The Croatian National Tourist Board and the Istrian Tourist Board have signed up as official partners of Europe’s premium handball club competition. With immediate effect, the Croatian National Tourist Board and the Istrian Tourist Board will become the official destination partners of Europe’s premium handball club competition. The deal has been brokered by the marketing arm of the European Handball Federation, EHF Marketing GmbH and also includes the 2024/25 and 2025/26 seasons. The tourist boards will benefit from a series of visible rights in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League, ensuring significant exposure to all matches, as well as digital presence on eurohandball.com and EHFTV, the European Handball Federation’s OTT platform. Commenting on the partnership, David Szlezak, Marketing Managing Director of the EHF, said: “We are delighted to welcome the Croatian National Tourist Board and the Istrian Tourist Board to our main men’s club handball competition. The new partnership goes hand-in-hand with our go-to-market strategy, as we drive sustainable business impact in the marketing of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League competitions, among others. We look forward to seeing how the top-level European handball league can create an authentic platform for the Croatian National Tourist Board and the Istrian Tourist Board and thus deliver targeted sponsorship initiatives.” Kristjan Staničić, Managing Director of the Croatian National Tourist Board and adds: “Croatia is a well-known sports country and our handball teams and players are active all over Europe. We know that handball as a sport is hugely popular, both in Croatia and across Europe, and that this partnership with the Machineseeker EHF Champions League will open up even greater promotional opportunities in our key European markets. Through sport, we create more awareness for Istria, and that’s a winning combination.’ Denis Ivošević is director of the Istrian Tourist Board and is very enthusiastic about the collaboration: “Istria has positioned itself on the tourism map as a lifestyle destination of the highest quality with a wide range of special experiences. It has gained its comparative advantages with important and globally recognizable brands, and we have established important strategic partnerships in recent years. We are immensely proud of the sporting orientation of our region, not only as a host of sporting events, but also as a destination where top athletes can do fitness training. We continue this through a new partnership with the Machineseeker EHF Champions League. The prestigious new partnership includes the towns of Poreč and Umag as the cradle of handball and sports destinations and represents the Istrian Tourist Board in this project.”
About the Machineseeker EHF Champions League The Machineseeker EHF Men’s Champions League is the premium competition of European club handball. Starting in the group stage in September, 16 teams will compete for a place in the club handball benchmark event, the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 at the LANXESS arena in Cologne, Germany. In the current playing system, Wednesdays and Thursdays are reserved. About the Croatian National Tourist Board (CNTB) The Croatian National Tourist Board (CNTB) is a national tourism organization established with the aim of creating and promoting the identity and reputation of Croatian tourism at home and abroad.
CNTB’s activities include both the planning and implementation of the promotion strategy, as well as the proposal and implementation of promotional activities of common interest to all entities in tourism and the raising of the quality level of the entire Croatian tourism offer. About the Istrian Tourist Board The Istrian Tourist Board (ITB) is a regional management organization established with the aim of developing and promoting tourism. At the same time, they want to manage Istria’s reputation as a sustainable and responsible tourist destination. ITB is a leader in creating development projects and innovative forms of promotion through strategic partnerships, cross-marketing and co-branding activities. With a vision to nurture, improve and refine competitiveness, the ITB’s goal is to become one of the most sought-after tourist destinations in this fascinating and ever-changing tourism sector. (Photo Shutterstock).
