputed situations in each handball game, but because of the enormous number of referee decisions in a game, a few ‘bad calls’ do not tend to have such an impact, unless it involves a ‘last-minute’ goal or something really conspicuous. The comments I picked up tended to involve more general trends, such as ‘accusations’ of inconsistencies, general leniency in punishments, or not getting the balance right between attacker and defender. Perhaps this could make you think that the life of the football referee is tougher. But I am not sure what creates the biggest pressure, the huge number of observations and subjective decisions in handball, or the awareness that if one of the much fewer big decisions in a football game is wrong, then it is quite likely going to affect the outcome.

This also relates to the issue of new methods and techniques for the referees and the utilization of modern technology. In football, we have had an awkward disagreement between FIFA and UEFA, where FIFA now prefers to move ahead with goal-line technology, while UEFA believes more in having two assistant referees on the goal-line (who seem to be strangely uninvolved). The problem is that this focuses primarily on ‘goal vs. no goal’. But as I noted earlier, this is not the most frequent area of controversy. I think the referee can really see most penalty-kick situations quite well, but instead it becomes a matter of ‘fairness’ and courage. The one I feel really sorry for is the ‘linesman’. The offside rule has been made more complicated, although I believe all the top ‘linesmen’ know the rule perfectly ‘on the drawing board’. But it is not as easy as you think to anticipate or react and be exactly in the right spot at the right time. In handball, the claims for video review and other new approaches are less loud, because most handball people know that there are really very few decisions that realistically lend themselves to review. Instead one could perhaps focus on some possible rules changes that would make some decisions ‘less subjective’, but personally I believe more in improved positioning and ability to observe what happens. While I do not seriously argue for a third referee, I do believe that viewing the situations ‘between 6 and 9 meters’ is more appropriately done from the side and not from behind.

So let us enjoy the final stages in the Champions League of handball and football, and perhaps this will also lead to some interesting new observations and conclusions in the end!

Follow the money — IHF Treasurer arrested

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Christer Ahl

Photo from Croatian media after Sola’s arrest

Apropos my ‘follow the money’ story from yesterday, involving the Duke of Palma de Mallorca, one always feels tempted to remind that ‘everybody is innocent until proven guilty’. But others prefer to rely on the notion that ‘there is no smoke without a fire’ and, as a former IHF colleague has always cynically stated: ‘the difference between being caught and escaping a verdict is simply how clever one is in hiding the evidence’… That latter point has sometimes been made in connection with accusations and rumors involving the IHF in recent years.

Sadly, it now appears that the image of the IHF is again at stake, and that this time there seems to be no lack of evidence. As reported yesterday, both in Croatia and across Europe, the IHF Treasurer (and President of the Croatian Handball Federation) Sandi Sola was early yesterday arrested by Croatian police when he returned to his country from a handball event in Skopje, Macedonia. Apparently, Croatian media are unusually efficient (or well-informed), as they had already predicted this police action the day before it happened. Or perhaps this was simply expected because several other members of Sola’s family had already been apprehended while he was away.

It should be noted that the whole affair has nothing to do with Sola’s functions as an IHF Treasurer. But it tells what appears to be a devastating story about his suitability for that kind of position of trust and influence. The accusations against Sola and his family are related to his position as the Chairman of the Board of a Croatian bank during the years 2007-2012. The charge involves what is described as fraud, embezzlement and money laundering. The amounts involved are stated to be in the order of U.S. $ 15 million. The early indications are that Sola is initially being detained for at least one month.

Presumably, the affair comes as a major surprise to most people in the handball world. Stories about IHF scandals have tended to be personally connected with the IHF President. In a situation where it has seemed impossible to find persons willing to come forward as candidates for the IHF presidency, it has sometimes been speculated that precisely Sola would be the person who could fit the bill as the future successor to the current President. Now instead, regardless of whether the accusations will lead to an indictment or not, it must be assumed that Sola’s continued presence among IHF Executives will be in serious doubt in connection with the upcoming IHF election congress in October.

Whether it will have any impact on the image and the electability of the IHF President himself is a different matter. But there is little doubt that it is one more major blow to the image of the IHF as an institution! What more can we expect and what more should handball lovers have to tolerate!?

‘Follow the money’ – from Spain to Qatar

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Christer Ahl

In football Qatar is sponsoring in Spain, but in handball they import the players and coaches

Spain did win the gold medals in the recent men’s World Championship, but at the club level the situation is clearly not so golden. Several teams in the top league have had to step down from the elite level and others have had to carry on with a much depleted squad. Players, not just ‘mercenaries’ from other countries but also Spanish top players, have fled the country in favor of clubs with a more stable financial situation. There is a limit for how much tolerance the players are willing to show, when salaries and bonuses are withheld for months or years.

As always, Barcelona and Madrid (Atletico) are in a class by themselves, being 13 and 8 points ahead of third-placed Ademar Leon when six games remain. And it was thought that these two clubs might be immune to the financial problems that are plaguing the other clubs, even though the recent ‘conversion’ of Ciudad Real to Atletico Madrid might suggest otherwise. Barcelona may indeed have the necessary resources, thanks to the direct affiliation with the football club, but Atletico had been rumored to be in bad shape.

Even so, it came as a surprise to many, when last month Danish star player Nikolaj Markussen announced that he was leaving Atletico for El Jaish in Qatar. And apparently it was not just a matter of frustration with the uncertainty at Atletico but also a matter of an offer from Qatar that was simply too good to refuse. Markussen is a 7ft tall top scorer with the Danish national team and thus a major acquisition. Some observers may recall that, in fact, Qatar sought to acquire Markussen last year, but then the specific purpose was to have him stay away from the 2013 World Championship and thus became eligible to play for the Qatar national team in 2015 when the next World Championship will be organized precisely in Qatar.

Another player who may become eligible for 2015 is Richard Kappelin, a Swedish goalkeeper who was Youth World Champion ten years ago, who just decided to give up on the Spanish club Aragon and move to the Al Gharafa club in Qatar. As Kappelin has not played for a Swedish national team for several years, he could be part of the Qatari plans to reinforce their national team for 2015.

And a real reinforcement in that endeavor was the very recent signing of Valero Rivera, who was the Spanish gold medal coach earlier this year. He will now take over the Qatari team instead. Perhaps Rivera felt that he already achieved the maximum honors for Spain and now wanted a new challenge, and perhaps the upcoming Spanish federation elections left him in an uncertain position. Not only will this help strengthen the Qatari team, but it may also help attract other good players who would be eligible to change national teams for 2015.

Naturally, a prestigious coach deserves a good assistant, even though perhaps he is capable of doing the job all by himself. So as an interesting coincidence, a very experienced top player, albeit without real coaching experience, happened to be available and looking for such an opportunity. I am talking about Rivera’s old friend, Inaki Urdangarin, former captain of the Spanish national team, and nowadays better known as the Duke of Palma de Mallorca, and husband of Princess Cristina. You may recall that I have had reason to write about him before, such as when he was an almost neighbor here in the Washington D.C. area some years ago. But you may wonder why someone of his stature would want to move to Qatar as an assistant coach!?

The answer is also in his case: follow the money. As I have previously written, the Duke has managed to get himself into some legal difficulties lately, being accused of graft and misuse of funds in connection with his management of a non-profit foundation. The matter still remains to be decided, but the Duke has had to pay a very substantial amount of bail money to remain at liberty and free to leave the country. So he may need a good income, as it does not appear that his father-in-law is prepared to come to his rescue. On the contrary, the affair is obviously a major embarrassment for the royal family, especially in recent time when an ambitious judge wanted to drag the Princess into the matter. So perhaps it suits all parties if the Duke is somewhat ‘out of sight’ for a while, and able to earn some money.

An interesting coincidence is that the 2015 World Championship is not the most immediate IHF event being hosted by Qatar. In October this year, the IHF election Congress will be held in Qatar, which is obviously a very comfortable territory for the IHF President who presumably is eager to be reelected. While the Congress is formally organized by the IHF, it obviously does not hurt to be reassured of the support of the wealthy Qatari in connection with a reelection campaign.

A day with the Northeast Team Handball League

Posted on April 7, 2013 by Christer Ahl

The ‘D.C. Diplomats’, a perennial participant in club competition, and former women’s champions at the U.S. Nationals

This weekend was the final round of the Northeast League prior to the Nationals in Reno next month. The event was hosted by the D.C. Diplomats in the Champions Fieldhouse in the Rockville suburb of Washington D.C., with Bryan Cothorn as tournament director and with Jan O’Shea monitoring all aspects on behalf of the League. Most of the games took place yesterday on two courts, while a few games spilled over to this morning, so it was a hectic schedule for the participants, with three games for each team.

On the men’s side, there was a round-robin between four ‘Division One’ teams: the hosts D.C. Diplomats, New York City THC, Boston Team Handball and West Point Black. NYC won all their three games but had to struggle a bit before they could pull away from their Boston and West Point opponents. Both NYC and Boston feature players who grew up with handball in other parts of the world, and many of them show a good deal of finesse. The cadets, by contrast, draw more on physical strength, fitness and energy, so the match-ups between the two different styles sometimes become a bit, shall we say, intriguing.

The women’s bracket featured the same four teams, plus the ‘second-string’ West Point Gold team, a rather inexperienced team from Ocean, NJ, and then also a ‘guest’ team from UNC Chapel Hill wanting some preparation for the Nationals. Here the main battle throughout the season has been between NYC and West Point Black, but they did not get to play each other this weekend. Some of the women’s games were rather one-sided or of a comparatively modest level, but there was no lack of enthusiasm.

For me personally, the focus was on observing and helping the referees. Perhaps more than ever, we are depending on players and coaches doing ‘double duty’, as the lack of referees dedicated exclusively to that role seems more conspicuous than during any period in the past. If it is tough for the players to stay in shape and improve by having just a few weekends of serious competition every season, in addition to the intra-squad practices, then the situation is of course even more difficult for those who want to take refereeing seriously. Here the lack of match practice becomes a major obstacle for making quick progress.

So the referees I saw in action had to rely on their general handball experience, mostly as players. This means that they typically see and understand what happens on the court, and you can see from their body language that they have the right instincts. But to get from there to quick and convincing decision-making is not always so easy, as it takes quite a bit of practice to develop the right habits. Positioning and optimal work distribution also tend to depend on practice. Similarly, the routine decisions come more naturally, but the decisions in the critical moments, such as 2-minute suspensions, 7-meter throws and offensive fouls may be more erratic. But I really wish that players and coaches would appreciate more fully the sacrifice of their colleagues who pick up a whistle and help them out in this way. They deserve patience and our full support!

EURO2014 qualifying – who will be the ‘lucky loser’?

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Christer Ahl

Winning in Slovenia is never easy, but Iceland managed to do so…

Right at the time when most handball fans in Europe are focusing on the upcoming quarter-finals in the EHF Champions League, they have to switch gear and get out their flags and shirts in support of their respective national teams. This is the ‘middle’ weekend in the qualifying for the Men’s EURO 2014, so all the best national teams in Europe are in action. Of course, with very few teams remaining in EHF club competitions at this stage, it seems the complaints about releasing players to national teams should be limited.

EURO 2014 will be held in Denmark in January 2014, and Denmark is also the defending champion. And this combination will be extremely important for one specific team when the qualifying groups are completed. This is what I refer to in my heading. Normally, two slots would be taken by the organizer and the defending champion, but now we need to reserve one such slot for Denmark. So when we have seven qualifying groups of four teams each, not only will the top two in each group qualify for EURO2014, but the extra twist is that so will the ‘best third-placed team’. By this is meant the team that got the best results against the top two teams in their group. So on the final day, one of seven third-placed teams will be able to celebrate as the ‘lucky loser’. And it will also create some added excitement towards the end, as some games will be more meaningful than otherwise would have been the case.

After all this ‘theory’ what is then the situation at the half-way point? Well, the reality is that we have a mix of exciting and boring groups. There are some groups where it seems pretty clear which two teams will go through. For instance, Hungary beat Croatia today in an emotional game, but clearly both teams will qualify. The same situation involves the group where Sweden today pulled away from Poland in the second half, but these two teams surely will come out on top. Another such group has the young, ‘new’ French team getting the upper hand on Norway, but with the remaining two teams appearing to have no chance. But the other four groups will clearly provide more drama when the qualifying finishes up in mid-June.

Spain seems to be in the most comfortable position as the superior team in its group, but the fight for second place among Portugal, FYRO Macedonia and Switzerland is likely to go ‘down to the wire’. The Germans have put themselves in a tough position, after an earlier defeat against Montenegro was followed by one more letdown against the Czech Republic today. Perhaps Germany will become one of the candidates for the ‘lucky loser’ spot!? Austria created a bit of a sensation today by beating Serbia, where Ilin could not quite manage to carry the team all by himself. With Russia showing good form in this group, the Serbs cannot afford to lose again to the Austrians on Sunday.

Another surprise today was the Icelandic victory in Slovenia, where they turned the game around in the final minutes. This would put the Slovenians in a precarious position, should they lose also in Reykjavik on Sunday, because Belarus would then be a strong contender for the second place in the group. I talked at the outset about club teams having to release players for the national teams. The mere fact that the Icelandic pivot Kristjansson took part in the game against Slovenia today did not go over too well with his club Wetzlar. They promptly canceled his contract. The background is that Kristjansson has been out with a back injury for a long while, unable to play for Wetzlar. So it now seems that he showed his priority for the national team a little bit too clearly.

Finally, it is hard to believe, but the qualifying for the EURO2016 is also underway! Today there was a game in the preliminary round between Great Britain and Italy. For those who had hoped that the Olympic participation last summer would give a boost, today’s result will come as a major disappointment. The Italians won up in Scotland with the score 47-23.

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