Outstanding results for EHF Champions League cap record season for European handball
When Barça lifted the EHF Champions League trophy on 9 June at the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 2024, the last match of the 2023/24 season had been played.
It was a record 11th title in 31 seasons of EHF Champions League for the Spanish side, out of which they won five at the EHF FINAL4 in Cologne – more than any other team.
However, records came not only on court, as digital and TV figures for European handball hit new heights in the 2023/24 season.
For the first time, the digital reach of the EHF Champions League ecosystem has passed the 1-billion-mark, recording more than 45 million interactions on the way.
The milestone was also reached courtesy of the EHF Champions League Instagram channel which acquired its 500,000th follower on the eve of the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 2024.
TV numbers were equally on the rise for several markets with 38 official broadcasters and EHFTV bringing the action to living rooms worldwide.
In the Machineseeker EHF Champions League a plus of 18% was recorded for the competition’s cumulative TV audience. The Danish market proved particularly strong with a market share of 49% at the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 at which Aalborg Håndbold reached the final and a share of 30% at the EHF FINAL4 Women at which Team Esbjerg claimed third place.
However, the EHF Champions League proved not only a success on digital and TV. Almost 1 million spectators filled the halls around Europe to enjoy the Europe’s premium club handball competitions since the first games were played in September.
For the Machineseeker EHF Champions League, this equalled an attendance rate of 77 per cent, and the competitions’ attractiveness was further underlined by a sold-out TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 with 40,000 fans over two days and a packed MVM Dome with more than 30,000 people witnessing the matches of the EHF FINAL4 Women in Budapest.
David Szlezak, Managing Director of EHF Marketing, said: "These numbers are testament to an outstanding season in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League and the EHF Champions League Women. They underline the growing attractiveness of the European club handball competitions across digital and TV as well as for our hundreds of thousands of fans in Europe coming to the matches, and they are a great basis to start from as we are already preparing the next season."
EHF European League on the rise
In the 2023/24 season also the EHF European League, the second tier European Cup competition, further cemented its status within European club handball.
At the end of May, the EHF Finals Men were played in Hamburg’s Barclays Arena, attracting more than 20,000 fans over the weekend. It was the first time that the men’s competition’s final weekend was played at a neutral venue.
In terms of digital numbers, records were achieved: 5,100 (+15 per cent compared to the previous season) content pieces were published on the competition’s digital channels, generating 85.4 million impressions (+58 per cent) and 4.8 million engagements (+15 per cent) – all numbers mean new heights for the competition.
The outstanding results of European club handball in 2023/24 thus cap a record for European handball, as the past twelve months also included the Men’s EHF EURO 2024 in Germany.
The 24-nation tournament opened in front of a world record crowd of 53,586 fans on 10 January and eventually also finished with record figures for spectators, TV and digital alike.
The EHF Champions League reaches its next milestone already on Thursday (at 17:30 CEST, live on EHFTV and YouTube) with the group phase draw determining the first steps on the path to the glory for the 16 teams each participating in the men’s and women’s competitions.
Matches for the EHF European League and the EHF Champions League resume in early September, while on the national team level the Men’s EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers start in autumn and the Women’s EHF EURO 2024 is played from 28 November – 15 December in Austria, Hungary and Switzerland.
