WORLD HANDBALL RECORD IN Dusseldorf: Already 40.000 tickets sold for EHF EURO 2024 opener
Handball world is going to witness a world record in attendance at the upcoming Men’s EHF EURO 2024 in Germany.
Before the World Championship, around 18,000 tickets for the games in Düsseldorf’s MERKUR SPIEL-ARENA were sold. On the final day of the World Championship, Mark Schober, Chairman of the Board of the German Handball Association, announced in Stockholm that 40,000 tickets have already been sold for this match day – and therefore no more tickets can be sold at the moment. “We have created a good basis. We currently have no more tickets for the opening day on sale because tickets for the participating teams will be held back,” said Schober. A few days after the EHF EURO 2024 draw in May tickets for this match day will be offered again. For Dusseldorf and for the German group matches in Berlin there are only VIP-Tickets available at the moment.
Thus, the German Handball Federation is well on the way to fulfilling the dream of a new attendance world record for handball games at the first men’s European championship on German soil. “I hope that the German team will play in a sold-out stadium in front of more than 50,000 fans on 10 January 2024 and that we will experience a historic sporting event,” said Schober. The previous spectator world record for a handball match was set in 2014 in the Frankfurt football arena with 44,189 fans at the game Rhein-Neckar Löwen vs HSV Hamburg.
But pre-sales are also running very well for the other preliminary round venues of the EHF EURO 2024 (Berlin, Munich and Mannheim), as Schober underlined: “At the moment only VIP Tickets are available for the German preliminary round matches in Berlin, for the other groups already more than 1000 tickets each were sold.” German Handball Federation expects more than 3000 fans from Iceland only for their preliminary round matches in Munich, and for Mannheim they are counting on many Croatian spectators who live in the metropolitan region.
After the draw in May, the next pre-sales period will start. In addition to the group tickets that are already available, day tickets will also go on sale: “I’m not worried that the halls will remain empty. The German fans also stay for other teams’ games, as the 2019 World Championship clearly showed when more than 14,000 fans were in the LANXESS Arena in Cologne for matches of the Presidents’ Cup,” says Schober. In the event of advancement, Germany will play their main round matches in Cologne, followed by the final weekend in the LANXESS arena. On 28 January 2024, the new European champion will be crowned in the cathedral city.
“We want to organize a tournament that has never existed in this form, especially with regard to the number of spectators, but also the many side events such as the training of 1000 children’s handball coaches, a handball business forum or elementary school campaign days,” says the CEO of the German Handball Federation.
