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has been fostered even further through
the tournament’s social media outreach
across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
The re-launched official championship
website at www.ehf-euro.com attracted
more than 3.3 million page views from
275,000 unique visitors. Particularly
striking was the increase in the number of
mobile users, benefitting from the website’s
new responsive design.
Streaming was offered through the dedicated
ehfTV.com channel, with in excess
of 550,000 video streams watched live
and on-demand. In addition, handball fans
were able to enjoy near-live clips and daily
programme teasers together with special
highlights on the championship’s official
YouTube Channel, resulting in more than
2.3 million minutes of video watched.
The increased exposure was beneficial
not only for the sport and its fans but also
the eight official sponsors that Infront
had secured for the women’s championship:
Actavis (generic pharmaceuticals), AJ
(office furniture), Bauhaus (workshop,
house and garden specialist), bring (transport,
warehousing and logistical services),
engelbert strauss (workwear), Gjensidige
“The players are
of course exposed
to enormous
levels of stresses
and strains. The
ECh, however, is
what it is: a top
product”
Helmut Höritsch, EHF senior manager,
after the Men’s EHF EURO 2004
in Slovenia
(insurance), Grundfos (pump systems)
and Intersport (sports goods retailer).
These are impressive results considering
that women’s team sports – and this
applies not only to handball – have traditionally
required more complex marketing
efforts. The recognizable determination
not to make any difference in organising,
developing and marketing men’s and women’s
handball was documented by EHF delegates
as early as at the umbrella organisation’s
founding session in 1991. And it was
hence only logical that the history of the
Women’s EHF EURO also commenced in
the year of 1994.
As a matter of fact, the 1st Women’s EHF
EURO held in Germany (17 to 25 September
1994) enjoyed a better start than
the men’s. In many respects, the level of
performance was higher than in the men’s
first-ever event in Portugal. After the inaugural
game, which was played by very evenly-matched
teams and drew large crowds,
with the Danes finally gaining the upper
hand over the home team in the final, the
EHF was very happy with the results. Media
coverage was rated as “overwhelming” as
more than 53 million viewers in 15 countries
watched the television broadcasts and
more than 400 print journalists reported
on the matches from five venues. In addition,
the first-ever tournament was also a
big success financially, with the host receiving
a DM 400,000 share out of the profit.
The Women’s EHF EURO obviously also
benefited from the tournament being
moved to winter. In December 1996, when
Scandinavian fans celebrated the matches
played in Denmark, viewership rose to
a new all-time high. That year, the home
team defended their title in the Herning
final against Norway 27-23 in front of
4500 spectators. The entire event thrived
on the fantastic atmosphere created by
the Danish handball fans’ enthusiasm for
women‘s handball after the Danes had taken
Olympic gold just a few months earlier.
Building on these achievements, women’s
handball was at times even more popular
in the handball heartland of Denmark than
men’s handball.
The euphoria and enthusiasm that had
marked Herning was not quite matched
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