Canadian Women in action against Bulgaria.

1) The IHF Trophy (Intercontinental Phase) is taking place in Monterrey, Mexico.  The IHF Trophy is a development initiative of the IHF focused on providing youth competitions for developing nations.  This final phase has the continental champions in competition against each other.

Mexico Federation Webpage: Link (Currently has standings, score sheets and links to video (live and on demand)

2) Nikola Karabatic seeks to collect incentive pay from his former club.  Barcelona backcourt Nikola Karabatic is seeking payment of 58,000 Euro bonus that he is owed from his former club, Montpellier. Former players, Mladen Bojinovich and Mikael Robin are also seeking payment for bonuses as well.  Karabatic was at the center of a betting scandal which saw Montpellier lose the first half of a match versus Cesson in 2011.
Handball World: Link
Mundo Handball: Link

3) Qatar announces roster for Asian Championships.  Qatar has bolstered its roster with former French National, Bertrand Roine, Spaniard, Borja Fernández Vidal and Cuban Rafael Da Costa Capote
Handnews.fr: Link

USA National Team athletes pose with Aubie, the Auburn University mascot.

1) Austria’s Hypo eliminated from Champions League. This past weekend the Austrian women’s club, Hypo Niederösterreich lost to Germany’s Thüringer HC 34-25 and for the 2nd straight year failed to advance out of Group Play. The Hypo Club has 7 Brazilian National Team players on it’s roster and is coached by the Brazilian National Team Coach, Morten Soubak. This poor result calls into question the success and future of the unique relationship the club has with the Brazilian Federation.

Review of the Hypo-Brazil Relationship at Mundo Handball: Link
Christer Ahl assessment from 2011 on the Hypo-Brazil agreement: Link

2) Can the Cuban Men and Women qualify for 2016 Olympics? Ruben Gomez at Mundo Handball reviews their recent performance at the Caribbean Cup and assesses their chances for 2016.
Mundo Handball(Spanish) Link http://blog.mundohandball.com/2013/11/que-tiene-cuba-le-alcanza-para-llegar.html

3) USATH holds first Board Meeting since Dec 2012. The USA Team Handball Board of Directors met on October 14th and the minutes from the meeting have been posted on the Federation website. The minutes note that the Nominating and Governance Committee has selected 3 new independent Board Members. Further dialogue with CEO Matt Van Houten has indicated that they should be formally announced in the near future.
USATH October 14, 2013 Board Meeting Minutes: Link

4) Auburn holds welcome ceremony for USA Team Handball Residency Programs. Last Friday, the Auburn University Kinesiology Department and the Auburn Team Handball Club formally welcomed USA Team Handball and its Residency Programs to Auburn.
Auburn Team Handball Club Facebook photos of welcome event: Link

The Dominican Republic Men with the Caribbean Cup trophy.

1) Caribbean Cup final results. This past weekend the Caribbean Cup ended with the Cuban women and Dominican Republic men taking first place. The Cuban women were particularly impressive with 2 wins over the host and World Championship bound Dominicans. The Cuban men were also competive, but lost to the hosts Dominicans 31-29.
Written summary at Handball-World: Link
Wiki page with results, match forms and video links (Mundo Handball): Link

2) Cuban player confirms desire to return to International Competition. In an interview on the Argentinian Handball podcast, Cuban Jorge Luis Pavan who currently plays for Naturhouse La Rioja in the Liga Asobal confirmed that Cuban players playing professionally in Europe who had previously defected are interested in again representing Cuba in international competition.
Handball de Primera (Spanish): Link

3) Cuban Rafael Capote to play in Qatar. Pavan’s club teammate, Rafael Capote, pending the results of a physical, will be transferred to Qatari club, El Jaish. Further speculation is that he may end up obtaining Qatari citizenship and playing for Qatar when that nation hosts the 2015 World Championship.
Mundo Handball (Spanish): Link

Luc Abalo shows his dance moves.

1) Friendly match results. This past weekend saw many national teams playing friendlies in preparation for the European Championship, Africa Cup and South American Games. Here’s a composite summary mostly taken from several match reports at Handball-World: Link

Super Cup in Hamburg, Germany (Germany, Sweden, Poland, Egypt): Germany won all 3 of its matches and Poland edged Sweden for second place. Egypt lost all 3 and only managed to play Poland close.

Golden League in Oslo, Norway (Norway, Denmark, France, Croatia): Denmark and France won 2 of 3 matches, while hosts Norway and Croatia finished 1-2. Norway surprised Denmark with a 32-26 victory.

Tournament in Hammamet, Tunisia (Tunisia, Russia, Belarus, Brazil): A closely matched tournament with no game being won by more than 4 goals. Tunisia won the tournament with wins over Russia and Belarus and a draw against Brazil. Brazil had draws against Egypt (23-23) and Belarus (30-30) and lost narrowly to Russia (26-25)

Hungary – Spain: Spain defeated Hungary twice in Hungary, by scores of 30-26 and 29-24

Czech Republic – Serbia. In two matches played in the Czech Republic, the first match was a 29-29 draw and the second one was a 30-25 Czech Republic victory

Austria – Iceland. These two nations played two closely contested matches in Austria. Iceland took the first match 29-28 and Austria won the second match 33-32

Macedonia – Montenegro.  Montenegro edged Macedonia 29-28 in the first match and Macedonia won the second, 26-21.

Algeria: 4 wins vs Czech Republic Clubs: Link

Argentina: Argentina defeated French club, Ivry (34-29) and had a draw against Creteil (26-26)

2) Will Cuban players that previously defected be allowed to play for Cuba? Cuba recently change their laws to allow athletes to play professionally in other countries. Ruben Gomez of Mundo Hanball assesses the impact if those players return to the Cuban National Team
Mundo Handball: Link http://blog.mundohandball.com/2013/11/cuba-con-jugadores-profesionales-en.html

3) Luc Abalo “feels good”. In a video for the organization “Sports Without Borders” Luc Abalo does a James Brown impression..
Hand News: Link

Rafael Capote scored 10 goals on Saturday against Flensburg. Will he play for Cuba again?

1) Cuban player scores 10 and makes EHF CL weekly Best 7 player list. Rafael da Costa Capote who plays for Naturhouse La Rioja in Logrono, Spain was on fire this Saturday against Flensburg. The 26 year old Capote defected while in Brazil for the 2007 PANAM Games and has apparently bounced around a little, first playing in Italy and now Spain.

ehfTV: Video (Best 7 of week 4): Link
ehftTV: Video (Match Highlights): Link
THN article from 2007 on his defection: Link

2) New Danish head coach advocates a shot clock for handball. Gudmundur Gudmundsson, following a Rhein-Neckar 23-22 loss to Luebbecke expressed his frustration with handball’s “passive play” rule and its inconsistent application. Even going so far as to advocate an NBA style shot clock.
Handball-World: Link
Original article in Mannheimer Morgen (German): Link

3) Alex Dujshebaev called up to Spanish National Team. In what will likely be the first of many International Games, 20 year old Alex Dujshebaev will play next month for Spain in two friendlies against Hungary.
Handnews.fr (French): Link

With lots of recent developments here’s an all Pan American update.

With several articles of interest from the Mundo Handball and Handball Deprimera websites here’s an all Pan-America edition.

1) NOR.CA Championships to be played in Mexico. Citing a Handball Deprimera interview with PATHF Executive Director, Miguel Zaworotny, Mundo Handball reports that the tournament will be held in Mexico the last part of January. Separately, USA Team Handball CEO Matt Van Houten has indicated via email that the latest information he had been provided was for 23 February to 1 March 2014 in Mexico City.  (Note:  Historically, dates, times and location for PATHF related events have often changed multiple times before being confirmed.)
Mundo Handball (Spanish): Link

2) Cuba to compete for 2016 Olympic Qualification. In the same Handball Deprimera interview, Zaworotny indicated that Cuba intends to compete for 2016 Olympic qualification. (Note: I’ve inquired as to whether Cuba will also participate in the upcoming NOR.CA Champioship, but I haven’t received any confirmation yet.)
Mundo Handball: Link

3) Haiti to begin participation in PATHF Competitions. Again, from the Zaworotny interview. Haiti has not participated any events in a long time, if ever.
Mundo Handball : Link

4) Peru Handball Federation reaction to Lima’s selection as the 2019 PANAM Games host city. Ruben Gomez recaps an interview on the Handball Deprimera website with the Peruvian Federation and compares Peru’s situation to GBR and the London Olympics.
Mundo Handball (Spanish): Link

5) Argentina requests nearly a 1 month release for professionals playing in Europe. The South American Games in March 2014 will serve as the qualification even for the 2015 PANAM Games and the 2014 Pan American Championships. This is a key event for the Argentinian national team, but it remains to be seen whether their clubs will release them for that length of time.
Mundo Handball (Spanish): Link

1) The percentage of non-German players in the HBL is most pronounced at Center Back.  Handball Time magazine in Germany provides a detailed analysis of foreign participation in the HBL. Additionally, it’s noted that the percentage of foreign players in the HBL isn’t that different from other sports.
Handball World (German): Link

2) Barca with bargain season ticket plan. 73 Euros is all that is required to get a seat for every home Liga ASOBAL and Champions League match. For roughly the same price you can get tickets to 2 matches at Flensburg. If it wasn’t obvious before it’s totally self evident now that only a tiny fraction of Barca’s payroll is paid with handball related revenue.
Diario ASOBAL (Spanish) : Link

3) Arab Gulf nations stage first ever Women’s International Tournament.  Kuwait is hosting Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates in a 6 day long tournament.
Arab Times: Link
Kuwait Times: Link

4) Nikola Karabatic supplements his income. The Stade Francais Rugby Calendar has a guest handballer gracing it this year. It’s the 3rd time Karabatic has posed for the promotional calendar.
Handnews.fr (French):  Link 

1) Interview with Wisla Plock’s Marcin Lijewski. ehfTV’s Tom Ó Brannagáin sat down with Lijewski prior to the match and touches on a number of topics: Playing with Hamburg, moving to Poland and who’s a better player: Marcin or is his brother Krzysztof.
EHF article: Link
Audio: Link (30 minutes: Worth a listen)

2) AG Copenhagen to return in 2014? Owner Jesper Nielsen is signalling on social media that the short lived Danish powerhouse club could return next season
TV2.DK: Link
Christer Ahl commentary from 2012 on Copenhagen: Link

3) Fiji looks to introduce handball. If they can duplicate the success they’ve had with Rugby 7s perhaps another nation besides Australia could make the World Championships
Fiji Broadcasting Corp: Link

Required attire for French Club, Handbal Cercle Nimes

1) Week 1 of Champions League Group Play with some suprisingly close matches
EHF Champions League:  Link