CRISIS IN GERMANY: A message to Handball World

Financial crisis making problems where they aren’t expected. HSV Handball president Andreas Rudolph has announced that HSV Handball is struggling with financial problems and that budget for the next season will be even two million smaller than before – about 7.500.000. Moreover team will get a new look much “cheaper” as it known that a lot of players won’t stay in Hamburg as Domagoj Duvnjak (THW Kiel), Lackovic (probably PICK Szeged), Marcus Cleverly, Davor Dominikovic, Matthias Flohr, Torsten Jansen and Zarko Markovic.

HSV director Christoph Wendt is also sacked. HSV’s coach Martin Schwalb will have to make a new squad, but with the same ambition to stay among the best in Germany and Europe. Sincerely, it won’t be to tough to make it, because crisis in handball is well known – fact.

The biggest rival on the North, THW Kiel have also announced a minus of 500.000 in the previous season. Team who have sold-out hall with 10.275 seats during whole season, what is a “dream” for all the rivals who are dealing with the problems of hall capacity or attracting the fans, had to pay for “expensive” team of stars in generation of Omeyer, Narcisse, Ilic, Andersson, Ahlm…

The most positive example of “business model” in world of handball couldn’t keep the economical balance with the roster in which the best players had salaries between 25.000 and 35.000 EURO. How we can assess future if we have this fact in our minds?

If the best of the best can’t survive on the basic principle of selling product (match tickets and all about that) is the only destiny of TOP handball to be as a “toy” in hands of bosses – no matter if he called Qatari Investment, Samsonenko, Servaas,etc? It does not have to be bad, but still, handball needs also a “healthy” model…