(Un)informed Handball Hour

We're in Türkiye for the EHF Beach Handball EURO 2025 and with the tournament at the halfway mark, it's a great time to check in with a couple of the protagonists. Liam Harrison is making his EURO debut with Malta and speaks about the experience so far, how the national team and sport have developed at home and what his hopes are for the future. Gabriella Horváth is both an EHF Executive Committee Member and the Hungarian Handball Federation Secretary General, so she gives some thoughts on the tournament as a whole and her home nation in the first part of our interview with her. Part 2 will be featured in a wider review of the tournament and a look at the sport as a whole next week.

We look back at the Men's Junior World Championship and the lessons it has taught us about the present and future stars of the sport, plus we unpack the Champions League group phase draw.

SC Magdeburg are Champions League winners and while they may have made it look easy on Sunday, they've done it the hard way this season. We look back at their triumph over Berlin in the final and how they got there, from a losing record in the group phase, squeaking past Veszprém and Barca and the subtle but massive improvements since last year.

The biggest weekend of the handball calendar is upon us and we celebrate with a big preview of the showdown in Cologne with Björn Pazen and an interview with Vincent Gerard. The Champions League winner and Olympic gold medallist retired after Paris 2024 and battling through a tough season to even get there, but accepted the call from Barça after their own injury problems between the posts. We speak to Vincent about his unexpected comeback, returning to this level, the hardships of last year and what it takes to come out on top in Cologne. With Björn, we dive into the four contenders and Saturday's semi-finals. How will Berlin react after claiming a historic first Bundesliga title and is Mathias Gidsel on the verge of the greatest single season in handball? Can Nantes upset the favourites and reignite the fine tradition of surprise winners? We discuss how reigning champions Barça will shape up after their routine end to the domestic season. And will we see Zombie Magdeburg strike once again with Gisli Kristjannson, or can they go all the way with Felix Claar at the wheel?

This is a teaser of our latest Morning Club episode, which is available in full exclusively on patreon.com/handballhour It's the wonderful time of the season where we're treated to multi-game league finals in countries like Hungary, Poland and Denmark, which are serving up plenty of drama and entertainment. Ahead of their impending first league title, Berlin announced a spicy new signing but the biggest transfer news is the transfers that won't be happening as Sporting hold on to Costa, Costa and Salvador Salvador. Plus we react to the first episode of entrepreneur and returning handball player Lewis Howes documentary as he chases his Olympic dreams at the age of 42.