As new handball season starts, EHF Marketing looks back at best business year since foundation

As new handball season starts, EHF Marketing looks back at best business year since foundation

EHF Marketing GmbH, the marketing arm and subsidiary of the European Handball Federation, has finished the 2018/19 club handball season with record-breaking numbers for sponsorship and media income, resulting in the best business year since the company’s foundation in 2005.

With the acquisition of new premium sponsors such as Nord Stream 2 for the VELUX EHF Champions League and the Delo Group as title sponsor for the WOMEN’S EHF FINAL4 – as well as for the entire WOMEN’S EHF Champions League from the 2019/20 season onwards – sponsorship income in 2018/19 peaked at more than 6 million euro combined for both competitions.

At the same time, revenues from media sales reached an all-time high of almost 12.5 million euro across the EHF Champions League (men and women) as well as the MEN’S EHF Cup.  

After deducting costs, EHF Marketing pays out their net revenues according to a 80/20 share between clubs and EHF.

The announcement comes as the EHF and EHF Marketing continue to prepare for its long-term media and marketing partnership with Infront and DAZN Group, set to commence on 1 July 2020.

“There is nothing but happiness when looking at these figures,” said David Szlezak, Managing Director of EHF Marketing. “It’s great to see that the hard work and passion of our entire team has paid off.”

Michael Wiederer, EHF President and Chairman of the EHF Marketing Advisory Board, states: “The results prove that our top European club competitions have secured their position on the global sports market with a huge potential to grow even further, as we enter the partnership with Infront and the DAZN Group.”

Following an audience decrease in the 2016/17 and the 2017/18 season, viewing figures are also on the rise again, with a cumulative audience of more than half-a-billion people watching the matches of the EHF Champions League competitions in 2018/19.

As a result, the sponsorship value of the competitions rose by more than 20 per cent to 70 million euro.

This is complemented by the fact that the EHF Champions League social media channels more than doubled their engagement to a record of 7.1 million.

Furthermore, the EHF Champions League content reached a combined number of 300 million views and impressions.

Ahead of football in relative numbers

“Handball has the asset to not only deliver strong results in its men’s competitions, but also when it comes to the women’s events,” adds David Szlezak. The on-boarding of the Delo Group at the WOMEN’S EHF FINAL4 in Budapest was a great start – and there is more to come, as they become the WOMEN’S EHF Champions League’s title sponsor this season.

“On a side note – and we are acknowledging that in absolute numbers the gap is huge – in relative figures we are performing better than the football Champions League.

“Our revenues have grown by 105 per cent since 2013/14, in football the growth was 95 percent.”