The European Handball Federation has made a significant step forward in its “Back to Handball” strategy, as it was confirmed on Tuesday that the VELUX EHF FINAL4 2020 will take place on 28 and 29 December in Cologne.

The commitment to stage the showcase event of European club handball at LANXESS arena was underlined following the meetings of the Men’s Club Board as well as of the EHF Marketing Advisory Board on Friday last week.

The EHF, its marketing subsidiary, EHF Marketing, and club representatives commonly agreed that staging the VELUX EHF FINAL4 is of utmost importance for the promotion and reputation of European club handball.

It is furthermore the confirmation of the long-standing partnership between the EHF, EHF Marketing, the City of Cologne and LANXESS arena which has seen ten successful editions of the VELUX EHF FINAL4 since 2010.

David Szlezak, EHF Marketing Managing Director, says: "'We play handball' is one of our core claims. With the health situation and the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in mind, this can be translated to ‘we want to play’ because we believe it’s in the best interest of the sport and its partners."

Gerd Butzeck, Managing Director of Forum Club Handball, says: "Forum Club Handball fully supports the decision to stage the VELUX EHF FINAL4. The significance of the event stretches way beyond the court. Holding it in Cologne in December clearly underlines the message that handball is back."

With this decision made, preparations for the event have started at full speed and spectator concepts are being worked on. Those will be coordinated with the authorities in Cologne and in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as with partners such as the LANXESS arena.

Despite the challenging circumstances, interest in the event has remained high and less than 3% of all tickets sold have been returned.

However, to be able to create the ideal capacity concept, all tickets that have already been purchased will have to be refunded. All current ticket holders will be given the possibility to register for a ticket pre-sale for the EHF FINAL4 Men 2021.

All required steps of the refund and pre-sale registration process can be found at https://ehffinal4.eurohandball.com.

Depending on the set-up of LANXESS arena, a new sales process for the December event may be initiated.

The qualified teams for the VELUX EHF FINAL4 2020 are Barça, Paris Saint-Germain HB, THW Kiel and Telekom Veszprém HC.

A date for the draw will be announced by the European Handball Federation in due course.