“Just a matter of emotions”
Why you’d rather come second than win the European Cup
April 30, 2024, 11:30 a.m
Bob Hanning wants to see the Füchse Berlin in the Champions League, that is fundamentally important for the handball Bundesliga club. The upcoming European Cup task, on the other hand, leaves the creator comparatively emotionless. Because the European League is a financial risk for the Bundesliga clubs.
The Füchse Berlin are playing one of the best seasons in their club history: they lead the handball Bundesliga table for weeks, they reach the final tournament in the cup and in the evening the team plays with world handball player Mathias Gidsel at HBC Nantes (8:45 p.m./dyn) for a place in the Final4 tournament of the European League in Hamburg. But in the end, the capital city threatens to end up empty-handed: The championship will probably go to Magdeburg, in the DHB Cup the Foxes lost both games on the final weekend – and after the 33:33 in the first leg, a win in Nantes is necessary, otherwise that’s it the third and final title of the season gone.
And yet, before the all-or-nothing game in France, club maker Bob Hanning announced in the “Bild” newspaper: “Honestly, it’s more important to me that we get back on track against Gummersbach on Sunday!” Gummersbach, that’s the Bundesliga. The game of the second against the sixth. Bread and butter business in the shadow of the possible European Cup frenzy. That’s how you think.
“Champions League is a must”
What’s behind the surprising statement from the managing director of the two-time European Cup winner: It’s about money – and that’s not earned in handball in the European League. “The European League is not a matter of money, but only of emotions,” says Hanning, who has to get the Foxes financially fit for the coming years, when the German championship will be held at some point. “Clearing the Champions League place is simply a must this season.”
The money that the European Handball Federation (EHF) puts into the European League turns the second most important club competition into a subsidy business for many teams: the EHF pays each club 3,000 euros in compensation for each game, although travel or referee costs have to be paid. In addition, the clubs have to pay an entry fee for each phase of the competition – between 500 euros for qualification and 2,000 euros for the quarter-finals.
In the group phase there are 500 euros per point, in the playoffs and quarter-final games it is 1000. Whoever wins their main round group gets a bonus of 6000 euros. Whoever triumphs at the Final4 tournament in May in Hamburg will receive an extra 100,000 euros. The Berlin Bundesliga rival TSV Hannover-Burgdorf, which was eliminated in the playoffs against IK Sävehof, is said to have paid 50,000 euros more in the European League this season alone, according to information from “Sport Bild”: “Economically, there is no motivation to take part in this competition to be,” Hanover’s managing director Eike Korsen simply commented on the number.
Either way: they are sobering numbers. Especially when you consider how grueling the journeys through Europe are in the tight calendar of professional handball players: at the end of March, the Füchse had to play five games in twelve days “thanks” to the playoffs against the Kadetten Schaffhausen.
Hanning, who has to organize a budget for the Foxes in challenging times that has to meet the growing sporting demands, says: “Playing in the Champions League next year is financially fundamentally important for our club and we also need it for our further development Radiance of the premier class. We now have to take the next big step.” With 100,000 euros that the Foxes would collect for a hard-fought European League triumph, Hanning can pay a world handball player like Mathias Gidsel – but only for an estimated three months.
“Nice and important”
On Sunday, the Füchse, who have not been able to win five games in a row, will welcome old champions Gummersbach and national player Julian Köster. It’s about much more than just two points. Money is also earned in handball in the Champions League and a look at the numbers clearly shows why paymaster Hanning would rather go for the full pots than celebrate the European League title: each club receives 10,000 euros for each of the guaranteed 14 group games, and the EHF rewards each point with 5,000 euros.
In the playoffs and quarter-finals there is also 10,000 euros in compensation for each game, plus 7,500 euros (playoffs) or 10,000 euros (quarter-finals) per point. The winner of the premier class receives 1 million euros (including all bonuses collected during the competition). These are huge sums for handball.
With a view to the final spurt in the league – four game days before the end of the season, the Foxes in second place in the Champions League have six points (and one game) more than their pursuers Flensburg-Handewitt – they won’t take it easy, says Hanning: “Of course not. The European League is nice and important. Also important for our players to win and be successful.”