HUMMEL
MERCHANDISE FOR THE FANS, FROM THE FANS
The ‘Fanmade history’ contest in 2023 marked the first time EHF Marketing GmbH and its official sports supplier, Danish sports and fashion brand hummel, launched a design contest. Handball fans and artists worldwide got the chance to submit their creative ideas for the official merchandise for the marquee events of the EHF Champions League season: the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL 4 2023 in Cologne and the EHF FINAL4 Women 2023 in Budapest.
Sketches, drawings, and designs were entered from across Europe before the seven best designs made it to the fan voting phase, in which more than 1,200 votes were cast to decide the winner. The fans picked the design created by Giulia from Germany as their favourite.
Giulia’s winning artwork was then turned into the final design and made ready for production, with the exclusive ‘fanmade’ merchandise line of T-shirts and hoodies exclusively available for purchase on-site at both the EHF FINAL4 Women 2023 at MVM Dome in Budapest and the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 2023 at LANXESS arena in Cologne.
The winner was awarded €1.000, a €200 hummel voucher, and two tickets to either the EHF FINAL4 Women 2023 or TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 2023, enabling her to see her idea and creative input come to life at the season's highlight events.
SELECT
OFFICIAL HANDBALLS GET NEW FRESH LOOK
Near the end of the 2022/23 season, like in previous years, EHF’s official supplier SELECT presented the designs for the new-look official match balls for the 2023/24 season of the EHF Champions League and the EHF European League – again with no difference in design between the balls used in men’s and women’s competitions. One of the characteristics of the new design of the EHF Champions League ball, presented in the fan village at the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 2023 in Cologne, is the iconic pattern of the EHF Champions League trophy mirrored in the golden print on the ball.
BENZ SPORT
ALWAYS ON TARGET AT EHF NATIONAL TEAM EVENTS
In May 2023, BENZ Sport became the official goal partner of EHF national team competitions until 2026. The leading German sports equipment manufacturer will supply official goals for the Men’s and Women’s EHF EURO 2024 and 2026 as well as younger age category EHF EURO events and future European Wheelchair Handball championships.
The new equipment was used for the first time at the Women’s 19 and Women’s 17 EHF EURO events in Romania and Montenegro in the summer of 2023. Manufactured in the BENZ Sport factory in Winnenden, near Stuttgart, the top-of-the-range BLACKLINE handball goal will be seen across the national team events, while a new product for the EHF’s wheelchair handball events will be developed.
The company receives logo integration on goals and media backdrops at top events as well as advertising on EHF digital channels plus direct marketing opportunities to thousands of clubs and member federations through email marketing. A key element of the new agreement is innovation, with the EHF to make full use of BENZ Sports’ extensive technical expertise in the development of goals for use in top-class professional handball, including the integration of new and existing technologies into goals, as well as new camera angles and other concepts.