Ebiye Udo-Udoma and the rest of the U.S. Men’s Beach Team Handball squad will be in action several times this weekend.
More information on where to find web streams for National Team, Professional Club and USA Competitions: Link
For regular updates on when and where handball matches can be streamed online follow Team Handball News on social media: TwitterFacebookInstagram
All times are CET which is 6 hours ahead of US ET. Odds courtesy of Bet MGM and/or OddsPortal.
American Athletes in Action
The USA Beach Handball Men are participating in a tournament in the Canary Islands. On Friday and Saturday they play round robin matches. The top two teams will play for 1st while the the remaining 3 teams will play a mini round robin for places 3-5. (Note: Local Time for the Canary Islands is 1 hour behind CET)
More information on where to find web streams for National Team, Professional Club and USA Competitions: Link
For regular updates on when and where handball matches can be streamed online follow Team Handball News on social media: TwitterFacebookInstagram
All times are CET which is 6 hours ahead of US ET. Odds courtesy of Bet MGM and/or OddsPortal.
Most of the professional club leagues have finished the season and to the best of my knowledge there are no mid week matches available for viewing on line.
In Cameroon, the 2021 African Women’s Handball Championships are taking place and some of the matches have been available for viewing online, either on the CAHB Facebook Page or on the Cameroon TV webpage. On Tuesday, the quarterfinals are taking place and since Africa has 4 tickets to the World Championships these matches are also de facto WC qualification matches.
Unfortunately, so far, the videos on the Facebook Page have been a bit sporadic in terms of availability and Cameroon TV has shown only matches with Cameroon play. Hopefully, this will change. Check back for updates.
This past Wednesday, USA Team Handball released a preliminary roster for this summer’s North American and Caribbean Handball Championship. The roster lists 28 athletes and here’s a breakdown by age and where they first learned to play handball.
USA Preliminary Roster (Youngest to Oldest)
USA Preliminary Roster (Youngest to Oldest)
The ages on the roster range from 15 to 39 with an average age is 25.1. This is quite the range and is considerably more spread out then the typical women’s national team roster which is more bunched up with the bulk of the athletes in their 20s. For comparison, take a look at the rosters of the 24 nations at the 2019 IHF Women’s Handball World Championship
USA Provisional Roster (Nation Where they First Played Handball)
USA Preliminary Roster (Nation Where they First Played Handball)
All of these athletes are Americans, but the U.S. is a large nation with a global population. Estimates vary, but as many as 9M American citizens live in another country so it’s no real surprise that some of those 9M learned to play handball where they grew up. In fact, 57% (16 of 28) of the U.S. roster originally played handball in 8 different countries. Norway leads the way with 4 athletes followed by Germany with 3. Other nations: Cape Verde (2), Denmark (2), Sweden (2), Canada (1), Israel (1), Japan (1).
The fact that the U.S. has so many dual citizen athletes is sometimes seen as controversial, but it shouldn’t be. I addressed this reality and its implications for the U.S. National Team and the sport’s development previously in a series of commentaries Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
In terms of the 12 U.S. athletes that were raised stateside, 3 athletes (Kaffka, Stewart and Taylor) are products of Collegiate Clubs, 6 athletes (Lombard, Hartnett, Vallone, Fithian, Gascon and Darling) primarily first learned how to play at a Residency Program (Cortland or Auburn University) and 3 athletes picked up handball either on their own or with a club (Da Cruz, Faulkner and Smet).
Final Roster Projection
My projection for the Final Roster is a mixture of logic and guesswork. The logic portion is primarily looking at the last major tournament roster (the 2019 PANAM Games) and penciling in any name from that roster that is also on the preliminary roster. Of course, just because someone made the team last time doesn’t guarantee that they will make the team again, but it’s usually a good starting point. Further strengthening this logic is the COVID-19 pandemic as it has somewhat frozen things in place since March 2020 with many athletes not even playing handball much since then. There are 11 potential returnees and assuming that 16 athletes will be allowed for this tournament that means 5 newcomers.
And, this is where some major guesswork is required as I am not familiar with many of the other names on the roster nor do I even know what positions some of them play. So, keeping this in mind here is a top level assessment of which athletes might make the final roster. To be clear, though, I’m not actually going to make any hard projections other than that I think all 11 athletes from the PANAM Games will make the final roster. I just simply don’t know enough about the newcomers.
Goalkeepers: Sophie Fasold was one of the 2 goalkeepers on the PANAM Games roster and the other GK, Bryana Newbern is not on the 28 player preliminary roster. Fasold has also been able to play a full season with her club team, Nord Harrislee in the German 2nd Division, so I think she will likely get the the bulk of the minutes. The coaching staff will have to choose whether they want 2 or 3 goalies on the roster and both Sanna Wheeler and Emily Mrymo have previously made Jr team rosters. Also, identified as a GK is McKenna Smet who is very new to handball.
Goalkeepers
Left Wing:Julia Taylor was the 3rd leading scorer for the U.S. at the PANAM Games and Maria Vallone was her backup. It would seem that these two spots are fairly locked in, but I’m not familiar with the other potential options.
Left Wings
Right Wing: Zoe Lombard and Elisabeth Hartnett were the U.S. PANAM Games participants, but they may be joined by 16 year old, Eden Nesper who played on the U.S. Youth team in 2019 and plays for both the U17 and U19 for her club team, Hannover Badenstedt in Germany. The Hannover U17 team won the Germany cup title this past weekend. She’s a capable player with a bright future, but that’s still a pretty young age to be playing against grown adults. It will be interesting to see what the coaching staff decides.
Circle Runner: Veterans, Sarah Gascon and Jennifer Fithian, should both make the roster and they will be joined by Shani Levinkind. Levinkind was selected to the PANAM Games roster, but did not participate due to injury. Karen Schultze, 20, plays in Germany and had previously been added to the player pool, so one can assume that she’s also a strong candidate. This position may seem to be set, but because there are some major question marks at backcourt some of these players might end up playing there instead of at circle.
Circle Runners
Backcourt (Left, Center, Right):While the other positions appear to be somewhat settled there are a lot of question marks as to who will be playing the three backcourt positions. Well, not all question marks. Left Back, Nicole Andersen, the 2nd leading scorer for the U.S. at the PANAM Games returns and will likely be called upon to assume a greater leadership role with the team. Also returning are veterans Kathy Darling and relative newcomer Sif Skov Christensen. And… that’s it, (as far as I know) when it comes to returning back court players.
Logically, this means some newcomers are probably going to be expected to play some really important minutes at the key backcourt positions. And, really not knowing these players means some major guesswork. I’ve heard some good things about Emma Ready and I’ve even played quite a few times vs her father long ago in California so perhaps she’s inherited some of his feisty quickness. Despite being just 17 she could be an option at Center Back. Cecile Brown and Emilie Johansson are also possibilities and as dual citizens perhaps they’ve gotten quite a bit of playing time despite their relatively young ages.
Backcourts
But, really for all I know several names on the roster that I haven’t even mentioned (see below) could well be the athletes the selection team goes with.
Roster Candidates (Unknown Position)
But, here’s one thing I do know: U.S. success or failure in Elgin this summer will likely hinge on these newcomers and their ability to make meaningful contributions at backcourt.
Roster Churn
Much of the above commentary focused on the likely returning players from the 2019 PANAM Games and some new gaps where newcomers will need to step up. So, for context I’ll highlight some players that were not on the preliminary roster and the contributions that will be missed.
First and foremost, center back Jence Rhoads, the U.S. leading scorer (24 goals in 5 matches) from the PANAM Games is not on the roster. Anyone who’s seen the U.S. play for the past several years knows that she’s developed some solid skills and has been the point guard directing traffic on offense, making the players around her more productive. Also, not returning are left back Julia Sayer and right back Ashley Butler. All told, those 3 athletes accounted for 44% (40 of 91 goals in 5 matches) of the live action goals scored at the PANAM Games. In terms of backcourt productivity they accounted for 74% (40 of 54 goals) of the backcourt scoring. Further limiting experienced options is the news that the long awaited return of right back Karoline Borg will be delayed due to pregnancy. Borg, age 30, plays right back for Aker Topphåndball in Norway’s top and league and had previously played for the U.S.
While these roster changes will impact the U.S. it’s more than likely that the U.S. won’t be alone with this problem as other NACHC nations are also surely encountering similar roster churn. Such change is inevitable and it will be interesting to see how successful teams are in integrating their newcomers and getting their teams ready after a long pandemic layoff.
Note: If there is any information in this table that is incorrect, drop me a line at john.ryan@teamhandballnews.com and I will update it.
USA Men’s Preliminary Roster prior to the 2021 WC: Link
Semifinal: TV Hannover-Bandstedt vs HC Erlangen (Saturday, 1715): Video Link
Eden Nesper (#44) is a Right Wing for Hannover; Nesper was named to the U.S. preliminary roster for this summer’s North American & Caribbean Championship
Hannover won 30-23 and will play in the first place match on Sunday.
1st Place Match: TV Hannover-Bandstedtvs HSG Blomberg-Lippe (Sunday, 1345): Video Link
More information on where to find web streams for National Team, Professional Club and USA Competitions: Link
For regular updates on when and where handball matches can be streamed online follow Team Handball News on social media: TwitterFacebookInstagram
All times are CET which is 6 hours ahead of US ET. Odds courtesy of Bet MGM and/or OddsPortal.
The handball season is winding down and there’s not much happening mid-week except for the good ol’ French LIDL StarLigue with a key match for a club to avoid relegation.
While living in France from 2002-2007 it was a bit annoying to see Montpellier win everything. But, there were a few club sides that would give them a battle and one of those clubs was U.S. Ivry. And, I’ll never forget the 2006-07 season where Ivry led by a young (just 22) and very talented Right Wing/Right Back named Luc Abalo pipped Montpellier for the title. I pity relative newcomers to the sport that think Abalo is just a pretty good wing. You should have seen him play that season where he scored from everywhere and willed Ivry to a title. Yes, he played quite a bit at backcourt and I’ve never seen an undersized back court player dominate the way he did that season.
Unfortunately, thing have gone downhill for Ivry since they won that title. A proud franchise located in the Paris suburbs, that 2006-2007 title was the last of 8 they’ve won (only Montpellier has won more French titles). Since that high water mark they’ve not contended for a title and they even got relegated to the 2nd division for the 2014-15 season, for the first time since 1957. They immediately popped back up to the 1st division, but it’s been a constant fight to stay there.
They now have 2 make up matches left to play and they need to get 3 points to pass Cesson-Rennes and avoid relegation. First up is the tougher of the two tests, a match against 7th place Toulouse on Wednesday. On Saturday, they have and easier task vs 13th place Creteil. Can they do it? It’s possible. In their last match they upset 6th place Chambery.
It may not be the Champions League Final Four, but for the players involved it’s pretty important and therefore handball worth checking out.
Gauthier Mvumbi, Detroit Handball Club Ambassador… Shaquille O’Neal, American Handball Ambassador At-Large?
Gauthier Mvumbi, Detroit Handball Ambassador
During the 2021 World Championships this past January, Gauthier Mvumbi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was a media sensation and was christened the “Shaq of Handball”. This got the attention of Shaquille O’Neal and he even reached out to Mvumbi via Instagram. For a while Mvumbi was the darling of the handball media world, but I figured his 15 minutes was going to be up pretty soon.
Then a few weeks ago, Detroit Handball announced on social media that Mvumbi had agreed to be a handball ambassador for the club. I greeted this announcement with skepticism and, in part, it directly led to a recent podcast discussion on social media with Detroit Handball Club President, Joey Williams. During the podcast, I tried to get a straight answer as to just what this “ambassadorship” entailed, and from my perspective I never really got a satisfactory answer. Being somewhat old school, I wrote the whole thing off as pretty much attention for attention’s sake.
The Two Shaqs are Still Talking
But, then I read that the two Shaqs have continued their friendship and according to a recent interview in the French newspaper, L’Echo Republicaine, they are still in contact with each other. Further, Shaquille O’Neal apparently has some interesting in helping out handball in the U.S.
Here’s a translation of a portion of the interview
Gauthier Mvumbi, you will become the ambassador of US handball. Explain to us! I will help promote handball in the United States, help its development. I will participate in internships, summer camps, gala matches. I will go back and forth, but I remain above all a handball player in France or in Europe.
In which big American city? The Detroit club contacted me. In the near future, Shaquille O’Neal also wants to be involved and take on some responsibilities. Shaq would like to explore possibilities to help make handball more attractive in the U.S.; With a 5 year time frame.
Are you still in touch with the NBA star? We talk to each other regularly. The plan is to go to the U.S. in July and meet each other in person. That will be something!
Shaquille O’Neal as a Handball Ambassador?
Shaq wants to help make handball more attractive in the U.S.? Wow! It true, that would be a godsend of epic proportions. A few years ago I highlighted what USA Team Handball should look for in terms of new Board Members. I identified a need for millionaires (or even better, billionaires) and handball gospel spreaders, who could help educate the U.S. Shaq would be both in one package.
Shaq made a small fortune as an athlete ($292M on salary alone) and he continues to add to that fortune as a pretty effective ad pitchman for a number of different products. He’s got a fair amount of cash that could be put to good use. With the USA Team Handball budget at around $500K he could effectively buy out the organization if he wanted to.
But, where he would really shine is as a handball pitchman. He has millions of followers on social media and one Tweet or IG post from his Shaqness would effectively reach more new fans and players than a year’s worth of carefully crafted social media campaigns from various handball outlets in the U.S. and world-wide.
How Shaq Could Help Handball in the U.S.
Shaq as an ambassador and proponent for the sport could be an epic game changer in so many ways. Here are just a few ways he could help out:
Athlete recruiter: With a few targeted social media posts Shaq could reach hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of potential new handball athletes at all levels. Which, of course, would be really cool, but hopefully such a message could be coordinated with U.S. clubs nationwide so that they could be effectively prepared to engage with the new Shaq recruits.
TV and Web Streaming advocate: There currently is no TV home for handball in the U.S. beIN Sports TV and ESPN+ have failed to meet expectations. Shaq works for TNT and coincidentally, play by play for the Olympics will be provided by Matt Winer with NBA TV. Both properties are owned by Turner Networks which has been bought out by AT&T and will now be combined into a new to be named conglomerate with Warner Media and Discovery. A new media behemoth which will likely have a new streaming platform.
What if Shaq advocated for this new streaming platform to carry the EHF Champions League, the World Championships and other handball events?
What if they had Shaq, Kenny, EJ and Charles Barkley do an Inside the EHF Champions League show? And, maybe Matt Winer (with his newfound handball experience) could replace EJ as he has done in the past. Yes, those guys know nothing about handball, but, trust me, it would still be really entertaining!
Sponsor a college program: The interview states that Shaq wants to make the U.S. “Championnat” more attractive. Literally, that means the “National League” and the U.S. doesn’t actually have such a league. Our vast size and the amateur status of the sport pretty much makes that impossible and creating a pro or even a semi-pro league would require some major investment. While Shaq has the resource to create such a league, a more practical effort near term would be to beef up the U.S. collegiate competition. In particular, Shaq could support one college program with the intent of turning that program into a national power. As, I wrote last year a modest investment could very quickly create a national title contender. What college to choose, though? His alma mater, LSU is a candidate, but an HBCU would also be a possibility.
Another humbling USA Basketball defeat… another nail in the coffin for the basketball cast offs can win Olympic Handball Gold strategy
Another USA Basketball Failure
From the “In Case You Missed It” department, this past weekend the USA Men’s National Basketball Team failed in their quest to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. Before you have a heart attack, rest assured that this was not the 5 on 5 traditional version of the game that Americans have dominated since the it was invented. No, this was the 3 on 3 version (3×3) of the game that was recently added to the Olympic Programme.
And, make no mistake, it’s not the same as the traditional game of basketball. 3×3 is played with just 3 players on on a half court so there’s more of a premium on 1v1 skills and long range shooting. Matches are played to 21 with baskets inside the arc worth 1 point and baskets behind the arc worth 2 points which effectively makes a 5×5 “3 pointer” the equivalent of a “4 pointer”.
But, despite the gimmickry, this is still basketball and it’s a little hard to fathom that the the U.S. failed to even qualify for the Olympics. This is our sport and we were eliminated in the Qualification Tournament Quarterfinals by the Netherlands… The Netherlands? Not a basketball country by any means. There have been only 6 Dutch players in NBA history and the Netherlands had never qualified for the Olympics before and even for the World Championships just once back in 1986.
Not Our Best Athletes…
Of course, the #1 reason (or excuse) for U.S. failure was that we didn’t compete with our best athletes. The U.S. 3×3 roster consisted of Dominique Jones, Robbie Hummel, Kareem Maddox and Joey King. Don’t feel bad if you don’t recognize anyone. These guys aren’t household names. Only Hummel has played in the NBA and that was just 2 nondescript years with the Timberwolves. It’s not like they aren’t good basketball players and probably very good 3×3 basketball specialists. In fact 2 of these athletes were part of the U.S. roster that won the 2019 World Championship.
Still… there’s little doubt that a select group of NBA players wouldn’t do better. Can you imagine Steph Curry or Damon Lillard playing the 3×3 game? For sure there are practicalities that preclude NBA participation. Although, it should be noted that the U.S. Women’s 3×3 team consisting of WNBA athletes qualified for the Olympics.
Basketball Cast Offs vs Basketball Cast Offs
So, who did our cast off basketball pros lose to in this basketball variant? The giant killers from Netherlands featured a roster that would not strike fear in anyone: Julian Jaring, Dimeo van der Horst, Arvin Slagter, and Jessey Voorn. If you research these guys just a little bit you’ll discover that they’ve had rather nondescript pro basketball careers, mostly in the Netherlands and best I can tell they aren’t playing 5×5 hoops anymore. I’m not sure what sort of salaries or more likely stipends they get for playing 3×3 basketball, but I doubt that it’s very much. One of the players even appears to be a personal trainer. So, the Netherlands didn’t send their best basketball players either. Yes, basically our USA basketball cast offs lost to Netherlands basketball cast offs. Good athletes whose pro careers didn’t pan out, but their skill set was ideal for the 3×3 variant. On the whole, I would bet USA cast offs are generally superior to the Netherlands, but as we can plainly see now, not that much better and clearly beatable.
The Relevance to Handball
So, why am I writing yet again about a Team USA Basketball Failure? Because it really, really illustrates just how absolutely and totally absurd the back of the napkin strategy that cast off U.S. pros from other sports could easily win Handball Olympic Gold.
Good gracious. I am getting sick and tired of explaining just how BAT SH** CRAZY such notions are. But, here goes with a little context and perspective.
We didn’t even qualify for the Olympics in a variant of basketball with cast off pros. A sport that we have totally dominated since it was invented. And, you think we can take similar cast off athletes from basketball and other sports and teach them to play handball, a sport they’ve never played before in a month, 6 months, 2 years, 4 years. That’s more than a little tougher than learning the aspects of a modified game of basketball for sure. Oh, and get this. Your manufactured team isn’t going to get to compete against other similar cast off pros. No, no, no, They will get to take on full time handball professionals that have been playing the sport their entire lives.
How can one even begin to reconcile the failure in 3×3 basketball with the idea that handball gold would somehow be a piece of cake?
Honestly, you know what the parallel is here? It would be roughly the same as former Netherlands handball players taking a crash course in basketball and planning on Olympic 5×5 basketball gold. Better start working on your long range jump shot, Luc Steins!
Previous Commentaries regarding the “Cast Offs” strategy and the need to understand that handball is a professional sport
USA Basketball with a Worst Ever World Championships. Does anyone Still Think that Similar Athletes Can Lead us to Handball Greatness: Link
Why a Residency Program at Auburn?: Reason #2: The U.S. had its Greatest Success with Residency Programs… True Statement, but that Success Occurred when Handball was only “Somewhat Professionalized.” Link
Could Lebron James Really become the the Best Handball Player in the World in Just 6 Months? (Part 1): Do I really have to Explain how Crazy that notion is? Link
Could Lebron James Really become the the Best Handball Player in the World in Just 6 Months? (Part 2): Why it’s just not Going to Happen; but what about Lebron Lite? Link
KRAS/Volendam vs Aalsmeer (Saturday, 2000 CET): Video Link
Mark Ortega is Volendam’s coach and Alex Binderis (#4) plays circle runner for Volendam
5th place Volendam hosts 2nd place Aalsmeer. This is Voldendam’s last match of the season and a win would enable them to move into 4th place in the 5 team league: Link
Liga ASOBAL (Spain)
Valladolid vs Leon (-1.5) (Sunday, 1900 CET): Video Link
Drew Donlin plays defense and circle runner for Leon.
Donlin had a great game (5 goals) last weekend vs Barcelona.
7th place Leon travels to 9th place Valladolid. This is Leon’s 2nd to last match of the season and will likely be that last match that will be available on Laligasports TV,
The first match was to be played in Sweden, but had to be cancelled due to positive COVID cases. Both matches will now be played in Athens and the winner will be decided by aggregate goals.
There is a U.S. connection: The U.S. national team played a couple friendly matches vs Ystads in 2020: Link
Joey Williams is the President of the Detroit Handball Club. In Part 1 of our two part conversation we discuss the trials and tribulations of his efforts to start the Detroit Club. For the most part he’s been very successful getting the Detroit Club started in the middle of a pandemic, no less.
Here are some links related to our discussion
Joey’s 2016 experience at a European GK Camp: Link
Joey’s 2019 experience at the ISI Sports Academy in Denmark: Link
2019 Commentary which discussed the hurdles of starting a new club: Link
Could a New Distribution of Olympic Qualification Slots be Coming?
Last Friday, (21 May 2021), European Handball Federation (EHF) President Michael Wiederer gave a wide ranging interview with the Mannhiemer Morgen, a newspaper in Germany. For the most part the interview covered topics directly pertaining to the pandemic and EHF competitions. However, I bulls-eyed in on a couple of questions pertaining to handball’s place on the world stage:
Mannheimer Morgen: You are the representative of European handball interests, recently more and more nations like Argentina, Brazil and Egypt have drawn attention to themselves. How do you rate that?
Wiederer: This development is important for the sport, especially for the international market value of handball. Because as long as we are a sport with a European character, the marketing opportunities remain limited. Many international corporations are not based in Europe. I therefore welcome developments on the other continents. It was a very important step to expand the World Cup to 32 teams.
Mannheimer Morgen: Because handball is so European, the Olympic status is discussed again and again. Are you concerned about this?
Wiederer: We don’t have to worry about this status any more or less than many other sports. We aroused great interest at the Olympic Games in Rio five years ago. But this is also about internationalization. The world association is trying to get more starting places for other continents, that would be at the expense of Europe. As you can see, this is also about a balance, about different interests in terms of the product and a possible narrowing to a few markets.
Great IHF Support, but no Olympic Ticket
What makes Wiederer’s response newsworthy is that to the best of my knowledge it was the first time in print that I’ve seen it publicly acknowledged that the IHF was considering a redistribution of Olympic slots and the logical impact that such a redistribution would have on European nations.
The IHF, of course, has made no secret of its desires to develop new markets in the U.S. and China. Steps taken to help the U.S. include:
The U.S. Development Project, headed by former EHF President, Jean Brihault that has provided some grant funding for the U.S.
The dissolution of the Pan American Team Handball Federation (PATHF) into two new confederations, the North American & Caribbean Handball Confederation (NACHC) and the South & Central American Handball Confederation (SCAHC).
Selecting the U.S. as the NACHC representative to the 2021 Men’s Handball World Championships when a competition couldn’t be held due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But, while the PATHF split into the NACHC and SCAHC resulted in separate new qualification paths for the World Championships there has been so similar change announced regarding Olympic qualification. Both the NACHC and SCAHC were still grouped together for qualification via the 2019 PANAM Games.
And, anyone who follows handball in Pan America knows that presently it’s very unlikely that a NACHC nation will qualify for the Olympics via the PANAM Games. Any NACHC Men’s team hoping to qualify would likely have to beat both Brazil and Argentina, two nations that would likely be double digit favorites against any NACHC nation. For the women, it would mean beating Brazil and right now staying within 10 goals would be a major accomplishment for any NACHC women’s team. For reference Brazil beat the USA 34-9 in a 2019 semifinal.
But, if the NACHC were to be given its own slot? Well, that changes the equation entirely. Cuba would instantly become the NACHC favorite for both Men’s and Women’s Olympic Qualification, but the U.S. wouldn’t be far behind. And, every other NACHC nation that has been playing handball for awhile could also envision a legitimate shot at Olympic qualification.
How a Separate Olympic Qualification Slot Would Help the U.S.
For the U.S. a new Olympic Qualification path would likely lead to changes in terms of budget and budgetary priorities. For the past 20 years or so funding from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) has been primarily tied to medal prospects. With the U.S. not even having realistic chances of qualifying for the Olympics this has resulted in minimal support from the USOPC. This could change with Olympic qualification suddenly being realistic and feasible as USA Team Handball could make a legitimate case that increased support in key areas could result in Olympic qualification.
In turn, it could also increase the quality and quantity of athletes pursuing handball in the U.S. Historically, one of the big enticements for athlete recruitment has been the possibility of being an Olympian some day. Indeed, at one time making a U.S. national team roster was tantamount to being an Olympian. Over time, however, as U.S. Olympic qualification prospects changed from likely to very unlikely this recruiting pitch became less effective as did the quantity and overall quality of the athletes recruited.
IOC Pressure and Potential European Backlash
It’s never been officially stated, but reportedly the IOC has expressed to the IHF its concerns about handball being too European. And, it has been rumored that this concern even included a warning about handball perhaps being taken off of the Olympic Programme. It’s hard to believe that handball would really be removed from the Olympics, but there is some validity to the underlying point of handball being too European. And, if a little IOC pressure has served as an impetus to put more focus on developing a U.S. handball market I sure won’t complain. And, I also wouldn’t complain about an Olympic slot being awarded to the NACHC as that would be a phenomenal development for the U.S. and the entire NACHC.
But, who would complain… and loudly? The European Handball nations; because in most instances it would result in a slot being taken away from a European side.
Current Olympic Qualification Slots
For reference, here is how the 12 Olympic slots are currently awarded for both the Men and Women:
Host Nation (1)
Reigning World Champion (1)
Europe (1)
Africa (1)
Asia (1)
Pan America (1)
Qualification Tournaments (6)
And, here is how the different continental federations have fared in the Olympic Qualification Tournaments since the current format was implemented in 2008.
2020 Olympic Qualification Tournaments
Men: Europe (5); Pan America (1)
Women: Europe (6)
2016 Olympic Qualification Tournaments
Men: Europe (5); Africa (1)
Women: Europe (6)
2012 Olympic Qualification Tournaments
Men: Europe (6)
Women: Europe (6)
2008 Olympic Qualification Tournaments
Men: Europe (6)
Women: Europe (5); Asia (1)
So, it hasn’t been a clean sweep for European nations, but it’s been close. If a slot were to be given to the NACHC it would likely remove a European team. A European team that would probably have made the quarterfinals and would have had a legitimate shot of medaling.
A Change in Time for 2024?
Because of the likely ramifications, I’m not very surprised that this hasn’t been publicly addressed by the IHF. It’s more often the sort of thing that’s discussed informally at coffee breaks and dinner parties. Not the sort of thing that gets promulgated until there’s an agreement in principle by the parties affected. Wiederer’s response in the interview is simply confirmation that this discussion has taken place and Europe is aware of it. Actually, likely been a party to the discussions since they would face the negative impacts.
However, if this change were to be made in time for the 2024 Olympics the clock is definitely ticking. Under the current qualification system the 2023 PANAM Games would again serve as qualification for the Olympics for the NACHC and SCAHC. That may be two years away, but qualification for the PANAM Games would start next summer with regional qualification in South, Central and North America. So, basically, just a year is available to change course and for the NACHC and SCAHC to come up with new separate qualification plans. This is doable, but action would be needed fairly quickly.
And, barring a change in time for 2024 one might wonder whether a change would be made for 2028. This is because the NACHC would already have a representative due to the U.S. hosting. Such a change would in fact result in 2 NACHC nations participating in the Olympics. Yes, given the sometimes glacial pace of change… this might end up being a change for the 2032 Olympics.
