Lars Christiansen feels fine being a face of the tournament

Those millions of people around the world who have watched TV broadcasts from VELUX EHF Champions League will be familiar with seeing Lars Christiansen in a promotion spot in every break.

The 44-year-old former left wing for KIF Kolding and SG Flensburg-Handewitt is the face of the tournament and one of the legends people can meet at the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in Cologne next weekend.

“For four years, I have been working with VELUX, one of the main sponsors, and it has been really cool to meet them and the directors from the various countries.

“Apart from this, I am also one of the faces of the tournament, and I am fine with that too.

“It is a great honour and a great experience,” says Lars Christiansen who carries the record for most internationals for Denmark (338).

“Anyone, who is going to the FINAL4 for the first time, really has something to look forward to, and those who have been there before know that they are in for a great event,” he says.

While he is a well-known face in the environment of the VELUX EHF Champions League and the FINAL4, he never got the chance to run onto the court of the Lanxess Arena as a player.

Before he left Flensburg, the North German club did not managed to reach the FINAL4, and in the last years of his active career, he was back in Kolding in Denmark, who never got near the FINAL4 while he played there.

He admits that he is a bit envious at the players who get the chance to play the FINAL4 these days.

“I have been in a Champions League final twice with Flensburg, but that was while the final was still carried out as double matches at home and away, and by the way, we lost on both occasions.

“However, I have experienced the Final Four of the German Cup in Hamburg a couple of times, and that event gives you a bit of the taste of what the FINAL4 in Cologne is.

“Only, the event in Cologne is twice as big, so you cannot really compare the events.”

Paris are favourites

“I am absolutely sure that we are in for another great experience in Cologne.

“Personally, I am looking forward to some busy, but great days, and I am really looking forward to the matches.

“If Barcelona had managed to qualify for Cologne, I would have seen them as favourites to win the tournament.

“However, much to my surprise, they did not make it to the FINAL4.

“They lost the quarter-finals to Kiel who have not exactly had their best season, so now I see Paris (Saint-Germain Handball) as favourites.

“A team which contains Mikkel Hansen as well as Nikola Karabatic - they will be very hard to beat,” finds Lars Christiansen.