EHF Champions League TV Show and the rest of the story on Kiel

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The EHF has added a weekly show featuring highlights of the past week’s games and interviews. The first edition showed highlights of 8 matches and summarized the results for each group. With English language commentary and at about 20 minutes long it’s a nice lunch time break to catch up on the Champions League.

The featured interview in the first show was with new Kiel head coach, Alfred Gislason. Gislason, an Icelander, formerly coached his country’s National Team and at Gummersbach in the Bundesliga. A little bit of backstory is warranted as the feature pretty much ignored most of the controversy surrounding his hiring.

Some of the things left unsaid include is why would Kiel replace their tremendously successful coach, Noka Serdarusic, in the first place. In 2006-07, Kiel became the first German team to complete a “triple” by winning the EHF Champions League, the Bundesliga Title, and the German Cup. In 2007-08, they had to settle for a double, losing to Ciudad Real in the Final of the Champions League. A disappointment for sure, but hardly justification for a change in leadership. According to reports in Handball-World, the change was made due to personality conflicts between Serdarusic and Kiel General Manager, Uwe Schwenker. When the private conflict between Serdarusic and Schwenker could no longer be covered up, the board of shareholders at Kiel decided unanimously to quit with Serdarusic and keep Schwenker. And on top of the 700,000 Euro transfer fee paid to Gummersbach, Kiel is also still paying Serdarusic’s salary through 2009.

Another point worth mentioning is the relationship between Serdarusic and star player, Nikola Karabatic. Karabatic’s father and Serdarusic are long time friends and Karabatic’s move to Kiel from his native France was largely facilitated by this relationship. Karabatic has obviously adjusted well to the HBL, and willingly signed a long term contract with Kiel through the 2011 season. I wonder, though, if he would have signed the same contract after Serdarusic was unceremoniously let go.

It remains to be seen if Kiel’s coaching change will have an impact on the team. So far, the results look good. Kiel is 7-0-1 and on top of the standings in the HBL and are 2-0-0 in Champions League play.

Handball-World: “The New One: Alfred Gislason will be coaching THW Kiel” http://www.handball-world.com/news-index.php?auswahl=15431&GID=1
EHFTV: www.ehftv.com (The 1st Champions League show is listed under 6 Oct)

EHF Champions League TV Coverage (Great Job, but more Bits Please!)

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Just a short note to indicate that I won’t be duplicating the fine work that the EHF is doing with their new EHFTV.com www.ehftv.com platform for web streaming. This site has all the information you need in regards to games that will be web streamed live. Additionally, the latest press release from the EHF indicates that all the games will now be available on tape delay.

The EHF is to be commended for developing this platform and I particularly appreciate that they are also not posting the final score for time shifters. My only remaining gripe is that they are not offering the matches with a higher bit rate comparable to the German Bundesliga matches available at HBL.TV www.hbl.tv. The video quality of HBL.TV is an order of magnitude better, but then again the HBL.TV stream is not free either.

[b]Note to EHF Marketing: If you were to offer a premium service with a 1,500 kbs (as opposed to the currrent 600 kbs) I will immediately reach for my wallet. And more importantly, I don’t think that I’d be alone![/b]

EHF Press Release: http://www.eurohandball.com/article/11824

U.S. 2009 Championship Tournament Planning

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USA Team Handball has announced that it is accepting bids for it’s 2009 Championship tournaments. In doing so, potential dates for those tournaments have been revealed. The Club Championship tournament has been scheduled for 1-3 May and the Collegiate Championships have been scheduled for either 3-5 April or 10-12 April.

USA Team Handball GM, Steve Pastorino, also confirmed to Team Handball News that the 2009 Club Championship will be open tournaments with no pre tournament qualification. Qualification is planned to be fully implemented for the 2009-2010 season. Pastorino also indicated that he met with several city representatives at a recent USOC sponsored conference for hosting National Governing Body (NGB) events and is optimistic that the Federation will receive 2-3 competitive bids.

USA Team Handball Bid Announcement: http://www.usateamhandball.org/news/index.html?article_id=40

The Road to Miami: French League Quarterfinal Draw

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The Ligue Nationale du Handball held a draw earlier this morning to determine quarterfinal matchups for the Coupe de la Ligue tournament. The results of the draw:

Aurillac – Paris
Tremblay – Chambéry
Istres – Toulouse
Montpellier – Dunkerque

These 4 matches will be played in Cannes, December 20-21, and the winner of each match will qualify for the finals in Miami, April 10-12.

[b]First Round Results[/b] (played October 4th)
Sélestat 19 30 [b]Tremblay [/b]
[b]Dunkerque[/b] 30 29 Ivry
Nîmes 22 24 [b]Istres[/b]
[b]Aurillac[/b] 30 28 Nantes
[b]Paris[/b] 28 21 Créteil
[b]Toulouse [/b] 37 36 Saint
(Montpellier and Chambery had a bye)

[b]Analysis:[/b] Other than the bye awarded to Montpellier and Chambery in the first round, the matchups in this tournament are strictly, the luck of the draw. As evidence of this, the matchup between perennial power Montpellier and top club Dunkerque looms large in the Quarterfinals as one of those teams will not make the trip to Miami. Conversely, Istres and Toulouse, two clubs that have finished in the middle of the standings (or worse) in recent years now have an opportunity to reach the final. Aurillac – Paris also falls in that category to a certain extent as both teams have not impressed so far this season. Paris has a couple of months to get their act together, however, and will likely be favored to win this matchup. Finally, the Tremblay – Chambery match should be interesting. Tremblay has made great strides in recent years and is currently in 3rd place, just 1 point behind Chambery.

Ligue Nationale du Handball website- Article on draw results (French): http://www.lnh.fr/zoom.php?article=728

EHFTV.com Adds More Games

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The new European Handball Federation (EHF) webstreaming site ehftv.com www.ehftv.com has added additional games for on demand viewing.

Matches added include:

Drammen HK (NOR) vs F.C. Barcelona Borges (ESP)
Hammarby (SWE) vs HC "Granitas-Karys" (LTU)
THW Kiel (GER) vs HC Metalurg (MKD)
HSV Hamburg (GER) vs Tatran Presov (SVK)

Based on these additions, there's a good chance that the marquee matches (see below) will also be available on demand.

HC Croatia Osiguranje-Zagreb vs. Rhein-Neckar Löwen
GOG Svendborg TGI vs BM Ciudad Real
Reale Ademar vs. Montpellier HB

Portland San Antonio: What’s in a Name?

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The Champions League started yesterday with Portland San Antonio easily taking care of Steaua MFA Bucharest, 38-32, at home in Pamplona, Spain. Portland? San Antonio? Pamplona? Huh? Did the NBA actually create a Handball all-star team out of the Trailblazers and Spurs rosters?

This is probably one of the more common questions an American Handball Fan has as he is introduced to the European club game. I know it’s one that I had. For the record, according to Miguel Garcia, a frequent poster in our forum, the name derives from a school named San Antonio in Pamplona that the original founders of the club attended. Portland is the name of their sponsor, a cement mixing firm, Cementos Portland.

Of course this begs the question, what the heck is a Steaua MFA?

This question and others like the ones below need to be answered:
Is Danish side GOG Svendborg named after the Biblical creature?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gog
Did Pick Szeged get it’s name from their mastery of the “pick and roll” in the early 50’s? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pick_and_roll
Is Chekovskie Medvedi named after the SS Enterprise Helmsman?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavel_Chekov
Is FCK Handbold A/S missing a vowel and, if so, why are they so angry about Handball?

So, it’s time to go to work Handball Fans. Yes, I’ve created a new Wiki to explain what these club names mean. If you have a clue please fill us in. Simply go to this link, click on “Edit this Page” and start typing. When finished, we’ll add it to the FAQ.

Handball Club Names Wiki: http://teamhandball.wikispaces.com/Club+Names

Champions League Season starts with 4 video streamed matches

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The European Handball Champions League starts today with multiple viewing opportunities via the internet. The first game is tonight and features heavily favored Spanish club, Portland San Antonio vs. Romanian side Steaua Bucharest. On Saturday, the match of the week sees resurgent Zagreb hosting struggling German side Rhein-Neckar. Zagreb has gone on a spending spree to sign and bring home many of the top Croatian players who had been playing elsewhere in Europe while Rhein Neckar has already fired and hired a new coach after a poor start in the Bundesliga. On Sunday, Svendborg will host defending champion Ciudad Real. Of note, for North American fans, Svendborg has 2 Greenlanders on their roster, veteran Jakob Larsen and newcomer Minik Dahl Hoeg. The last game features Spanish side Ademar hosting French Champions Montpellier.

[b]A new format: [/b] As in previous years, the top two teams from each of the 8 groups will advance to the next round of competition. This year, however, those two teams will also take the results of their 2 matches with them to the next round of competition. As there is often a wide disparity between the teams participating in the tournament there has often been no suspense in determining which two teams will advance in some of the groups. With the results carrying over into the next Group Phase, however, goal differential will now play a key role in these early matches. This is particularly true for some of the matches that will be video streamed this weekend.

[b]Highlights show: [/b] Eurosport is producing a 26 minute highlight show which will include interviews and background stories. It’s not entirely clear, but it looks like this will be available on the EHF website.

[b]Match Schedule: [/b] http://www.ehfcl.com/men/2008-09/article/11787/Live+Stream+from+Portland

Thursday, 2 October at 20:30
Portland San Antonio (ESP) vs Steaua MFA (ROU)

Saturday, 4 October at 17:45
Croatia Osiguranje (CRO) vs Rhein-Neckar Löwen (GER)

Sunday, 5 October at 15:55
GOG Svendborg TGI (DEN) vs BM Ciudad Real (ESP)

Sunday, 5 October at 18:00
Reale Ademar (ESP) vs Montpellier HB (FRA)

All times listed are Central European Time (CET) which is 6 hours ahead of the North American East Coast. It is unclear as to whether the matches will be available on demand afterwards and we’ve asked the EHF for clarification.

Sharks' Ortega signs professional contract

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[link=https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.590]As reported a few weeks ago[/link], former marquee Miami Sharks and USMNT centerback Mark Ortega, was offered a professional contract from the recently promoted Norweagian first division club, ALTA.

From the [link=http://www.miamisharksteamhandball.org/]Miami Sharks website[/link]:

"Miami Shark center back Mark Ortega has signed a contract to play for Norwegian First Division team Alta IF. Ortega will begin his second season with a professional squad after playing one season in Spain with a club out of Santander. Ortega was one of the first members of the Miami Sharks squad and Head Coach and owner Cristian Zaharia has helped him develop into an all around player. "Mark is a very good athlete and he works hard," Coach Zaharia said. "I am very proud of him and I look forward to seeing him succeed with Alta IF. Mark is a fine product of the Miami Sharks organization, where grass roots are very important and hard work, discipline, dedication and team spirit are criteria we are based on. All our members should be very proud of this achievement, because without his teammates, Mark would not have been able to progress as he did."
Ortega has also been a member of the United States National Team, competing in several International Competitions."

Congratulations are in order to coach Zaharia and Mark Ortega. Two genuine proefssionals.

New Zealand Handball: Sport Starting to Gain Traction

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The Olympic Games have a global reach to the far corners of the globe. As proof of that reach, a recent article from the Otago Daily Times highlights the sport's recent growth in New Zealand: http://www.odt.co.nz/sport/other-sport/24605/handball-sport-starting-gain-handhold

And for those who may wonder if national infighting over Handball development is a peculiar oddity limited to the USA will be amused to know that tiny New Zealand has competing federations. The official Federation recognized by the IHF is Handball New Zealand while the New Zealand Handball Federation also seeks to develop the sport.

Handball New Zealand: http://handballnewzealand.com/
New Zealand Handball Federation: http://www.handball.net.nz/cms/

EHF Congress Decisions

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[b]EHF – IHF Championship Conflict Postponed:[/b] The European Handball Federation (EHF) has completed its congress in Vienna. 49 member nations were present a number of issues were addressed Notably, the EHF declined to commit fully to a proposal that would change the scheduling for European Championships to odd years, a move that would conflict with the current schedule format for the International Handball Federation (IHF) World Championships. Instead a Working Group was formed to further address the issue. The EHF also appears to have embraced the need for input from the major clubs, as Group Club Handball (GCH) President/Ciudad Real President, Joan Marin is a member. Previously, the EHF had been wary of the GCH as its formation was seen as a threat to the EHF Champions League competition.

[b]Funding Split: [/b]Revenue from the EHF Championship tournament will also now include 10% profit sharing for the clubs as insurance for players participating in the tournament. This should help alleviate one of the major club complaints that these National Team tournaments were not only disruptive to their club schedules, but also a major risk to them due to player injuries.

[b]EHF Championships Awarded: [/b]Serbia may not be part of the European Union yet, but the EHF member nations gave it a vote of confidence by awarding them hosting rights for 2012 EHF Men’s Championships.. Fellow contender Germany was eliminated in the first round and then Serbia narrowly defeated France in the 2nd round 26-23. In the Women’s vote, the Netherlands easily beat Ukraine 32-17. Both Germany and Serbia had proposed bids for the Women’s tournament but withdrew prior to the vote. Germany’s bid was contingent of a dual Men/Women hosting concept and Serbia withdrew once it had won the Men’s competition vote.

[b]Analysis: [/b]The EHF, European clubs, national leagues and national federations had been working at cross purposes due to their conflicting interests. It now appears that these key players now recognize that they all should all have a seat at the table, even if they still disagree as to which tournaments should take precedence. It would also appear that they see the need to put forth a unified European effort if they are going to succeed in their efforts to move the IHF World Championship to a once every four year cycle. The IHF is scheduled to again discuss this issue at their Council meeting next month.

EHF website article on Congress results (Day 2): http://www.eurohandball.com/article/11780
Group Club Handball: www.groupclubhandball.com
Earlier commentary on 2 vs. 4 year tournament cycle: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?extend.331

In the valley of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

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With Ike out of the way down south (still searching for Tina), things are getting back to normal. Witness the latest podcast. While not the best in terms of sound quality, Handball Talk’s 3rd episode was very timely.
I’ve amassed quite a collection of emails from you and was considering another “from the mailbag” feature. Reading over these emails (a few of them date back to July 2008) I noticed some of them were similar in terms of questions and comments.
Hence, I decided to answer them in a more generic way, which will also allow me to share it with the THN readers. Please note that *some* questions have been edited for clarity.
I will do my best to stay on topic and not stray away from the subject but I offer no guarantees…

Q: What happens if the NGB (and the leadership) if it doesn’t meet its obligations? Can they be fired? You keep referencing the “probationary” status. Who has jurisdiction over the NGBs?
[color=#ff0000]A: I am not sure what can be done to keep the new NGB honest. Contacting the USOC would be one way. However, considering how the USOC is yet to return phone calls to the WSJ reporter, who authored the well publicized team handball article prior to the Olympics, that may not be the most productive approach. Contacting its board of directors or even the president, may be an alternative. Either way, officially, I know of no other method. On the “probationary” status, that is what the USOC press release stated. I actually asked John Ryan about his interpretation of it and he stated that it’s similar to an employment probationary period. The USOC would be the responsible entity.[/color]
Q: You seem so bitter! You are never happy with what others are doing for this sport. Why are you so critical of the new NGB?
[color=#ff0000]A: Am I really bitter? I don’t think so… I am far from bitter. Actually, I am quite the opposite. But I do admit that I can come across as overly critical. Truth be told, I have no tolerance for posers and incompetents. At any level and in any facet of life. I would like to think that everyone else feels the same. The new NGB, in my personal opinion, is the poster child for the above traits. As stated before, this is not personal. I just happen to know this industry very well and know enough about it to be in the position to question the authority. I was honest about the fact that I am not one who will sit around and wait for things to “come around”. The current NGB administration has no experience – something they admitted openly and for which I gave them a lot of credit. I should note that this group is craftier than its predecessors. They’ve shown an uncanny ability to (mis)inform, take credit for achievements that do not belong to them and to (generally) get away with not doing anything productive… [/color]

[b]Editor's Note: [/b] I've turned off comments for this item, but have placed them and a copy of this article in the Forum section of the website: https://teamhandballnews.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?332

Q: My daughter is 15 and she fell in love with team handball during the Olympics. Are there clubs in the Midwest where she can learn the game? What about tryouts. I emailed the federation three times but never got a reply.
[color=#ff0000]A: Dianne, thanks for your email. There are several clubs in the Midwest. Please reference my email which contains a link to the Google Map of Clubs. Additionally, I will follow up with you to further discuss your options.
The fact that you did not receive a simple reply to your emails is, unfortunately, unfortunate. You are not the first one to report on the federation’s lack of communication. Whatever their reason is, I can assure you it is a good one. It always is.[/color]
In terms of tryouts, a few have been advertised on the federation’s website but there is nothing confirmed. Even if they are to take place, the NGB is yet to announce who will do the talent evaluation. Currently, there is nobody within the current federation capable of evaluating it. I can and will put you in touch with the right people.

Q: I heard about WNT and MNT tryouts. Have the coaches been selected?
[color=#ff0000]A: To my knowledge no coaches have been named or identified yet. Which begs the question: who will do the tryouts evaluation? Things that make you go hmmmm….[/color]
Q: My team was scheduled to travel to the NC and Chicago tournaments. Upon finding out that we are now required to pay a per player membership fee and a per team fee just to participate, everyone backed out. What’s up with that?
[color=#ff0000]A: Greg, you are not the only one flabbergasted by the NGBs decision to pillage the clubs of some extra $$$ . The release of the “new” rulebook was poorly timed not once, but twice. If that is how the new NGB intends to stimulate the growth of handball, we are all in trouble. There’s been plenty written on this subject. If your team/club has decided to forego participation to any upcoming NGB sanctioned tournaments, know that you have made your choice and notice has been served. [/color]
Q: How were the new GM and Technical Director positions selected. There was never a job posting for them. I read that there are job postings for the regional directors and coaching positions. Why?
[color=#ff0000]A: LOL. I am still trying to get an answer on that very question. Honestly, friendship played a big role. It’s just like politics. You give a job to those who helped you get there. Neither one is fully qualified for the job but that is now a moot point. I am not sure how to answer your “WHY?”question[/color]
Q: Why is there no news on the Miami tournament scheduled for spring 2009? Shouldn’t it be a big deal that the French Ligue Final Four is coming to the US?
[color=#ff0000]A: Oh but it is a big deal. Maybe the biggest single team handball event to have come to the US, outside of the Olympics. I have been chasing an interview with Miami’s Coach Zaharia for a few months and I am glad to report that I have secured on. He looks forward to talking about and addressing a number of issues related to his tournament. All I can tell you is to buy your tickets early and schedule your Spring Break vacation around that event.[/color]

Q: Bogdan, I live in Utah. I wanted to share some information with your readers and also ask a question. I was told by several sources (I work for the local state government), that the $300K that the UTHF pledged, were not private money but were actually promised to by the city (or county) of Salt Lake as collateral, if and when the UTHF would win the NGB bid. It is also my understanding that the new NGB did receive that money and is using it to pay the salaries of the new GM and Technical Director. I contacted the NGB (by phone and email) but I could never get a hold of anyone. Do you know if any of this is true? I played handball in college back in the mid 90s. Too old to play now. Keep up the good work.
[color=#ff0000]A: Chad, thanks for the email. I heard some of that as well but so far I have not been able to verify any of it. Officially, you may know more than I do. I can’t vouch for its accuracy but maybe someone else out there can shed some light on this issue. BTW, if the $300,000 is used on two or three salaries, that’s pretty messed up. My understanding was that the money was to be used to inject some life into the current handball infrastructure. One could surmise that they have already ran out of funds (if their salaries are 80K each, more than half the $300K is gone). Why would you be so concerned with collecting membership fees right of the bat? Because they have no leg to stand on or a business plan to generate the funds. [/color]
Q: We have a tournament in Houston coming up and you have failed to mention or write about it. Why don’t you cover tournaments, even if you are not involved in them?
[color=#ff0000]A: Fair enough. I will be glad to do so. West Point contacted me in early Spring asking me to setup a small tournament (scrimmage games) with the Houston Stars and the Firehawks, to be held in Houston in conjunction with Army’s football game in College Station at the end of September. I agreed to and spread the word around. There seemed to be plenty of interest. I made arrangements to host the weekend mini tourney in one of the premier high school gyms in Houston’s East end. Unfortunately, I never heard back from WP. Recently I learned that the Firehawks are the organizers of the tournament. They will field two of their teams (men) and get to host the WP squad at dilapidated Melcher Gym facility (roughly the size of a tennis court). Some teams had to cancel (Mexicans) , while others – to my knowledge – were invited late (such as the Houston Stars). The newly SW Regional Director will attend the “tournament”, most likely to collect the $50 per person fee that the Firehwaks are charging every player (not an NGB membership fee as far as I know…). [/color]

Handball Cross Training Benefits

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Well, I’ve read where Hakeem Olajuwon has credited Handball and Soccer http://sports.jrank.org/pages/3499/Olajuwon-Hakeem-From-Handball-Basketball.html with improving his basketball skills, but never have I seen credit going the other way. An article on Coventry City soccer club player and Icelandic native Aron Gunnarsson, however, highlights the benefits for throw-ins.

Handball is the reason for the long throws, says Aron Gunnarsson: http://www.coventrycitybanter.co.uk/2008/09/handball-is-the-reason-for-the.html

No mention as to whether he is related to Robert Gunnarsson who plays on their National Handball team and for Gummersbach in Germany. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%B3bert_Gunnarsson He’s also not the first Icelandic native to shun Handball for another sport. In case you didn’t know, Iceland’s only native son to ever sign an NBA contract, Jon Steffansson, is the little brother of Handball great Olafur Stefansson. Perhaps if Jon had followed older brother Olafur, Iceland would have a little more depth at backcourt.

Jon Steffansson: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3n_Arn%C3%B3r_Stef%C3%A1nsson
Olafur Steffanson: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olafur_Stefansson