As teams begin preparing for another demanding season in the EHF Champions League we had a chance to catch up with Tom O’Brannagain the outspoken commentator at EHF TV. He shares his opinion about the new Champions League format, answers the question if Cologne still is the right locale for the men’s Final4 and reveals his fondness for Dutch women’s handball. …
Laszlo Papp
Laszlo Papp was a Hungarian boxing icon who became the first boxer in Olympic history to win three consecutive Olympic gold medals between 1948 – 1956. It would be another 20 years before Teofilo Stevenson (Cuba) would accomplish the same outstanding result. Laszlo died in 2003 and today his name is honoring Budapest’s multipurpose sport arena, hosting site of the …
Victor or Villain
Finally, the women’s MVM EHF Final 4 weekend has arrived. Can Victor Ryabykh and the team from Volgograd beat Larvik for the first time this season?
Vardar 2.0
It’s only 120 km on E60 from Gyor to Budapest, the capital of Hungary and temporary home of the women’s MVM EHF Champions League Final 4 tournament. But this year, Europe’s dominating women handball team of the previous two seasons will not make the trip. After winning the inaugural Final 4 event in 2014 not much had gone right for …
The Sky Is The Limit
Week number 1 at World Cup 2015 in Qatar has been concluded – time for a provisional appraisal of what has worked and what didn’t, winners and losers and what lies ahead. Much has been said about Qatar’s exceptional sports facilities that were build under anything but outstanding labor conditions. The buzzwords in connection with the build-up have been dealt …
The Week Of Surprises
By Peter Bruun Women´s EHF EURO 2014 was probably the most balanced European championship in its history and a multitude of wrong forecasts ahead of the tournament proved that it was also one of the most unpredictable competitions. It was also hard to foresee that the outcome of the tournament would cost Denmark’s head coach his job “Dad, what is …
An Inconvenient Truth
It was only two weeks ago that the prospects of Norway’s “Handballjentene” at the upcoming EURO 2014 in Hungary and Croatia had reached another low point. Following the earlier announcements of Anja Hammerseng-Edin and Isabel Blanco to end their respective careers in the national team, Marit-Malm Frafjord’s and Mari Molid’s continued unavailability caused by long term injuries and Katrine Lunde’s …
Most Open EURO Ever But Still With Favorites
By Peter Bruun The EHF EURO 2014 in Hungary and Croatia seems to be the most equally balanced women´s European Championship ever. Still, it is possible to point out teams that are somewhat bigger favorites than others and also a few that are expected to leave empty handed at an early stage of the tournament. Denmark´s national coach Jan Pytlick …
Pytlick Seems To Feel Sure About His Girls
By Peter Bruun The fact that Denmark´s national coach nominates his squad for the upcoming European Championship six weeks before the tournament shows huge confidence in his players. Jan Pytlick has secured Denmark at least one “first place” at the EHF EURO 2014 a long time before the first ball will be thrown in the arenas of Hungary and Croatia. …
Fjordkraft
A second women’s EHF Champions League weekend has passed and what used to be a somewhat opaque picture a fortnight ago is slowly gaining some contour and structure. The second round action of handball’s premier club event began Friday night already with Larvik HK visiting the former team of Alina Wojtas, MKS Selgros Lublin in Poland. A quick look at …