Szlezak: “Proud of what has been achieved in Hamburg” 

“We are very, very happy with the premiere,” says David Szlezak, EHF Marketing Managing Director. “We deliberately did not want to create a little brother of the EHF FINAL4 in Cologne. We went ‘all in’, just as it is the claim of the EHF European League and gave everything we had to turn this premiere into a success and earn greatness – and we can be proud of what has been achieved.”  

After Graz had become the neutral venue for the EHF Finals Women in 2023, EHF Marketing was looking for a similar place to host the final weekend of the EHF European League Men – and ultimately the EHF Finals and the EHF FINAL4 events (in Budapest and Cologne) would be played on neutral ground.  

“It is our goal to establish the EHF Finals in Hamburg. The premiere has proven that such an event significantly enhances the EHF European League as a competition. Together with our partners, we have created a foundation we can build on,” says Szlezak. 

Sponsor interest has been high, with several brands using the opportunity to reach a wider European handball audience. 

This included German brands Hella Mineralbrunnen, a mineral water company; HanseMerkur, an insurance provider and AVI Prod Netzbau, a specialist for gas, water and electrical infrastructure. The fourth new brand was Baumit Romania, a leading provider of construction material. 

This quartet was complemented by two existing partners of EHF Marketing: Maschinensucher and SELECT.  

David Szlezak: “We involved numerous new and existing sponsors and the line-up has been impressive. The aim was to present ourselves to the market with this tournament. In the future, we want to start talks with potential, perhaps pan-European, sponsors for this competition. In addition to the event’s great character and the performance of the teams on the court, it is also about being economically successful.” 

With three German teams fighting for the trophy in Hamburg and an all-German final, the event’s coverage reached hundreds of thousands on screens across Germany. Two of EHF Marketing’s established partners, DYN and DAZN have covered the spectacle on TV screens in the DACH region, while DYN used the event to get additional awareness with a stellar guest line-up in their TV Studio.

“A perfect location for final tournaments” 

Alongside the event’s sponsors, EHF Marketing worked closely with the Barclays Arena, the Active City Hamburg and Cologne-based agency company Stadionwelt, a long-standing partner for the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 in Cologne, to turn the premiere into a success. 

“Among our partners, there is a common understanding to establish the EHF Finals in Hamburg, and we are completely satisfied with the way the cooperation worked on all levels,” says Szlezak 

With the EHF Finals for women and men being played, the EHF FINAL4 events in Budapest (1/2 June) and Cologne (8/9 June) are already looming on the horizon.   

“This is a very demanding situation for all my colleagues at EHF Marketing, however all of them are very proud to be part of something big, and the start at Hamburg was something big, similar to the start in 2010 in Cologne. 

“The Barclays Arena is a perfect handball arena. It stands for great handball games since 2001 and is a perfect location for final tournaments,” concluded Szlezak. 

Main photo © kolektiff images