(Un)informed Handball Hour

It's a big week of Champions League handball and we have two Quarter-final podcasts coming your way. In this men's preview show, we look ahead to each of the midweek matches and speak to Montpellier goalkeeper Rémi Desbonnet about his hometown club, making an impact for France and his forays out of goal both on the court and the sand.

German journalist, commentator and Kreis Ab podcast host Sascha Staat joins us to chat about last week's REWE Final4, convincingly won by Magdeburg, the business end of the Bundesliga season and Germany's three remaining clubs in the men's and women's Champions League.

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EHF commentator Alex Mair joins us to chat about the recently concluded Women's EHF EURO 2024 Qualifiers and upcoming Olympic Qualification Tournaments. We also chat about two shocking news stories from the past 48 hours - Nikola Portner's positive doping test and Great Britain's wildcard to the Paris 2024 qualifiers.

Mikkel Hansen announced his retirement after this summer's Olympics, bringing an end to an incredible international career but a club career that never reached the very top. 

We take a look at the great Dane's achievements and impact on the sport, as well as chatting about Wednesday's Champions League ties and Sävehof's latest scalp in the European League.

Journalist Danijela Vekic joins us to look at the Women's Champions League Play-offs on the back of a couple of surprise results and couple of the ties still on the line.

Alex showed his athletic career is still on the rise as he delivers under pressure in front of a crowd of almost 20,000 - we delve into his 32 seconds of fame.

Anna Vyakhireva joins us to speak about the best decision ever to move to Vipers, balancing life on and off the court and her hopes for this season and beyond.

We also discuss the Men's European League action as the main round comes to an end, Sporting are on fire while Nexe get fiery with some young Swedish fans.

We break down France's extra-time win over Denmark, hear post-match reaction from Mikkel Hansen and Nedim Remili and announce the winners of our traditional Alternative Awards.

It's crunch time in Cologne as just four teams remain in the hunt for the European title. Sweden and France renew their semi-final rivalry, while Germany will try to hang on for dear life against Denmark.

We discuss an anti-climactic main round conclusion and preview Friday's semi-final pairings.

We're just a couple of days into the main round and the drama continues with some late and contentious calls in key matches. 

Germany claim a crucial win, while Brian loses patience with monotonous clapping. We reflect on the end of the Scandi derby, hearing post-match reactions from Hampus Wanne and Emil Nielsen.

A wild preliminary round has come to a close and we take a look back at the main storylines from the first week in Germany and see where the 12 remaining teams stand as we dive straight into the main round.

We also hear post-match reactions from Iceland's Aron Pálmarsson, Hungary's Adrián Sipos, Portugal's Martim Costa and Denmark's Mathias Gidsel.

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The first half of the preliminary round has seen some brilliant stories emerge, but none better than Faroe Islands and their late comeback to beat Norway 26:26.

We also speak to Vuko Borozan about his winding handball road, which has led him back to playing for Montenegro after almost seven years away.

Ready for more EHF EURO hype building? Enjoy part 2 of our championship preview with another array of brilliant guests.

2:10 mins - Group D with Daniel Høglund and Helgi Hoydal
23:30 mins - Group E with Ola Selby and Stijn Steenhuis
36:50 mins - Group F with Marcio Menino and Rasmus Boysen

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France claimed gold as 20-year-old Lena Grandveau took control and denied Norway another famous comeback. We dive into the final day of action and give out our traditional end-of-tournament alternative awards.