On Friday and Saturday officials from all four SEHA - Gazprom Final 4 teams and over 30 SEHA - Gazprom League match officials, delegates and referees attended workshops at the Hotel Sveti Martin na Muri in Croatia, run by Sportradar.

Sportradar is a global leader in understanding and using the power of sports data and digital content, and their Security Services operation provides a unique Fraud Detection System (FDS) to several sporting federations, including UEFA, which allows them to monitor betting behaviour and patterns worldwide to identify suspicious activities.

As part of their ongoing commitment in moving forward the sport of handball and to continue raising the quality of the SEHA - Gazprom League, SEHA invited Sportradar to deliver two workshops during the Final 4 weekend, one for club officials and one for match officials, delegates and referees so they could gain an insight into the betting industry from the perspective of handball.

On Saturday (2 April), a 'Sport Integrity Workshop' was held for match officials, delegates and referees which consisted of a presentation by Sportradar followed by a question and answer session.

Those in attendance heard that around ?712 million per year is placed on bets for handball around the world with just 30% of those bets being placed outside of Asia and the market is set to grow.

All of this means that handball federations and associations need to be at the forefront of education and knowledge around this industry, something which Sportradar was quick to point out the SEHA - Gazprom League was doing.

"The SEHA - Gazprom League is in a great position now where they're laying the foundation to educate their officials about sports integrity," said Danny Sears, Head of Education - Security Services - Sportradar, who presented both workshops.

"SEHA have been proactive, on the front foot and they want to do something before there is a problem.

"Some sport federations believe that they are immune or unattractive to matchfixers and don't take the threat seriously until it is too late, but that is what the fixers actually count on," he continued.

"By the time manipulation is occurring, it becomes a more difficult battle. That is why prevention is better than cure."

As part of the second half of his presentation Danny highlighted issues that sport around the world has faced with regards to betting before discussing a variety of sports that have been affected including handball, football, NBA, cricket and sumo.

For Dragan Načevski, SEHA - Gazprom Final 4 official who attended one of the workshops, it provided an ideal opportunity to create awareness amongst the SEHA - Gazprom League officials of the threats they could face.

"The presentation was excellent," said Načevski, who is also a European Handball Federation (EHF) Delegate and person responsible for refereeing on the EHF Competitions Commission. "The workshop gave us the opportunity to bring all the referees together to show them what could happen in handball or what has happened.

"It also gave a clear sign for our young players, referees and officials to protect not only themselves but our sport as a whole," continued Načevski who is also Europe's member on the International Handball Federations' IHF Playing Rules and Referees Commission.

"We are all one family representing the SEHA League, EHF and handball in general so we want to make our intentions clear for what sort of referees, delegates and officials we want to see in the future."

As the SEHA - Gazprom League 2015/16 season draws to a close in Varazdin, Croatia, thoughts are already turning to next season and beyond both on and off the court, and for SEHA this means looking to further develop the advancement and education of not only the teams in the SEHA - Gazprom League but officials, delegates, referees, club officials and players.

"It's important that we have a clean league," said Siniša Ostoić, SEHA - Gazprom League, Director. "With all the data about handball which Sportradar are collecting such a company could help us in the future.

"The SEHA - Gazprom League like to work with good companies, especially those who can increase the level of our league.  As a league we have to think about betting and be proactive, that is why the clubs, officials, referees and delegates took part in these workshops.

"It's necessary to explain what is good and what is bad and to always be prepared - as the Director of the league I have this responsibility.

"Over the next few months we will meet again and find some common ground and hopefully in the future the SEHA - Gazprom League and Sportradar can have a good future together."

Overall, Sportradar were happy with the initial work with the SEHA - Gazprom League and were impressed by their whole experience in Varazdin.

"The feedback I had from the workshops was very positive - all the SEHA - Gazprom League representatives were very engaged," said Danny.

"I have to add, it was fantastic to be invited to the SEHA - Gazprom Final 4 as I have never watched handball live before.

"It was a great atmosphere and a well put together production. The sportsmanship between the teams was exemplary and nice to see."