For the second season in a row, a handball discussion took place on the day prior to the start of the SEHA – Gazprom League Final 4 tournament again, the event served as a perfect overture for what is still ahead in Skopje on Friday and Sunday and what will probably be four of the most interesting matches of league's seventh season.

The discussion featured Bozidar Djurkovic (SRB), Vice President of the SEHA - Gazprom League and Chairman of the EHF Competition Commission, Boris Sapozhnikov (RUS), Vice President of the SEHA - Gazprom League and Gazprom representative, Sinisa Ostoic (CRO), Managing Director of the SEHA - Gazprom League, Igor Anic, player of Celje PL, David Davis, former Spanish international and current assistant coach of SEHA - Gazprom League and Champions League winners Vardar as well as Zika Bogdanovic (SRB), founder and chief editor of the portal balkan-handball.com.

Main topic of the discussion was future of handball in the region as well as what SEHA – Gazprom League really brings to the table for both teams and national federations on club as well as international level.

Everyone agreed that the upcoming Final 4 tournament will be nothing but an icing on the cake of what has, without doubt, been the best SEHA season so far. However, SEHA Gazprom League Managing Director Sinisa Ostoic used the opportunity to add that the competition must not stop developing and improving on all the aspects because the main goal from season to season is to make progress.

Bozidar Djurkovic added: “I feel that the cooperation between SEHA – Gazprom League and national federations is really good and useful for both sides. This is what matters the most and makes the whole project as successful in the end.” Vardar assistant coach David Davis underlined that the defending SEHA – Gazprom League and Champions League champions also owe a lot to the opportunity to play tough matches against high-quality opponents throughout the full season which obviously helped them prepare in the best possible way and eventually even climb the European throne.

Gazprom representative Boris Sapozhnikov, mentioned that Gazprom is, as a global company, happy to see the influence the competition has not only among the participating countries but also all around Europe because “SEHA Gazprom League obviously grew into a European brand”.

All participants all also used the discussion to highlight the importance of having a new, modern website the SEHA – Gazprom League introduced a few months ago which is the key in communication and relationship with fans helping the competition to reach a significantly bigger amount of people all around Europe.

Speaking from the media point, chief editor of balkan-handball.com Zivota Bogdanovic, noted that not only the strongest teams but also the weaker ones like Nexe and Serbian representatives profit from being part of the SEHA – Gazprom League, taking the advantage of playing against strong opponents. Therefore, even the young national team players can raise the performing level in competitions such as World or European championships.

Davis and Sapozhnikov agreed that the impact of the league can play a big role in widening the European handball map bringing high-level handball to a city such as Moscow which surely has the potential to be a home of a quality handball club. Celje PL player Igor Anic concluded that playing SEHA Gazprom League significantly helped Celje develop young players as well as visibly strengthen their national team in the last few years.

“Future holds nothing but positive aspects for our sport”, said Sinisa Ostoic, who even expects handball matches to be played at noon in near future, because of the interest in the Chinese market. Developments like those attracting bigger sponsors could clearly strengthen handball’s position as one of the most influential indoor sports. Boris Sapozhnikov mentioned the example of Meshkov Brest – a club, which have obviously grown as a European stronghold in the last few years. For him, handball as a sport is a good investment option right now because of all the potential it obviously has as a global sport.

Speaking of the Final 4 tournament itself, everyone agreed Vardar have the biggest chances of going all the way but all participants also agreed that everything is possible in one match and that each team might, on Sunday evening, bring the title joy to their fans. Four amazing matches are, without doubt, ahead of all fans.