Worldwide online celebration for maiden International Handball Week

The first annual International Handball Week came to an end on Saturday, following a highly successful seven days of mainly online celebration and storytelling. The week began on 12 July, the IHF’s founding date in 1946, and ran through to 18 July. 

International Handball Week was an initiative planned by the IHF for some time, but the first edition looked a little different than initially expected, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic and the widespread halt to on-court activities and allowance for spectators around the world meant the first International Handball Week had to be focused online – and the handball community certainly made the sport’s presence felt in that sphere. 

Member federations around the world joined the online conversation in a variety of ways. Content visible from around the world included live online streams with either discussions on different handball topics or the provision of educational lectures, the sharing of stories of different nations’ and teams’ histories, sharing information on current activities and projects, or simply posting photos. 

Today, Beach handball kenya will be live on Sheki fm Radio to speak about the journey of #BeachHandball in kenya, its a way to celebrate #handballweek . pic.twitter.com/9m4TaFRCMp

— Kenya Beach Handball (@BeachHandballKe) July 14, 2020

Gift Stars men team is celebrating the winning of the International Handball Week cup pic.twitter.com/c2eqW4FJw5

— Somali Handball Federation (@HandballSomali) July 18, 2020

De Handbalzomer is nog steeds in volle gang? Afgelopen weekend hebben wij clinics gegeven bij HV Leidsche Rijn, SC Twist, The Flyers en Swift Helmond?‍♀️?#handballweek #HandbalNL pic.twitter.com/s0Dk8TagRL

— Handbal Nederland (@Handbal_NL) July 14, 2020

Day 7 ? #handballweek
Success doesn’t just happen overnight. The commitment, enthusiasm and dedication our players put in at training reaps rewards #KAHandball pic.twitter.com/kWguAjyZLG

— Kelvinside Clubs (@KA_Clubs) July 19, 2020

#handballweek#ハンドボール思い出

目標としていた全国クラブカップで敗戦した試合後のミーティング風景。今思えばここがスタートだったかな。
1年後台風で決勝戦も表彰式も行われなかったが選手の頑張りで優勝することができた。 pic.twitter.com/XizdmeNCy4

— 長沢 亮 (@nacr1225) July 16, 2020

? J-U-M-P for the #handballweek ???❤️@ihf_info #letsgovamos #heróisdomar #fazeracontecer #mostraremcampo #superportugal #seleçãonacionalandebol #portugal #vamoscomtudo #andebol #jogossantacasa #aguamonchique pic.twitter.com/jiQ8SmLpgy

— Federação de Andebol (@AndebolPortugal) July 16, 2020

Some countries used the opportunity to promote specific projects, such as the Handball Federation of Slovenia, who focused the week on their various programmes and initiatives developing and supporting women’s handball. This was done with their women’s handball mascot, Meta, and at the end of the week, the Federation shared a video overview of all the projects. 

Local clubs and individual players or members of the community were also engaged in the online conversation. For example, in Russia, led by a strong online presence throughout the week from the National Federation, many clubs participated in International Handball Week, sharing videos, pieces of their history, challenges and more. 

Russia national team player and 2016 Olympic champion Daria Dmitrieva was one among three players – the other two being 2013 world champion from Brazil, Eduarda Amorim, and 2019 Youth world champion from Egypt, Ahmed Hesham – who shared their beginnings in handball in short video interviews posted on the IHF channels. 

The Japan Handball Association held a popular photo contest that saw the participation of many fans, who shared all kinds of pictures related to their favourite handball memories and moments. 

Naturally, players for prominent teams also posted about the week on their own channels, such as Argentina’s Federico Pizarro and Chile’s Erwin Feuchtmann. 
 

On the IHF side, the online celebration included interviews with presidents of Continental Confederations as well as a message from IHF President Dr Hassan Moustafa, the introduction of the new IHF logo, streaming of seven matches stretching from the 1990 IHF Men’s World Championship to the first Beach Handball World Championships in 2004 to the 2017 IHF World Championships for both men and women, handball history themed trivia, special videos including a tribute to handball through time and session four of the 1st IHF Live Online Symposium. 
 

During the week, the IHF also held a virtual meeting where national federations were invited to participate in an open discussion with the IHF Council.  

On the IHF side, the week culminated with the announcement of the 2019 IHF World Players and Coaches of the Year. All four recipients were first-time winners, with Stine Bredal Oftedal (Norway and Györi Audi ETO KC (HUN)) and Niklas Landin Jacobsen (Denmark and THW Kiel (GER)) scooping the Player of the Year awards, and Nikolaj Jacobsen (Denmark and Rhein-Neckar Löwen (GER – to June 2019)) and Emmanuel Mayonnade (Netherlands and Metz Handball (FRA)) named the Coaches of the Year. 
 

Overall, the first annual International Handball Week was an immense success, particularly considering the unusual circumstances in which it was held, not only because of the strong online presence for handball that resulted, but the reinforcement of global community and collective celebration of values that have surely helped all closely involved in the sport in this difficult time. 

The IHF would like to thank all those who participated and especially acknowledge the work of the National Federations who actively took part and encouraged their own communities to do so.