With the Machineseeker EHF Champions League and the EHF Champions League Women on their festive breaks, Barça line player Fabregas and Metz Handball left wing Valentini top the list of players with multiple nominations in the Team of the Round each week.
After 10 rounds of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League, Fabregas has been named five times to the Team of the Round, giving him five points towards the EHF Excellence Awards nomination.
Other players standing out at this point are: Dika Mem, Timur Dibirov, Gisli Kristjansson (all with three points); and Rasmus Lauge Schmidt, Andreas Wolff, Luc Steins, Niclas Ekberg, Dainis Kristopans, Petar Nenadic, Victor Iturriza, Gonzalo Perez de Vargas, Thibaud Briet, Ómar Ingi Magnusson, Kristian Bjørnsen, Tobias Thulin, Matej Gaber (all with two points).
In the EHF Champions League Women, Valentini also has five points after nine rounds. She is joined at the top of the list by Team Esbjerg's Henny Reistad, who received a fixed nomination for EHF Excellence Awards in the centre back position after being named MVP of the Women's EHF EURO 2022.
Angela Malestein, Melinda Szikora, Milena Raicevic, Bo van Wetering, Markéta Jerábková, Ana Gros, Silje Solberg, Dione Housheer, Alicia Toublanc, Crina Pintea, Kaba Gassama, and Kelly Dulfer all have two points at this stage.
The Team of the Round is picked each week by one of a group of experts. The three players who receive the highest number of votes in each position by the end of the quarter-finals will make the shortlist for the EHF Excellence Awards.
The first fixed nominees for EHF Excellence Awards were released after the Women's EHF EURO 2022, with Reistad and the rest of the All-star Team receiving a guaranteed nomination: goalkeeper Cléopatre Darleux, left wing Emma Friis, left back Cristina Neagu, centre back Stine Oftedal, right back Katrin Klujber, right wing Jovanka Radicevic, line player Pauletta Foppa and defender Kathrine Heindahl.
Neagu, Klujber and Radicevic have all also received two Team of the Round nods so far.
The first fixed nominees on the men’s side will come after the IHF Men’s World Championship 2023 in January.
The final list of candidates will have a maximum of nine nominees per position for indoor handball. In addition to nominees from the Champions League, there will be one nominee per position from the EHF European League and three nominees per position from national team matches. One player per position will receive a wildcard.
The best female and male players in beach handball will also be recognised and the first points were allocated to the players who made the All-star Teams of the Beach Handball Champions Cup 2022 in Porto Santo, Portugal last October.
