The fact that the youth hostel is within walking distance of the arena has been a blessing for many Flensburg handball fans. From a single room to a dormitory, they booked the affordable option to watch their favorites at the German Handball Cup tournament at the weekend.
As in the previous year, saving was the order of the day; The Handball Bundesliga (HBL) moved its largest and most important individual event to Cologne-Deutz for the first time: Handball wants to grow, open up new target groups, become more modern and stay in competition with basketball and its much younger audience.
“Handball must remain affordable!”
The move from Hamburg to Cologne, with space for 20,000 people, seemed only advisable. But the response to the debut in 2023 was devastating – expensive, soulless, distant, that’s how many die-hard handball fans accused the handball league.
Cologne stood for an atmosphere “between a fair and a large disco,” as fans put it. In February, support groups took part in a joint campaign and posted their demand in black and white in many Bundesliga halls: “Handball must remain affordable!”
The main criticism, borne by the league’s most passionate supporters from Magdeburg and Flensburg: Not only the ticket prices, but also hotel and transport costs made it impossible for a family to visit the “Final Four” if they ended up paying more than 1,000 euros for four handball games The bill would stand – without meals and merchandising products. One price driver is the world‘s largest fitness trade fair, which is taking place at the same time.
In order to display external content, your revocable consent is required. Personal data from third-party platforms (possibly USA) may be processed. Additional Information .
Enable external content
Last weekend only SC Magdeburg, who were ultimately victorious, took the entire contingent. The cheapest ticket in the fan block cost 134 euros for both days. The other fan corners were not fully occupied, and the support remained less enthusiastic and colorful than before – which in the case of Flensburg was due to the fact that some of the spokesmen had stayed at home in protest. They are not the only ones who remember wistfully how the four games with local songs and elaborate choreographies became a big party in Hamburg.
“Fans want pure handball”
“It’s bad when fans here have to pay 250 euros for a normal hotel room,” says HBL managing director Frank Bohmann. He sought dialogue with the groups and thereby cooled down the heated discussion. The fan representatives were surprised and happy that an “official” contacted them: “We achieved more than we had hoped for,” said Sven Lager from the Flensburg fan club “Alte Garde” to the “Tagesspiegel”.
Bohmann is not afraid of contact, he wants to take the best of handball tradition into the present and transfer it into the future. To achieve this, very different needs must be combined. In Cologne he said: “The fans want pure handball. For them, everything else is frills and waste. But many people also want something other than what fans want.” Growing without alienating the base: not just in handball is not an easy task.
Because despite the dialogue, hardships remain, even in 2025: “For various scheduling reasons, the Final Four can only take place on four or five dates a year. That’s why the overlap with the fitness fair will remain. But there are many affordable accommodation options in the surrounding area. We won’t forget the fans,” promised Bohmann. This includes cheaper tickets for them next year and the quarter-finals being brought forward to enable earlier and cheaper hotel bookings.
Already at the weekend the music recordings like “Sweet Caroline” and “Viva Colonia” were rarer and quieter. The animation of the hall speakers remained subtle compared to the European Championships in the same place. The “Magdeburger Lied” from the final winners’ corner was clearly audible. Nobody needs gossip there. And the cozy Berlin fans were allowed to bang on the drums until their ears fell off: a concession from the HBL.
But there is also the other, younger, urban audience that only sees handball as an “event” in Cologne in April, wants animation and needs explanation. This new, wealthy clientele must first be attracted in order to be inspired by the dynamic sport, the approachability of the professionals and the atmospheric and peaceful fan groups. That has its price. For all.