Men's World Handball Championship

The Men's 21st World Handball Championship 2009 is being hosted by Croatia from the 16th of January to the 1st of February.

There are seven host cities: Zagreb, Poreč, Osijek, Zadar, Varaždin, Pula and Split.

Ruksi the mascot!

The preliminary rounds run till the 22nd in the cities of Osijek, Split, Varaždin, and Poreč. The teams are separated into groups where they play in their assigned cities.

Group A: Osijek The Stadium.

France

Hungary

Slovakia

Romania

Argentina

Australia

Group B: Split

The Stadium.

Croatia

Sweden

Spain

South Korea

Kuwait

Cuba

Group C: Varaždin

The Stadium.

Germany

Poland

Macedonia

Russia

Tunisia

Algeria

Group D: Poreč
The Stadium.

Denmark

Norway

Egypt

Brazil

Serbia

Saudi Arabia

The Main round begins in Zagreb and Zadar starting on the 24th.

Zagreb

The stadium.

Zadar

The Stadium.

From the 24th to the 26th the Presidents cup takes place in Pula and Poreč.

Pula

The Stadium.

On the 27th there are placement rounds in Pula for 23/34 place, 21/22 place, 19/20 place and placement rounds in Poreč for 17/18 place, 15/16 place, 13/14 place.

In Zagreb on the 29th there are placement matches for 11/12 place, 9/10 place, 7/8 place, 5/6 place.

The semi-finals are on the 30th in Zagreb/Split.

On the 1st the 3rd place match and the final takes place in Zagreb.

So that's the structure and location of the 21st Handball Championship!

Handball Videos

While watching the games I took a few short videos. The quality is far from great - I don't see myself being in the filming industry anytime soon.

The following are clips from the Germany verses Russia game:

The following video clips are from the game with Tunisia and Macedonia: (The Macedonia fans are quite enthusiastic)

Watching Handball

The 2009 Men's World Handball Championships are being held in Croatia and one of the host cities is Varaždin. I decided that it would be an interesting and definitely a once in a lifetime chance to go and watch. My friend Tamara and I went and watched two matches (On the 17th) - Germany verses Russia and Macedonia verses Tunisia. It was super interesting and fun to watch. Here are pictures from the game. My handball ticket.

Close up of my ticket. I was supposed to sit in row nine but Tamara and I wanted to sit together. The seat next to hers was unoccupied so I sat in the top row instead.

The backside of my ticket.

Game one was Germany verses Russia: The playing of the National Anthems.

And the game begins...Russia is in red and Germany in white.

The team benches and officials tables.

Timeout. A local cheer group did a short routine while the teams were on their break.

Fans!!

Half time show by the local cheer group. The score at the half was 15:14 for Germany.

The Championship mascots at half-time. Ruksi the caterpillar!

Another time out and routine by the cheer group.

And the game ends in a tie 26-all. Exciting last few minutes resulted in the tie.

Handshakes.

End of game - best player recognition.

In between games show by a local baton twirling group. The mascots swept the floor.

The second game was Macedonia verses Tunisia: The teams warming up a bit during the performance.

Warm up continued.
At half time Tamara and I walked around the sports center a bit. Decided to get a picture with this cardboard cutout that was used to advertise ice cream.

Before heading back to our seats we took a look on the lower levels. Got a few pictures before having to go to our seats.

National Anthems for Tunisia and Macedonia.

The baton group off to the side. They are holding the flags of Croatia and Varaždin.

Macedonia. (In black) The boys in white in front are a local Handball team.

Tunisia. The girls in front are a local handball team.

Mascots before the game.

Macedonia fans...there were allot of them and quite enthusiastic! Macedonia fans on the opposite side of the gym.

And the game begins...White is Tunisia and Red is Macedonia.

Macedonia fans. In the front row are some sercutiry gaurds to stop the fans from leaning over the railing.

Half time...the score was 14:13 Macedonia.

A local dance group preformed at the half.

Game over. Tunisia wins 25:24.

Bought myself a T-shirt as a souvineer of the event:

And that's all!