EHF EURO handball qualifiers make promising start

Zug, Switzerland, 16 March 2009 – Infront Sports & Media’s new distribution role for the qualification matches of the men’s and women’s EHF EURO events is already bringing positive results, contributing significantly more coverage for European handball – a total of 147 hours so far.

Infront was appointed last June by the European Handball Federation (EHF) to handle media rights distribution for the qualification matches. The 10 rounds of the Men’s EHF EURO 2010 qualification started at the end of October 2008 and will continue until the end of June 2009. Infront has assessed the results of some 60 matches out of a total potential of 150.

147 hours of additional programming for European Handball

46 of the 60 qualification matches for the Men’s EHF EURO 2010 were broadcast on a live and/or delayed basis. The duration of that broadcast was different within the seven groups. The best coverage was generated in Group 1 with six teams (POL, SWE, ROU, MNE, TUR, and GEO) and over 32 programming hours, followed by Group 3 with five teams (ISL, NOR, MKD, EST, and BEL) and over 30 programming hours.

These figures are based on broadcaster information. That means a total of over 147 hours out of a possible 180 hours. Most matches were also broadcast in the territories of the guest teams.

In total, 36 national teams are taking part. The qualification process is new and not all nations have been able to provide access to media rights, due to pre-existing agreements, including in some key markets such as Germany or Poland. Taking such factors into account, after some 40% of matches have been played, the overall results are encouraging.

The Men’s EHF EURO 2010 qualification will be continued mid March with 32 matches of the rounds 5 and 6.

EHF and Infront – Partners for 15 years

Infront Sports & Media’s longstanding partnership with the EHF dates back to 1993, when the Swiss-based sports marketing group took over the responsibility for both the media rights distribution and marketing of the European Handball Championship events on a worldwide basis. In June 2007 the EHF and Infront signed an exclusive agreement extending their existing marketing partnership to cover two Men's and two Women's EHF Euro between 2011 and 2015.

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For further information, please contact:

Jörg Polzer
Manager, Communication & PR
Infront Sports & Media AG
Tel. +41-41-723 15 15
Fax +41-41-723 15 16
press@infrontsports.com
www.infrontsports.com