The decision was announced on Friday by the European Handball Federation and its marketing arm, EHF Marketing GmbH, following a successful bidding process and subsequent confirmation by the EHF Executive Committee. The selections are in line with the overarching endeavour to host the final events of the EHF European League at neutral venues. SG Flensburg-Handewitt has committed to hosting the event, even in case the team does not qualify for the final weekend of the competition.
The EHF Finals Women are scheduled for 13-14 May 2023 at the Raiffeisen Sportpark in Graz, when the four title contenders will meet in the 3,000-seater arena, while the men’s event will take place on 27-28 May at SG Flensburg-Handewitt’s home, the FLENS-Arena with a capacity of 6,300.
For the women’s event it is the first time that the EHF Finals will be played in Austria, following editions in Baia Mare, Romania (2021) and Viborg, Denmark (2022). SG Flensburg-Handewitt, will follow Rhein-Neckar Löwen (2021) and SL Benfica (2022) as hosts for the EHF Finals Men.
The four participants for the EHF Finals Women will be known following the quarter-final second legs on 25-26 March.
SG Flensburg-Handewitt are currently playing in the EHF European League group phase. The next milestones on the journey to a potential final at home are the Last 16 in March and the quarter-finals on 11 and 18 April.
David Szlezak, EHF Marketing Managing Director, said: “We have seen the success of organising outstanding events for multiple seasons in the EHF Champions League and are now making further progress in the EHF European League as well. With the Raiffeisen Sportpark we have a partner which has experience with international sports events and is highly motivated to host a European event in Graz. The FLENS-Arena has seen several top-class international matches and I’m confident that we will witness a flawless organisation worthy of the EHF Finals Men.”
Michael Wiederer, EHF President, said: “Organising the EHF Finals Women in Graz is a great opportunity to bring women’s handball to new audiences. At the same time, Graz is an easily reachable location in the heart of Europe. The EHF Finals Men in Flensburg will then mark the prelude to series of major European handball tournaments held in Germany, followed by the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 2023 in Cologne in June and the Men’s EHF EURO 2024 which is played in six German venues in January next year.”
