How the hosts prepare the next generation of handball stars

Which club has the best young talents in Europe? This question will be answered for the first time in 2025, as the European Handball Federation has created a new competition for men’s U18 club teams, the EHF Youth Club Trophy. The competition was initially aimed at all 16 clubs competing in the Champions League; 13 are participating, plus the youth teams of EHF European League participants GOG, Vojvodina, and Sävehof.

The format is simple. The teams will compete in four qualification tournaments, each featuring four teams. The winners qualify for the final tournament, which will be played as part of the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 in Cologne. The final will take place in the LANXESS arena, just before the match for third place of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League on Sunday 15 June.

The 16 participants were seeded based on regional criteria for the qualification tournaments, which will be carried out in Barcelona, Veszprém, Bucharest and Berlin in the middle of April. The hosts all have strong youth academies.

Barça (ESP)

Jordi Rosell is the head coach of the academy, in which currently 107 young players are coached and educated. Approximately 20 coaches, including goalkeeper and strength coaches, are part of the academy, divided among each of the six Barça youth teams.

Recruitment for the academies starts at the age of 12 by Barça scouts at regional and international competitions. During the U11 year, the club organises three training sessions with shortlisted Spanish player for the upcoming year. International prospects are selected at the age of 16 and currently, players from Sweden, France, Brazil and Qatar are part of the Barça academy.

Barça follow the Catalan handball school, focused on individual strength and tactics. The coaches look at individual technique, how to play a high-paced collective game and, of course, at personal values, such as respect for everyone involved in the sport. Young players and senior professionals train in the same facility, at Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper, so there is a close relationship between the senior team and the academy. Also, all coaches in the academy try to adapt the first team style of play to their teams.

Big names coming from the Barça academy in the last 20 years include Victor Tomás, Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas, Aitor Ariño, Viran Morros, Jorge Maqueda, Daniel Dujshebaev, Daniel Fernández, Petar and Djordje Cikusa and Ian Barrufet.

Dinamo Bucuresti (ROU)

The Dinamo Handball Academy is an ambitious project created with the goal of supporting and promoting young Romanian athletes, while actively contributing to the development of handball in Romania. The academy was founded on 12 October 2020, and in less than five years, the club has built a solid and continuously growing structure that offers a professional training environment for almost 200 young athletes. Currently, the academy includes 198 registered players, divided into two main categories — initiation and performance — each with its own goals and methodologies.

The primary objective of the initiation category is to attract and guide children from the age of six years on in a safe, educational, and motivating environment. Its stages include “baby handball” (mixed, age six to eight years), the “mini handball” group (girls and boys aged nine to 10), and the “junior 4” group (girls and boys, 11 and 12 years old). Four coaches and Robert Tase as manager of the initiation programme are in charge.

In the performance category Dinamo are focused on preparing elite players ready to transition into professional handball in four different groups for boys: 13-14 years, 15-16 years, 17-18 years, and finally the youth from the age of 19 to 21, managed by Dan Savenco and trained by experienced youth coaches.

All players currently enrolled in the academy are Romanian. Selection for the performance groups is made primarily through scouting, with a focus on identifying and developing the most promising young talents across the country. One crucial point of the development is the close partnership with Dinamo’s senior team, most notably through assistant coach Jordi Giralt, who also serves as the technical coordinator for the performance division and head coach for both the junior 1 and youth teams.

Beyond athletic results, the club emphasises education, discipline, teamwork, and respect, which it sees as essential values in the holistic development of its athletes.

In the current season, 75 per cent of Dinamo’s teams have qualified for the Romanian finals, an impressive milestone given to the relatively short existence of the academy. More and more Dinamo players are being called up to national youth teams, proving that Dinamo’s work is having an impact on the future of Romanian handball.

“We believe this academy represents a sustainable development model in performance sports, and we are open to partnerships, collaborations, and joint initiatives that support our common goals of promoting young talent and strengthening Romanian handball at all levels,” says Savenco.

One Veszprém HC (HUN)

A total of 65 players are currently enrolled in Veszprém’s academy, which starts at the age of 14. A further 93 players are in the pre-academy, starting from 10 years old.

In the pre-academy the club has a partnership with a local elementary school, which recommends the future young players for the U12 team. For U14 teams Veszprém hold a recruitment event and also have nationwide scouts. As the academy is a national funded facility, there is a nationally organised recruitment event for the U16 team. For the older age groups — if necessary — the academy will recruit players from other Hungarian clubs.

At the moment, the Veszprém academy includes one U12, three U14, two U15, one U16, one U18, one U20 and one U21 teams. There is an overlap between team staff, so in total, the academy has nine head coaches, four assistant coaches, three goalkeeper coaches and four athletic coaches. A key figure, besides academy CEO Péter Kővári and sports director Miklós Kolep, is former Hungarian international István Gulyás, who is technical director, U20 head coach and also head coach of the Hungarian U20 national team and the Hungarian men’s beach handball team.

Among the biggest names which went through the academy in the last five years were players such as Veszprém’s Patrik Ligetvári and Bálint Végh; HSV Hamburg’s Zoran Ilic; Péter Lukács (Elverum Håndball); Benedek Nagy (HBW Balingen-Weilstetten); SL Benfica’s Kristóf Palasics; Zoltán Szita of Orlen Wisla Plock; and Uros Borzas (HC Eurofarm Pelister). Many former Veszprém players such as Gulyás, Carlos Pérez, Ivo Díaz and Gergő Iváncsik are part of the academy staff.

In cooperation with the professional team, the academy has created a talent programme which has special individual training sessions for chosen players by Veszprém head coach Xavi Pascual. The goal is to prepare the tactical, physical and playing skill potential of the younger players to become the future members of the first team. Beyond the talent programme, Veszprém offers the opportunity for U21 team players to play in the Hungarian league or the Machineseeker EHF Champions League. In some cases, players of the professional team join the U21 team’s training sessions. Veszprém’s U18 team were Hungarian champions in 2019 and 2023, while the U16 and the U20 teams were champions in 2024.

Füchse Berlin (GER)

The whole story of success of the club from the German capital is based on the two pillars: top international stars and home-grown talent. For the club, promoting young talent is a top priority. Currently 80 players aged between 15 and 19 years old are part of “Füchsetown”, the youth centre of the Foxes — where the professional team also have their training sessions.

The club understands the holistic training of young players not only as a means of athletic development, but also as a means of conveying values beyond handball. In addition to team spirit, discipline, and ambition, the young athletes learn to conform, to speak up about problems, and to take responsibility. In addition to training, they must follow traditional rules of etiquette and recognise and respect boundaries.

With a total of 17 German championship titles at the U16 and U18 youth levels, Füchse arguably offers the best youth development in the country. Starting with men’s national team players such as Paul Drux and Fabian Wiede — who are still role models for the current talents — Füchse have produced many players who now compete at a top level.

When Germany became U21 world champions in 2023, five Füchse youth players were in the squad, including the tournament MVP Nils Lichtlein, who is now part of Germany’s men’s team, as well as Tim Freihöfer and Max Beneke. Füchse recruit their players from the age of 15 across Germany and are open to ambitious international players.

Besides being the currently most successful men’s youth club in Germany, Füchse have achieved numerous other successes with cooperation partners. As part of Team Berlin they won the German Cup of federal federations; as part of the Berlin sports school SLZB, young foxes became school world champions twice and made it to another final. Through the targeted training of individual talents, the Berlin club is peppered with numerous youth and junior national players who are expected to help shape the future of German handball.

The Füchse philosophy is also honored annually by the Bundesliga. For seven consecutive years, the Youth Certificate with a star has been awarded for outstanding work in youth development.

At the age of 17 or 18, the talents get the chance to play in the men’s team in the Bundesliga or international competition, gaining invaluable early experience of their potential future careers.

"We are very pleased that the EHF is now also providing a great platform for youth handball at the club level with the Youth Trophy. In the past, participation in international tournaments has ensured significant development steps for our players, so we are looking forward to the premiere edition with great excitement,” says Füchse’s youth coordinator Anian Eckardt.

EHF Youth Trophy qualification tournaments

Tournament 1, Veszprém (15/16 April):

Veszprém Handball Academy (HUN), vs Vojvodina (SRB)
HC Zagreb (CRO) vs OTP Bank - PICK Szeged (HUN)

Tournament 2, Barcelona (16/17 April):

Barça (ESP) vs HBC Nantes (FRA)
Paris Saint-Germain Handball (FRA) vs Sporting Lisbon (POR)

Tournament 3, Potsdam (MBS Arena, 17/18 April):

Füchse Berlin vs IK Sävehof (SWE)
GOG (DEN) vs SC Magdeburg

Tournament 4, Bucharest (17/18 April):

CS Dinamo Bucuresti (ROU) vs Orlen Wisla Plock (POL)
KSS Kielce (POL) vs HC Eurofarm Pelister (MKD)

Photos © Barça Handball Academy, Veszprém Handball Academy, Sylvia Goeres, Lara Gansser