In his sport, Mikkel Hansen cannot be tense up for every nonsense, so it has to mean something that he is involved. A few days ago, the former world -class player from Denmark sat on a podium in the Jyske Bank boxing in Herning. Next to him: the Danish investor Mads H. Winther, the top players Stine Autper (Norway) and Estavana Polman (Netherlands). The Frenchman Nikola Karabatic, like Hansen’s multiple world handball players, has also announced his support.
Your goal is clear: handball should conquer the USA. The sport should grow, not in Europe, where handball is already large, but in the most important sports market in the world. The company is called “Pro Handball USA” that Winther founded for it. “The USA deserve handball,” is the slogan. The ambassadors for Hansen are elected very prominently.
Handball in the USA, Really?
As a first step, Winther wants to organize an annual invitation tournament with the best European clubs from 2026: a ten-day event in Las Vegas, FC Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain have already promised their arrival. In reports, inquiries are also carried out by German clubs. From 2028, a professional league should be established, which (it is thought great!) One day the best in the world should be. “I am not naive to believe that it will happen overnight,” says Hansen: “But America is enthusiastic about sports. Handball goes very well with a market like the USA. “
With the handball World Cup, the US team is only there thanks to a wildcard
The German Handball Bundesliga (HBL) is currently the best league in the world, and the prospect of new competition from the USA does not exactly drive the HBL boss Frank Bohmann on the forehead. “Competition revives the business,” says Bohmann succinctly: “Maybe you need such a big vision to achieve something in the USA.” It is indisputable that handball to grow in the long term has to advance in the large markets. But a professional league in America is already a “murderal undertaking,” says Bohmann: “It will cost a lot of money, especially in the USA.”
:Big in Germany and Denmark
Seven large men’s handball tournaments will take place in the two countries by 2032. The sport is happy about full halls, but there are also doubts as to whether this is the right way.
Bohmann is not averse to the matter, he wants to meet a video call with the protagonists of “Pro Handball USA”. But Bohmann excludes that the United States will be a crucial factor in handball and change top players in droves.
The path appears immensely. A look at the World Cup, which is currently running in Denmark, Norway and Croatia, to guess the importance of the sport in the USA. The US team plays along, but only thanks to a wildcard with regard to the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. In the preliminary round, the US national coach Robert Heidin, a former Swedish international, lost all games. As a pointless last one went to the President’s Cup, where things went better, but only in the fight for places 25 to 32. In the end, the United States finished 26th, six places worse than at the World Cup two years ago.
Unlike hoped, the US team made the headlines. Because there are no state grants, the association with its two employees can hardly afford the World Cup participation. Thanks to sponsors, accommodation and meals are secured; For the arrival and departure to the training camp in front of the World Cup, the players had to pay themselves. “Not much has happened in the USA in terms of handball, there is still no league,” said team manager Andreas Hertelt, a German who has been working for the association since 2019 at Sportdeutschland.TV.
Many Americans don’t know what handball is ever
Sport in the United States works through the presence of high school and colleges. “As long as handball is not anchored in the school system, there will be no development across the board,” says Hertelt. The US association has just 1,500 members. Many Americans do not know what handball is, in the ranking of the most popular sports (football before basketball and baseball), handball does not appear at all. But investor and company boss Winther wants to change that, he promises: “We will now seriously approach it. We need the United States and they need us. “
There is already a big catch on the plans, because what the players of the top European teams certainly do not need is another tournament in the already badly stressed schedule. The professionals struggled to fight a longer summer break to have a chance to regenerate once a year. In the future, “Pro Handball USA” wants to place a tournament in Las Vegas.