Meet the latest European Handball Manager graduates

The European Handball Federation and the German Sport University Cologne would like to congratulate the latest graduates of the European Handball Manager program.

The fifth year of the highly coveted course was passed by 16 successful participants from across Europe – taking the number of candidates to pass since it began in 2015/16 to 81.

In what proved to be unique circumstances given the outbreak of Covid-19, the third and final attendance phase of the course was postponed from May, which was finished this month with the completing of the written and oral exams.

“In the oral exams in particular, the participants had to show how they can apply their knowledge to the current Corona situation in handball clubs, be it in the management of sponsorship relationships, in strategic management or in controlling,” said the head of the program, Dr Stefan Walzel of Sport University Cologne.

The course has welcomed a host of high-profile names in the world of handball over the years and this year was no exception, with Frank von Behren, former German international and now managing director of sport at the Bundesliga side GWD Minden, among this year’s graduates.

Furthermore, Germany’s leading referee instructor, Kay Holm, passed with distinction.

“Understanding structures, organisation, strategies and marketing in the association or in the clubs and transferring them to my area of ​​responsibility can create ideas for change potential to a professionalisation within the framework of referee teaching,” said Holm.

In addition to the exams, the participants also completed media and communication training with the well-known sports moderator Valeska Homburg and Dr Christoph Bertling from the German Sport University Cologne. Dealing with journalists and behaving in front of the camera is still unusual for many handball managers and so they were able to benefit from the experience of the two media experts.

The sixth year of the European Handball Manager has already thrown off in the self-study phase. 14 participants from Europe, Africa and North America have started their studies. The students will get to grips with sports law and economics as well as marketing and financing issues.

FULL LIST OF GRADUATES

2019/20 Graduates

Timo Bechtold
Björn Bruckhaus
Melanie Bültmann
Lars Erichsen
Barbara Eschbach
Jan Gerth
David Graubner
Andreas Hertelt
Kay Holm
Thomas Jungbluth
Severin Kaiser
Ulf Lembcke
Marco Rhein
Christian Schmitt
Matthias Stroot
Frank von Behren

2018/19 Graduates

Stanislaw Belinski
Patrik Bengtsson
Vladislav Brindzak
Gonçalo Carvalho
Miriama Diaraye Diallo
Nikola Eklemovic
Hanna Fogelström
Henrik Fröberg
Ivana Jelic
Kirstin M. Lange
Szilveszter Liszkai
Nicolae Luca
John Ryan
Zsolt Sevinger
Tamás Szabó
Vasile Viman

2017/18 Graduates

Heike Ahlgrimm
Björn Barthel
Ilka Fickinger
Alexander Finke
Sebastian Grüne
Reto Hähnlein
Jennifer Kettemann
Stefanie Klaunig
Thomas Koblenzer
Matthias Mayrhofer
Julia Nikoleit
Stefan Schröder
Mark Seeholzer
Viktor Szilagyi
Lukas Wernli
Branka Zec

2016/17 Graduates

Anna Blaszkowska
Mia Boesen
Nadica Dimovska
Stefan Eickelmann
Bojana Jelicic
Beata Kozlowska
Tomica Madjercic
David Malfa
Filipe Matias
Päivi Mitrunen
Sebastian Mühleis
Christoffur Gert Nielsen
Joost Ooms
Pirje Orasson
Sinisa Ostoic
Miclaus Radu
Ivan Sabovik
Thomas Schöneich

2015/16 Graduates

Claudia Brantl
Emanuelle Bru
Benjamin Chatton
Kai Christmann
Markus Ernst
Henning Fritz
Axel Geerken
Holger Glandorf
Sebastian Glock
Lina Heintschel von Heinegg
Lisa Heßler
Grit Jurack
Oliver Laaber
Ulf Meyhöfer
Björn Pazen

About the European Handball Manager Certificate Programme

The European Handball Manager Certificate Programme is a one-year in-service training programme that covers the basics of economics, management, governance, law, marketing and communication. The programme is offered in German and English in alternating years.

The course is conducted in cooperation between the German Sport University Cologne and the European Handball Federation. It was first run in 2015, with the goal of educating handball managers from clubs, federations and leagues. In January 2019, the EHF and the University signed an agreement to continue the cooperation until at least 2021.

For more information, visit www.dshs-koeln.de/ehm.