The day before the big semi-final of the European Championship against Germany, euphoria among Croatian fans was replaced by disbelief and frustration. While the Croatian handball players are preparing for the clash in Herning, thousands of fans are fighting their own battle – the one for the ticket that gives them a place in the stands of the Jyske Bank Boxen hall.
The problem did not arise overnight. The main cause lies in the way tickets are sold by the European Handball Federation. Packages for the so-called ‘Final Weekend’which include the semi-final and final matches, were released in the summer of 2025 and then almost completely sold out.
A large part of the tickets ended up in the hands of local fans, who expected that their national team would play for medals.
Such a sales model is paying off today. Croatia and Germany play the semi-finals earlier, while Denmark plays against Iceland in the evening. However, the system does not foresee the distribution of tickets according to the participants of the semi-finals leaves the fans of qualified national teams on the sidelines.
Unlike football competitions, The EHF does not retain a significant contingent of tickets for fans of teams that advance to the finals. The goal is a full house regardless of who is playing, but the consequence is clear – the message ‘currently unavailable’ has been on the official website for months and has become a symbol of indignation among fans.
According to the rules, the national associations of the semi-finalists are entitled to only a symbolic number of tickets, usually between 500 and 1,000. That is far too little considering the interest. Estimates say that it could gather in Herning between three and four and a half thousand Croatian fansa large part of which came from Germany, Sweden and Denmark, while around 1500 of them started from Croatia.
Due to the huge demand, the price on the black market they reached up to 600-800 euros. Reselling is officially prohibited, and digital tickets make it even more difficult to switch them, which makes the whole situation even more frustrating.
All this raises a serious question: how is it possible for the national team to play in the semi-finals of the European Championship without the strong support of its fans? I why the system does not recognize the moment when exactly that support should be guaranteedand not left to chance, reports Tportal.hr.
(www.jabuka.tv | Photo: Sanjin Strukic/Pixsell)
