LEGACY
a. Continuous use of infrastructure built for the European Championship 2004
and World Championship 2009
b. Meeting new standards in organizing major sporting events as a legacy in electing
new hosts
c. Economic impact
Our bid project is based on the legacy of the competitions organized by our federations.
Croatian Handball Federation can proudly state its capacity and experience in organizing major
sporting events. The European Championship for men held in Croatia in the year 2000 had been
one of the biggest sport events ever organized in Croatia, and carrying out of it got the highest
marks from the European handball federation, as well as from all of the participants. The above
mentioned facts were the main reasons which led to win the organization of the World Championship
for women, which took place in December 2003. After yet another task well accomplished with the
WCh for women, Croatian handball federation won the right to organize the World Championship
for men in 2009, which was carried out impeccably.
It was held in 7 different venues. In the period of 2 years 6 new sport halls were built which means
that none of the infrastructure will need further investment either from the part of the state’s
administration, or from Croatian Handball Federation which is very important fact. We would like to
mention that TV coverage of the World Championship held in Croatia had 27% higher rate than the
one held 2 years before in Germany. The ticketing system which Croatian Handball Federation
organized in cooperation with the Dekod Company was at the highest level. There were 300 000
tickets sold for 102 matches that were played. All in all, Croatian Handball Federation received words
of praise from the participating teams and from the International Handball Federation for well
organized Championship.
It has always been an important element of the Hungarian Handball Federation’s (HHF) long term
development program - which enjoys the full support of the Hungarian Parliament’s Sport and
Tourism Committee – to organize handball events in every 2-3 years.
As part of its strategy, the HHF organized several European and World Championships in the last
one and a half decade; starting with the Austrian-Hungarian Women’s World Championship in 1995,
through the 2004 Women’s European Championship and ending with the 2009 W19 Euro.
All these events, reaching all corners of the country, contributed to the growing popularity of our
sport, both among the spectators, the sponsor and the media.
The experience we posses in organizing major sporting events and the superb way of carrying
them out, leaves us with a very good reason to believe that Croatian and the Hungarian Handball
Federations can leave in legacy the new organizing standards to be taken into consideration while
determining future hosts of major handball competitions.
In view of the economic impact of staging the European Championship, it is important to mention
the economic effect which is one of the most important heritages in terms of the income which is
planned to be invested in sport strategic plans.