(Un)informed Handball Hour 1z468

It's time to discover the best women's team in Europe and we look forward to the FINAL4 by chatting to reigning champion Bruna de Paula as she and Györ aim to defend their crown in Budapest. We get Danijela Vekic and Adrian Costeiu together for the first time on the pod to discuss the four contenders, considering what makes Györ favourites again, how newcomers Odense will be a threat and whether Esbjerg or Metz can end their semi-final curse.  

Flensburg retained their European League title over the weekend, thanks in no small part to a dominant performance by Kevin Møller in goal. We look back at the action and where the title was won and lost. Aron Palmarsson has announced his retirement at the age of 34, is this kind of player a dying breed? We discuss this and the postponed European Cup final in Skopje.

It's a massive week in the history of MT Melsungen as they compete for a European League title this weekend in Hamburg, then head to Berlin for a Bundesliga title eliminator on Thursday, so who better to speak about it than their biggest man - Dainis Krištopāns. We speak to Dainis about his unusual journey in handball, from Latvia via Slovakia, his development as an all-round player, the greatest weekend with Vardar in 2019 and why his inner-underdog led him to his current home in Melsungen. We also look forward to the title run-in in and this weekend's EHF Finals, where Melsungen take on Flensburg, Montpellier and Kiel.  

Now that we know the semi-final lineup for the FINAL4, the countdown to Cologne can truly begin. We discuss both those who made it and fell at the final hurdle, plus Chris' own injury that will require no late-season replacements.

Berlin and Barça put one foot on the train to Cologne thanks to world-class performances from their star right backs, while two quarter-final ties remain delicately poised. Danijela Vekic s us to look back at the midweek matches and ahead to the second leg matches in the Women's Champions League. This is a teaser of the episode with the full show and every Morning Club episode available on patreon.com/handballhour

The Men's Champions League Quarter-finals are upon us and we look forward to them with Marcio Menino, who is in Nantes as Sporting look to make history. Is this finally Veszprém's year? Do Barça have reasons to be nervous? Can Gidsel avoid the fate of Denmark's previous great? These questions and more are pondered in your preview podcast.

Ludwigsburg winger Veronika Malá s us ahead of a big quarter-final weekend in the Women's Champions League, where her side take on Györ in a repeat of last year's final. As well as looking ahead to the weekend's games, we reflect on Kiel's cup triumph, followed by a loss to Berlin and visit Spain, where Barça have suffered a pair of rare losses, putting their title celebrations on hold.  

The play-off round of the EHF Champions League concludes tonight and with the unusual situation of the round being filled with clubs from Europe's top two leagues, we get some French and German perspectives from Kevin Domas and Sascha Staat to break down what we've seen an look forward to some more tasty encounters to come.

Knockout handball is here! The road to Budapest and the Women's EHF FINAL4 begins with the play-off round this weekend and we chat to Adrian Costeiu with two tight contests and a Romanian derby to look forward to.

The group phase of the Men's Champions League has come to an end, so we rate the competition to date. Handball hipsters gather round for the IHF Emerging Nations, where handball worlds truly collide, plus we give you the five EHF EURO qualifiers you should watch this week.

Just under a year ago, Great Britain's women were thrown into the spotlight with a surprise wildcard into the Olympic Qualification Tournaments. Since then, the team has pressed on behind the scenes and begin their EHF EURO 2026 Qualification campaign this weekend against Bosnia Herzegovina and Estonia. Home-grown talent Heidi Warren and coach Mark Hawkins, 2012 Olympian and one of our very first guests, us to look back at their journey so far and ahead to the weekend. This morning club episode was originally published on Thursday on patreon.com/handballhour. us to enjoy these shows weekly.  

Mathias Gidsel has committed his future to Fuchse Berlin and gets a nice pay rise for his loyalty. Is a residency at Berghain part of the deal for DJ Gidsel and will his star sidekick him? Sander Sagosen has decided to leave the Kolstad project and return to the scene of his big breakthrough. Can he rediscover his form at Aalborg and where do Kolstad go from here?

  In our final review, we look back at Denmark's dominant final win over Croatia and where that puts them among the sport's top teams of all time. We also hear from Denmark's Lukas Jørgensen and Croatia's Mario Šoštarić on the fiery gold medal clash. Our traditional Alternative Awards are out at the end of the week on Patreon, where the real MVPs are celebrated through the likes of the Swiss Army Knife and Adrian Sipos awards.

Men's World Championship 2025 - 30 January: Tears, drama and buzzer-beaters galore in the Quarter-finals with Danijela Vekic, Thibaut Briet and Marcio Menino

We're into the knockout phase of the World Championship with four tantalising quarter-finals coming our way on Tuesday and Wednesday. Björn Pazen s us from Croatia to run through the contests and break down the key battles.

Brazil have reached the quarter-finals of the Men's World Championship for the first time and they've done it the hard way, battling through a group with Spain, Sweden and Norway. Brazilian commentator Sergio Arenillas s us to speak about the surprise breakthrough and what makes this team so special. We also look at Portugal's latest stellar performance, Egypt's nailbiter and Croatia's resurrection to beat Iceland.

We're off to the main round at the World Championship and as things are beginning to heat up, we look at the big stories from recent days, including mixed fortunes for the host nations and which teams are truly emerging as medal contenders. And we speak to Dutch star Kay Smits about his return to the national team after a layoff due to a heart inflammation, his side's progress in recent years and what they need to do to achieve their next major breakthrough.

The 2025 IHF Men's World Championship begins today, so we bring you our second big preview ahead of tonight's opening matches. 5:00 - Albin Falk Hansson previews the Nordic sides' chances 42:10 - Quickfire previews on the chasing pack 52:00 - Erwin Feuchtmann on his World Championship adventures with Chile 1:14:20 - Our final predictions us on patreon.com/handballhour to enjoy bonus content throughout the month as we cover the tournament in Norway, Croatia and Denmark.

In the first of our World Championship previews, we speak to Kevin Domas about how and Spain look after the departure of some legends and which players to look out for among the French-influenced African sides. John Ryan s us to look at the quintet of Pan American sides, highlighted by the preliminary round clash between Brazil and USA. us on patreon.com/handballhour for bonus episodes and other benefits throughout the championship, which begins on 14 January!

Handball doesn't stop during the holiday season and neither will we. We dive back into the German Bundesliga drama with Kreis Ab's Sascha Staat as we discuss Nicolej Krickau's sacking at Flensburg, Maik Machulla's move to Löwen, Kiel's run of good form and how long Melsungen can keep setting the pace at the top of the league.