HERE TO ORGANISE: EHF and German Handball Federation experts explain the concept of holding a handball match in a football arena
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The Men’s EHF EURO 2024 in Germany is just around the corner, and will set records in several different ways. It will be the first Men’s EHF EURO in Germany; the first tournament with 24 teams hosted in a single country; for the first time, all arenas have at least a capacity of 12,000 spectators; and for the first time an opening match day will be played in a football stadium.
The final weekend of the Men’s EHF EURO 2020 as well as the final weekend of the 2023 Men’s World Championship were played in the TELE2 Arena in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2012, AG Copenhagen played their EHF Champions League quarter-final against FC Barcelona in the Br?ndby football stadium, attended by 36,000 fans – which was the world record in terms of spectators at that time.
This record was broken in September 2014, when 44,189 fans attended the “German Day of Handball” in the Frankfurt Football Arena, as HSV Hamburg and Rhein-Neckar L?wen faced each other on the opening match day of the Bundesliga.
On Wednesday 10 January 2024, this number will be exceeded by around 9,000 fans in Düsseldorf. More than 53,000 people will be at the opening day in the MERKUR Spiel-Arena, when group A of the EHF EURO 2024 throws off. First, France play North Macedonia at 18:00 CET, followed by the opening ceremony and the match between hosts Germany and Switzerland at 20:45 CET.
As soon as they were awarded hosting rights for the event, the Deutscher Handballbund e.V. started a bidding process for the EHF EURO 2024 venues, which included the option to play the opening day in a football arena. Finally, only the MERKUR Spiel-Arena in Düsseldorf threw its hat in the ring.
“To be honest, Düsseldorf is the only football arena in Germany, which fulfils all bidding criteria,” says Thomas Freyer , head of the international events department of the German Handball Federation. In contrast to former handball matches in football arenas, the court will be positioned in the middle of the football pitch – and not using only one half of the stadium. The role model was the Warsaw football arena at the Volleyball World Championship in 2014.
After the bidding process ended, the decision to play the opening match day in the MERKUR Spiel-Arena was taken in autumn 2020.
“Then we could start to plan all details like the tribune on court level, the concept for light, audio systems and heating and what infrastructure will be needed below the roof, because normally there is no technology and not even traverses to hang technology under this roof,” says Freyer, who underlines: “For an opening ceremony with its show, music and entertainment you need much more light and audio technology than for a normal match.”
“The planning process from the side of the EHF started in 2021 when the first technical inspection took place. So, altogether the EHF and all parties involved have been working on this project for almost three years,” adds Hannes Müller , head of the EHF EURO department of the European Handball Federation.
“In general, an expert team was formed to deal with various challenges in several areas as venue set-up, technical infrastructure, TV camera set-up and ticketing to ensure the best possible experience for the spectators in the arena but also the TV audience,” Müller says.
After the roof was closed following the last football match of home side Fortuna Düsseldorf in the arena in the middle of December, the entire football pitch was removed. Solid aluminium panels were installed, to enable the trucks and working platforms for the riggers to drive safely. When the construction work below the roof was finished, the under-construction of the handball floor and finally on Saturday the handball floor were installed.
At the same time, the court-level tribunes with a capacity of more than 9,000 fans were built. Around 25,000 parts were needed for this tribune.
“The EHF and DHB tried to integrate the best solution for an additional stand set-up on the court level that ensures no view obstructions and at the same time allows the use of a major part of the permanent stands,” says Müller.
When all ground level gates were closed, the heating process started – the arena will be heated from the roof to the bottom, and when the match throws off on Wednesday, the ground level temperature will be 22 degrees centigrade.
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“At times, there were more than 100 building workers and riggers on the arena construction site. Everything was and is on schedule, all companies worked hand in hand,” says Freyer.
For Müller this coordination was the key.
“Such projects can only succeed with a good cooperation between all parties involved. This includes on the one side the EHF but on the other side of course the German Organising Committee, Infront Sports & Media AG , HBS , the management of the MERKUR Spiel-Arena and of course various other partners from the organising committee as well as from the EHF. One of the most difficult challenges is the venue set-up where big adaptations and constructions in the arena were necessary in order to ensure the best possible set-up for handball. Some of those adaptations are of course related to a relatively high demand of costs,” he says.
One main aspect was TV production. The EHF worked intensively together with Infront and host broadcasting services to implement the TV camera set-up, as the situation is also different to a “standard” handball arena.
“The pictures that will go to the outside world from the opening match day will be excellent, as we even managed to install a spider cam for this particular match day, for example,” says Müller.
After the plan was announced to host the opening match day in the football stadium with a capacity of more than 50,000 fans, the major question was: will the MERKUR Spiel-Arena be sold out? The start of advanced sales was impressive: almost one year before the start of the EHF EURO 2024, already more than 40,000 tickets had been sold. And 118 days before the opening match day, more than 50,000 tickets had been sold. On Wednesday, more than 53,000 people will be in the MERKUR Spiel-Arena.
“Of course, if you plan such a match day everybody wants the matches to take place in a sold-out arena. The EHF and the German Organising Committee put a lot of effort into a common promotion strategy that includes all kinds of promotional activities, such as the final tournament draw in Düsseldorf, but also digital media campaigns. The promotion strategy worked out excellently,” says Müller.
“We are overwhelmed by how quickly thousands of tickets were sold. This advance sale underlines the importance of the EHF EURO 2024 and the enthusiasm of the German and European handball audience,” said Mark Schober , CEO of the German Handball Federation and EHF Executive Board Member.
“The atmosphere with over 53,000 spectators will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the players, the spectators and guests in the arena, but also for the TV audience. All handball fans, kids, players, partners are excited about the opening match day in Düsseldorf and are really looking forward to it,” says Müller.
“This experience will be a tremendous boost for handball, not only in Germany but also in other countries and key markets in Europe. The spirit from the opening match day will be hopefully transferred to all other venues and we will certainly witness a fantastic Men’s EHF EURO 2024 here in Germany. In addition, the EHF gets a lot of learnings out of such a project and this knowledge for sure will be very useful for future EHF EURO events with possible similar projects.”
And finally, those 53,000 fans in the arena will get the perfect mix of entertainment and top-level sports: the German band Culcha Candela will perform the official EHF EURO song “Celebration” during the opening ceremony, and after the match the big world record party with more than 4,000 fans will be hosted in the arena under the motto “Stay to celebrate”.
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