NEWS REPORT: The second edition of the Men's EHF Cup Finals will take place in May 2012. EHF has received seven interesting applications to host the tournament. Two of them are from Germany and one from each France, Greece, Belarus, Luxembourg and Great Britain.
Seven organisers bid for the EHF Cup Finals
Seven applicants from across of Europe have expressed their interest in hosting the second edition of the Men’s EHF Cup Finals as the deadline for submitting the bids expired on 10 September.
The list of bidders consists of five clubs participating in the EHF Cup 2013/14 (HC Meshkov Brest, London GD, Montpellier Agglomération HB, Füchse Berlin and AEK Athens) and two external stakeholders (in.Stuttgart and Luxembourgish Handball Federation).
All applicants entered the race for the final tournament (17/18 May 2014) with well-known names of their arenas as two former Olympic venues, two halls hosting the VELUX EHF Champions League last season or two giants with a capacity of 15,000 spectators and over are among the possible venue of the EHF Cup Finals.
The EHF and its marketing arm EHF Marketing GmbH are now analysing the bids. The successful host will need to meet a set of criteria that reflects the nature of a high-profile international club event such as the EHF Cup Finals.
From London to Athens, from Montpellier to Minsk
The British club London GD proposes the handball venue of the 2012 Olympic Games in London, the Copper Box Arena, while the ambitious Greek club AEK Athens desires to host the tournament in the Olympic Indoor Arena which hosted the basketball finals at the Athens Olympics in 2004.
German bundesliga club Füchse Berlin suggests they play the hosts in their traditional home, Max Schmeling Halle as well as French Montpellier Agglomération HB with their Park & Suites Arena.
The emerging Belarusian powerhouse Brest offers the Minsk Arena, which is one of the venues of the Kontinental Hockey League. The German agency in.Stuttgart relies on the Porsche Arena in Stuttgart, the host of the oldest European indoor tennis WTA tournament and Luxembourgish federation would like to welcome the event in the biggest arena in the Grand Duchy – Le Coque Arena.
Overview of the applications for the EHF Cup Finals 2014:
|
Stakeholder’s name
|
Venue
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City
|
Capacity
|
|
in.Stuttgart (GER)
|
Porsche Arena
|
Stuttgart
|
6,500
|
|
Luxembourgish Handball Federation (LUX)
|
Coque Arena
|
Luxembourg
|
5,400
|
|
Meshkov Brest (BLR)
|
Minsk Arena
|
Minsk
|
15,000
|
|
Füchse Berlin (GER)
|
Max-Schmeling-Halle
|
Berlin
|
8,700
|
|
London GD Handball Club (GBR)
|
Copper Box Arena
|
London
|
6,000
|
|
Montpellier AHB (FRA)
|
Park & Suites Arena
|
Montpellier
|
9,000
|
|
AEK Athens (GRE)
|
Olympic Arena
|
Athens
|
18,500
|
EHF Cup Finals
The successful premiere edition of the EHF Cup Finals took place in Nantes, France in May 2013 as the players of the German club Rhein Neckar Löwen lifted their first European trophy in history.
The Men’s EHF Cup and the Men’s Cup Winners Cup were merged into one competition - the Men's EHF Cup - prior to the 2012/13 season.
The 2013/14 season throws-off with three qualification rounds from September to November 2013, continues with a group phase consisting of four groups of four teams each in February 2014 and quarter-finals before the top four teams take part in the EHF Cup Finals in May.
TEXT:
EHF / br