Here are Miguel's pick for week 2 of Champions League Group Play. Miguel is starting out with an imaginary bankroll of 1000 Euros and we will keep track of how he does throughout the season. We are still looking for another expert to participate. If you are interested please send us your four picks for the week along with your analysis and we will consider adding you to this feature.

07.10.2006 16:30 FC Barcelona (-7.5) – Hammarby (+7.5)
After a not-so-brilliant victory in Slovenia and a defeat at Valladolid last Wednesday, Barcelona will have to win to change this doubtful season beginning. Laszlo Nagy is back and Barcelona hasn't lost a home game at the Champions League in a very long time. Despite the fact that Hammarby is leading the Swedish league with authority and obtained an impressive 14 goal victory in the first champions league game, I think Barcelona will have an easy victory. [b]BET 200 Euros FC Barcelona[/b]

07.10.2006 18:00 HCM Constanta (-2.5) – GOG Svendborg TGI (+2.5)
This should be a tight game that will decide which team will go with Kiel into the next round. Betting is about taking risks sometimes, and although Constanta plays at home and Romania is never an easy trip for any team, I'd bet for Gudme this time. The Danish solid defense and fast-break could beat "Serbian-Romanian" slow handball control.
[b]BET 100 Euros GOG Gudme[/b]

07.10.2006 19:00 Montpellier HB (-8.5) – HC Portovik Yuzhny (+8.5)
Montpellier is already leading the French league and their powerful backcourt is in a very good shape (Bojinovic, Hman, Burdet, Sioud).The whole team seems to be getting better and better. The rookie Ukrainian team wasn't very impressive in the opening game and Montpellier is one of the toughest courts on which to get positive results. Should be an easy game for Montpellier.
[b]BET 100 Euros Montpellier[/b]

07.10.2006 20:00 BM. Valladolid (-10.5) – A1 Bregenz Handball (+10.5)
Valladolid must be in a cloud after being so close to defeat against Ciudad Real, beating the Ukrainians away, and their amazing victory against Barcelona last Wednesday. Unless they are too relaxed or overconfident, Bregenz has no chance; they are missing Wilczynski and Schlinger way too much from last season and were humiliated by Montpellier in the first game. The extremely fast and offensive game for Valladolid should give them a win by more than 10 goals. [b]BET 200 Euros Valladolid[/b]

Courtesy of NordicBet www.nordicbet.com here are the lines for week 2 of the Champions League. (Please note that some of these lines are preliminary and may not yet be officially posted at the Nordic Bet site)

05.10.2006 18:45 THW Kiel (-9.5) – HC Banik Karvina H(+9.5)
05.10.2006 20:30 VfL Gummersbach (-9.5) – Sandefjord TIF H(+9.50)

07.10.2006 15:00 Brest HC Meshkov (+2.5) – SC Pick Szeged (-2.5)
07.10.2006 16:15 Fotex KC Veszprém (-11.5) – Povazska Bystrica (+11.5)
07.10.2006 16:15 KIF Kolding (-7.5) – Wisla Plock (+7.5)
07.10.2006 16:30 FC Barcelona (-7.5) – Hammarby (+7.5)
07.10.2006 18:00 HCM Constanta (-2.5) – GOG Svendborg TGI (+2.5)
07.10.2006 19:00 Montpellier HB (-8.5) – HC Portovik Yuzhny (+8.5)
07.10.2006 20:00 BM. Valladolid (-10.5) – A1 Bregenz Handball (+10.5)

08.10.2006 15:00 Panellinios AC Athens (+2.5) – RK Gold Club Kozina (-2.5)
08.10.2006 16:15 RK "Bosna" Sarajevo (+6.5) – Portland San Antonio (-6.5)
08.10.2006 16:45 RK Zagreb (-3.5) – Chehovski Medvedi (+3.5)
08.10.2006 17:15 Celje Pivovarna Lasko (-11.5) – Fram Reykjavik (+11.5)
08.10.2006 17:15 RK Metalurg Skopje (+6.5) – SG Flensburg-Handewitt (-6.5)
08.10.2006 17:30 Crvena Zvezda Beograd (-2.5) – Chambery Savoie (+2.5)
08.10.2006 18:10 Ciudad Real (+9.5) – Kadetten Schaffhausen (-9.5)

Due to a rash of injuries, Talant Dujshebaev has changed titles from Ciudad Real coach to player-coach. 38 year old Dujshebaev can certainly still play as he had a pivotal role in Ciudad Real’s victory last weekend against Pick Szeged.

EHF Report: http://championsleague.eurohandball.com/index.asp?page=20071071X,1307#scroll
Ciudad Real Report (in Spanish): http://www.balonmanociudadreal.net/noticia.php?id=674
Wikipedia Entry (in Spanish): http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talant_Dujshebaev

The first weekend was mostly true to form, with only a few minor surprises. As expected, all of the 1st or 2nd seeded teams won their games vs 3rd or 4th seeded teams and in most cases by large margins. There were, however a few surprises elsewhere, with Group C’s #2 seed Kolding (Denmark) easily beating #1 Chambery in France, by a score of 32-26 being the biggest. Kolding, was a 1.5 goal underdog going into the match, but clearly dominated Chambery in all phases of the game. There were also a few outright wins by #4 seed vs #3 seeds: Romania’s Constanta’s victory over Banik Karvina in the Czech Republic and Sarajevo’s win over Bystrica in Slovakia.

Next weekend’s key matchups:
Group C: KIF Kolding Elite A/S (DEN) vs Wisla Plock S.A. (POL): Both teams are coming off big wins and will battle it out for first place in Group C
Group C: Crvena Zvezda Beograd (SRB) vs Chambery Savoie HB (FRA): Gut check time for Jackson Richardson and company. Belgrade is the 4th seeded team and were beaten soundly by Wisla Plock, but playing in Belgrade is always a challenge.
Group E: C.S. HCM Constanta (ROM) vs GOG Svendborg TGI Gudme (DEN): Svendborg will try and bounce back from a home loss to Kiel. Constanta, the 4th seed will try to make it to 2-0 in front of a home crowd.
Group G: FC Barcelona-Cifec (ESP) vs Hammarby IF HB (SWE) : Battle for first place in Group H
Group A: RK "Bosna" Sarajevo (BIH) vs Portland San Antonio (ESP): 4th seeded Sarajevo will try to go 2-0 in Group A against top seeded Portland San Antonio. Portland will be a big favorite, but a road trip to Sarajevo is never easy.
Group D: RK Zagreb (CRO) vs Chehovskie Medvedi (RUS): Top seeded Zagreb needs to defend home court against the top team from Russia

The EHF recently signed a deal with Eurosport that will greatly increase the number of Champions League matches that will be shown on TV this season. http://championsleague.eurohandball.com/index.asp?page=20071071X,1283#scroll
Eurosport 2 is available in several European countries and is broadcast to the UK in English. The EHF has not yet responded to several requests concerning their plans this season for internet streaming. Hopefully, since everything written on their website is in English, they will also switch to English language broadcasts. Eurosport Commentator Paul Bray will be providing the English language commentary and provided the following schedule (subject to change):

Thursday 28 September 19.30-21.00 Wisla Plock vs Beograd
Thursday 28 September 21.00-22.15 Flensburg vs RK Zagreb (Taped)
Sunday 1 October 16.30-18.00 Portovik Yuzhny vs Valladolid
Sunday 1 October 18.00-19.30 Fram Reykjavik vs Gummersbach
Thursday 5 October 17.45-19.15 Live Match
Saturday 7 October 19.00-20.30 Live Match
Sunday 8 October 16.15-17.45 Live Match
Thursday 12 October 17.45-19.15 Live Match
Saturday 14 October 18.15-19.45 Live Match
Sunday 15 October 15.15-16.45 Live Match
Thursday 19 October 19.30-21.00 Live Match
Thursday 19 October 21.00-22.00 Taped Match
Saturday 21 October 19.15-20.45 Live Match
Sunday 22 October 09.30-11.00 Live Match

The EHF has concluded their recent Executive Committee meeting. A couple of notes and analysis concerning their meeting report: http://home.eurohandball.com/ehf_files/ehf_news/sr_exec1609/default.htm

Champions League: Next season's format will be altered after the first phase of group play. Instead of proceeding immediately to 2 game aggregate knock-out play, the top two teams in each group will now be placed into 4 new groups of 4 teams. The EHF write-up then indicates that semifinals and finals will follow. The EHF write-up, however, makes no mention as to whether matches will be moved from weekend to midweek to appease German and Spanish Leagues threats to start an alternate competition.

Dispute with IHF: Nothing new to report, but the somewhat mocking reference to the IHF's "so called World Club League" certainly seems to indicate that the EHF is drawing some firm positions. It will be interesting to see how the IHF responds.

The EHF has taken formal legal action against the IHF over the IHF’s plans to introduce new qualification tournaments for the World Championships under IHF jurisdiction and separate from existing Continental Championships http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idcat=132&idart=383. The specifics of the lawsuit concerns the IHF Council’s ability to supersede IHF Congress decisions and the time associated with formal notification. In particular, the EHF notes that the 1994 IHF Congress unanimously agreed that Continents would be responsible for qualifying teams. The EHF is maintaining that the IHF Council is over-ruling what was earlier agreed to by the higher body IHF Congress and that this issue does not require action by the Council prior to the next Congress.

The EHF’s stated concerns are that the new tournament will add yet another National team event that will conflict with an already full club and national team schedule. As clubs are starting to express more and more reluctance to release players for National Team matches, the addition of a separate round of matches outside the European Championships is not supportable.

The EHF also indicates that they will try to resolve this issue with the IHF through internal legal mechanisms and that the lawsuit is only a precautionary move.
Primary source: http://www.handball-world.com/o.red.c/news.php?gender=m&auswahl=5250 (in German)
EHF Official Statement: http://home.eurohandball.com/ehf_files/ehf_news/sr_officialIHFstatement/default.htm

The Men’s Under 20 European Championships are taking place in Austria thru the 19th of August. 16 teams are competing for 2 spots in next year’s Men’s Under 21 World Championships in Macedonia. As an added bonus all matches will be available for live viewing, free of charge, on the internet. Matches will be played on 14, 15,17, 18, and 19 Aug and go roughly from 1400-2200 Central European Time.

The official website: http://www.euro2006.at/home_handball_em_2006,pid,10,bid,1132217260,mainbid,1132217260,lid,en,smid,,size,site-en.html

The EHF will video stream the Champions League draw live on Saturday, 29July at 11:00 AM Central European Time. It should also be available for delayed viewing for those unable to view the live stream. They usually show some highlights and have a few interviews in conjunction with the draw. Perhaps they will also discuss their marketing and internet broadcast plans for the year. Maybe, if they’re really bold they will even address the controversy surrounding the German and Spanish League’s ultimatum that Champions League matches need to be moved from the weekend to midweek or they will start an alternate league next year.
http://www.eurohandball.com/

On 24 May, the EHF released the following official statement concerning private league initiatives: http://home.eurohandball.com/ehf_files/ehf_news/st_Official_Statement_2405/default.htm

Courtesy of Mette from Mette’s Handball Corner: http://www.geocities.com/mettekj.geo/danish_teamhandball.html here’s the story behind the press release.

The unnamed Danish club in the EHF’s Official Statement is the Slagelse Handball Club. The “certain representative” is Slagelse Head Coach and former Danish National Team Player Anja Andersen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anja_Andersen Anja Andersen is considered to be one of the best ever Women Handball players and is also known for her outspoken and sometimes controversial antics. This past year she was suspended by the Danish Handball Federation and the EHF after apparently grabbing a referee during a match http://www.denmark.dk/portal/page?_pageid=374,919358&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

Andersen’s proposal called for a private league with 13 teams: Eight from Denmark and five from Europe. The league would be further divided into a Danish League and a European League with corresponding tournaments ending in a championship with the best team from each league. The league would also be totally separate from both the Danish Handball Federation and the EHF.

In principle, Andersen feels that women's handball is dying while the leaders are not doing enough to address this decline. She got the inspiration for the private league ten years ago when she visited Chicago and saw an NBA basketball game where Dennis Rodman was allowed to kick a chair in anger in front of a cheering crowd – something she has never been allowed to do without punishment. Essentially, she feels that a new, less stodgy league would allow her to show her feelings more freely.

Additionally, she also thinks the NBA structure, with the best teams in one league, higher salaries and forward looking rules is a better model. She feels that Europe should adopt the best aspects of American sports: professionalism and emotions. She has felt this for some time, but only recently felt that she had gained enough knowledge about economics, organization and strategies to make it come true.

Needless to say, the establishment, namely the Danish Handball Federation (DHF) and EHF did not welcome this proposal as it would directly conflict with the Danish League and the Champions League. As Andersen had previously successfully developed and marketed a “Dream Team” tour and established a working relationship with Danish TV3 there was also some definite legitimacy to this threat.

The key element for any new league to succeed is money and Andersen’s strategy was to secure sufficient funding via a TV contract. As Danish TV2 had an exclusive 5 year contract with the DHF, Andersen discussed the possibility of the alternative league with Danish TV3. TV3, however, also entered negotiations with TV2 (and perhaps using the alternative league as leverage) made a deal with TV2 to secure broadcast rights to 48 Danish league matches per season. Effectively, this appears to have ended the possibility of a new private league being developed in the near future.

The past two weekends determined the final 8 spots for the World Championships
http://home.eurohandball.com/report.asp?bid=227&rnr=2&pha=1086

Notably, Sweden was knocked out by Iceland. Both teams won on the road with Iceland surprising Sweden 32-28 in the first match. Sweden, however could only manage a 1 goal victory in Iceland, so they will be staying home once again. With their failure to qualify for the 2004 Olympics, 2006 European Championships, and the 2007 World Championships might they be looking for a new coach?

The other interesting matchups saw Poland overcome a 5 goal deficit to beat Greece while Norway held off Romania with a tie in Stavanger for a one goal aggregate win.

Both legs of the Women’s Champions League finals will be available for web viewing. The first leg is scheduled for this Sunday at 4:15 PM Central European Time (CET). By chance, the two finalists, Krim Ljubljana from Slovenia and Viborg HK A/S from Denmark, were assigned to the same initial group and therefore have played each other twice already. Krim won both matches (by 5 goals in Slovenia and 6 goals in Denmark). Despite this, Krim is only a slight favorite to take the title. Odds are courtesy of Centrebet www.centrebet.com

First Match odds: Krim is a 3.5 point favorite

To Win Championship
Krim: -142 (Bet 142 to win 100)
Viborg: +115 (Bet 100 to win 115)

There will be live video streaming again this weekend as the Men’s Champions League will conclude with the 2nd leg of the finals. As a result of Ciudad Real’s 25-19 away win at Portland San Antonio, there seems to be little doubt that Ciudad Real will be able to also win at home. And if you think that Portland San Antonio is going to somehow beat Ciudad Real by 7 goals in Ciudad Real, to win on aggregate you’re a real optimist.

Portland San Antonio at Ciudad Real, Sunday, 30 April, 6:30 PM CET
Ciudad Real is a 3.5 goal favorite

The Women’s Final has also been set. Krim Ljubljana of Slovenia will host Viborg HK of Denmark on Sunday, 14 May at 4:15 PM CET. The return leg in Denmark is scheduled for Saturday, 20 May at 7:15 PM CET