Episode 311 - Holiday handball in Germany, France and London?

After a December focused fully on the Women's World Championship, we wrap up the year with a catch up on the men's game with big Bundesliga games and transfer rumours galore. We take a look at the upcoming changes to the French league and Champions League, while German and Dutch national team players are in London this week for very different reasons.

Katrine Lunde bowed out at the very top of the handball world this month, winning her fifth world championship gold as the all-star goalkeeper and hanging up the Norway jersey at the age of 45. Back in 2022, we spoke to Katrine about her life in handball, the people and moments that made her who she is and what has kept her going strong through all these years. Whether you've heard this one before or not, it's an ideal way to honour the end of her career over the festive period. If you want access to all our bonus Morning Club shows, including extra coverage of the upcoming EHF EURO, and ad-free listening of all shows, join us on patreon.com/handballhour.

Hassan Moustafa has some opposition in his hopes to extend his IHF Presidency beyond 25 years. For the first time since 2009, the upcoming IHF Congress will see him challenged by Gerd Butzeck, Franjo Bobinac, and Tjark de Lange. We spoke to the most outspoken and leading challenger Gerd Butzeck about his campaign and key points on Olympic status, women's handball and global development. And hear from Ola Selby, who has done a deep-dive on the candidates and intricacies of the election. You can read more about Gerd Butzeck's campaign here: https://handball-deserves-more.com/ GoHandball articles on the election: https://gohandball.com/news/the-world

Norway were pushed all the way by a brave and spirited Germany performance but when everyone else looked shaky, Katrine Lunde stood firm in goal with a match-winning performance to sign off on a truly legendary career. We pay tribute to her and the other heroes of the championship with our Alternative Awards and look back at the final with help from Marcio Menino and Danijela Vekic.

While the quarter-finals were fairly straightforward affairs, they bring up some interesting trends that we dive into ahead of the final weekend of the World Championship. Defence leading the way, the demise of the right back and focusing on player growth among the topics as we bask in the business end of the tournament. To enjoy the rest of our coverage of the championship before anyone else, as well as bonus episodes, join us on patreon.com/handballhour

We can finally start looking forward to the quarter-finals, beginning on Tuesday in Dortmund. Co-hosts Germany are on the hunt for their first world medal since 2007 and Maike Elger, who has been covering the championship for Sportschau in Germany, speaks to us about the tournament so far, the promotion of the team in German media and what they're capable of in the knockout rounds. And Laura Agena from Playmaker WH speaks to us from Rotterdam about the group final wins for Netherlands and Denmark, the fortunes of some teams close to her heart and the too close to call quarter-finals on Wednesday.

We begin a new week and a new month with a real World Championship treat. Faroe Islands captain Pernille Brandenborg joins us to speak about a historic first victory at this level against 2019 finalists Spain, the long journey with this team since her debut in 2016 and the reward of taking on hosts Germany on Tuesday night in the main round. Aleksa Pavicevic, creator of the brilliant @womenshandball Instagram account, joins us to discuss the big stories of the preliminary round, what trends are emerging from this championship and what to look out for in the coming days as we dive into the main round. Check out the womenshandball broadcast channel for daily updates from the championship here: https://www.instagram.com/channel/AbYQOgvUyNR9lygy/?igsh=YWc1bGkwazgxYWFk To enjoy the rest of our coverage of the championship before anyone else, as well as bonus episodes, join us on patreon.com/handballhour

It's part 2 of our Women's World Championship preview, where we look at the standout teams and interesting stories from groups B to H before the fun begins on Wednesday.

We begin Women's World Championship week with our preview of the tournament. We discuss where the sport currently stands in the midst of a surge in popularity in other women's sports, before diving into the first of the eight preliminary round groups. And we speak to Japan's Clare Francis Gray as she prepares for her second World Championship, hearing her thoughts on the team's development, new coach Morten Soubak and what they have in store for their larger opponents in the much-anticipated Group A encounters. If you want to hear the second preview podcast, you can hear it right now as part of our bumper preview on patreon.com/handballhour

Saturday evening in the Bundesliga makes for compulsory viewing with Berlin hosting Kiel and Flensburg taking on Magdeburg. Tim Dettmar of the 3. Halbzeit (3rd half) podcast joins to help us preview this Super Saturday and the big news so far in this Bundesliga season.