Zug, Switzerland, 29 March 2004 — The European Handball Federation (EHF) and Infront Sports & Media AG have signed an exclusive agreement in Vienna extending their long-term marketing partnership to include the Men’s and Women’s European Handball Championships in 2008 and 2010. Infront is responsible for both television and marketing rights and its association with the EHF dates back to 1993.

Infront’s commitment to European handball over the past years has contributed considerably to the successful development of the top EHF events, which are also now broadcast by many television stations outside of Europe. After the 2002 event in Sweden and Denmark broke all previous records in television broadcast terms, the recent Men’s championships in Slovenia is expected to comfortably exceed this: According to initial overviews already received from broadcasters, over 600 million television viewers in over 60 countries followed the event which provided a total of 500 hours of programming. The final match was broadcast worldwide.

The official website of the EHF European Championships (www.eurohandball.com), which was developed by Infront in conjunction with the EHF, was visited by almost 23 million handball fans during the Slovenian championships. In comparison to the kick-off of the website back in 2002, these figures have increased tenfold.

Infront has already concluded agreements with 20 television, radio and sponsor partners in preparation for the Women’s final tournament taking place from 9-19 December 2004 in Hungary.

EHF President, Staffan Holmqvist commented: ‘The strong and successful partnership which has flourished with Infront since 1993 has made the European Championships what it is today. Together, the EHF and Infront have developed a product which has grown continuously from event to event – just as the figures prove. We are expecting the cooperation with Infront to strengthen the European Championship on the international market even further.’

Infront’s Chief Executive Officer, Oscar Frei, said: ‘With this renewal we are looking forward to continuing our long and successful partnership with the EHF, a partnership built on mutual respect and trust.’

For further information please contact:

Klaus Anders
Infront Sports & Media AG
Tel: +41-41 723 1515
Fax: +41-41 723 1516
info@infrontsports.com
www.infrontsports.com