The handball club market - France

1.2 A growing European market

The European handball club market is booming, thanks in particular to the European competitions that bring together Europe's top clubs: the EHF Champions League and the EHF European League .

The EHF has estimated audiences of *** million for the entire ****-**** season. [***]

The EHF Champions League was created in ****, with FC Barcelona the most successful club with ** victories in the competition. Three main clubs dominate the competition: FC Barcelona, Kiel and Ciudad Real .

But the financial health of European clubs remains fragile, to such an extent that some clubs, such as HSV Hamburg, are forced to abandon their participation because of major economic difficulties (***)

Europe's top leagues: the German, Spanish and French championships are the most competitive in the world[***].

The Spanish championship, the Liga Asobal, third in the EHF rankings, was created in **** with FC Barcelona as its main club. The German Bundeshliga, second in the EHF rankings, with THW Kiel having won ** league titles since the league's inception. In Germany, unlike France, matches are often played to full houses, with Kiel and Manhei drawing crowds of over **,***. The French championship, the Starligue, first in the EHF rankings, was created in **** under the name Nationale *. It consists of ** clubs (***). Lidle sponsors ...

1.3 Handball clubs in France: a market with potential

The market for French handball clubs is booming and entering a new dimension. The average budget of French clubs has risen sharply in recent years with the arrival of Qatari investors:

Club budget trends Starligue, ****-****, in €K lnh

The Starligue is made up of ** professional clubs with varying budgets. First-team budgets have tended to increase in recent years, except for the ****-**** season, when they will fall due to the health crisis.

Top ten club budgets Starligue, ****-**** lnh

The biggest Starligue budgets are those of PSG, Montpellier and Nantes. The average budget stands at *.* million euros for the ****-**** season, which is still substantial compared to other European leagues, with France having the largest average budget just ahead of the German championship; but this budget is down **% on the previous season. Budgets are also unevenly distributed between Starligue clubs.

The structure of French handball is complex, with a large number of amateur clubs, and a pyramid structure with the Starligue and Proligue at the top:

as far as the profitability of the French championship is concerned, the Proligue has been more profitable than the Starligue over the last five seasons as a whole . in the ****-**** season, the Proligue ...

2.1 The player transfer market organized by clubs

In recent years, the transfer market for handball players has intensified and internationalized, as witnessed by Nikola Karabatic's most expensive transfer in history to PSG since FC Barcelona for around *.* million euros in ****[***]. These figures may seem small compared with the market for soccer players, but they represent a revolution in the world of handball, with the emergence of real stars.

Chambéry, for example, has acquired the services of Slovenian Sebastian Skube until June ****. After five years with Chambéry, goalkeeper Julien Meyer has joined Chartres. And there's even a market for coaches: in **** Fernando Barbeito becomes coach of US Créteil[***]. The European transfer market has become truly international.

One of the consequences of this transfer market activity is the increase in professional players' salaries (***).

Evolution of player salaries :

since the creation of the NHL in ****, the average gross monthly remuneration of professional players has increased by a factor of *.*, corresponding to average annual growth of *%. For the ****-**** season, the average salary was €****, down *% on ****.

Evolution of clubs' first-team salary costs (***) Starligue, ****-**** lnh

For the ****-**** season,personnel costs therefore amounted to just over ** million euros for the Starligue as a whole. First-team personnel costs fell slightly ...

2.2 Starligue television rights

TV rights for the Starligue are worth * million euros a year. They have been granted to BeIN Sport until ****. [***]

To give you an idea, television rights for basketball amount to ** million euros in France and * billion for soccer in ****.[***]. The value of TV rights is therefore relatively modest for handball.

For the ****-**** season, TV rights have been divided equally (***) in the name of solidarity for the Covid-** pandemic period.[***]. In reality, however, the distribution is more complex:

Distribution of Starligue TV and marketing rights - Fixed portion

In addition to this fixed part, there is a variable part that depends on the team's results. [***]

Ranking TV rights - Variable share Starligue * ** ***€ * ** ***€ * ** ***€ * ** ***€ * ** ***€ * ** ***€ * ** ***€ * ** ***€ * ** ***€ ** ** ***€ ** * ***€ ** * ***€ ** *€ ** *€

2.3 Partnerships and sponsors

Partnerships play a very important role in handball clubs' revenues, despite a **% drop in partnership revenues for the ****-**** season, due to the health crisis. Partnerships account for **% of total operating income for Starligue clubs, corresponding to **.* million euros[***].

Partnership revenues as a percentage of total revenues Starligue, ****-**** lnh Report ****

National Handball League sponsors:

The National Handball League's current sponsors are Auto Sécurité and Sécuritest, two giants in the automotive technical inspection sector. By becoming official partners, Auto Sécurité and Sécuritest benefit from high visibility (***) at all NHL, Lidl Starligue and Proligue events.

Handball club sponsors:

Here is a list of the ** main partners of PSG Handball[***]:

2.4 Club sales of merchandising products

To diversify their business and generate additional revenue, handball clubs are developing derivative products, notably via their official online stores: jerseys, clothing, accessories, toys...

Clubs are innovating a great deal in this area, offering fans and supporters new ways of making purchases thanks to cashless and Click and Collect. For example, fans can order their jerseys online from the Montpellier Handball website and collect them at a match at the Palais des Sports René Bougnol or the Sud de France Arena.

Shirt sales:

Shirt sales are one of the main by-products of handball clubs. Here is a list of the main manufacturers:

Fondu Hummel decathlon Kempa Handball COSCO Mikasa Adidas Anthem Elima

Video game sales:

Handball **** is a game from the Nacon brand released in **** available for Playstation and Xbox. There are no new versions of this game every year, which shows that Handball **** is not as successful as games like FIFA or NBA*K.

Sports betting:

**** was a record year for sports betting in France, with *.* billion euros placed on sites licensed by the Autorité Nationale des Jeux (***) for all sports. Handball bets were estimated at ** million euros in ****.

Handball is therefore the *th most-wagered sport in France in ...

2.5 Ticket sales for matches

Ticketing and stadium seat sales are also central to the business of handball clubs in France, even if match-related revenues have fallen by **% in the ****-**** season compared with the ****-**** season. They are estimated at €*M in ****-****. Nevertheless, the proportion of revenues linked directly to matches is fairly low, and has tended to decline in recent years, notably due to the Covid-** crisis, as illustrated in the graph below:

Evolution of match-related revenues Starligue, ****-**** lnh

Handball clubs are trying to diversify their ticketing systems and offer new services during matches. In some clubs, for example, you can order drinks on the club app and collect them at half-time or have them served to you on site. Here's a more detailed breakdown of match-related revenues:

Breakdown by revenue type Starligue, ****-**** lnh

Tickets can be purchased either via the club's website or directly at the stadium, with **% of ticket sales in the Lidle Starligue corresponding to season tickets . There are also official resale platforms, such as PSG's Ticketplace, and websites like "passe ton billet", which are indirect sales channels.

As an indication, the entry price for a match at the Montpellier Handball stadium is €**.

3.1 Supporters, fans and licensees

Professional handball is a sport that is attracting more and more fans, many of whom are members of the French Handball Federation, one of the Top ** federations with the most members.

Members of the various federations France, **** injep

Growth in the number of licensees :

Number of licensees France, ****-**** in thousands

Between **** and ****, the number of licensees will fall from ***,*** to ***,***. This is mainly due to health restrictions, and other sports are also affected, although handball is particularly hard hit compared to the others as it is an indoor sport.

Number of licensees by location:

Handball is particularly popular in the Ile-de-France, Nouvelle-Acquitaine and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions, which have the highest number of licensees (***).

3.2 The federation and subsidies from various bodies

In both the Starligue and Proligue, subsidies from the regions and from bodies such as the FFH play a major role in club budgets.

Operating subsidies for all Starligue clubs, in euros :

Source: ****

Subsidies were up on the previous year.

Here are the subsidies as a percentage of total revenues:

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we can see that the share of subsidies in revenues is increasing every year, peaking at **% in **** . This clearly shows the importance of regional intances and organizations in financing handball clubs in France.

In ****, the FFH, Fédération Française de Handball, has implemented a recovery and financial support plan in response to the Covid-** crisis. The following measures have been taken:

Free membership for all clubs (***), Support for clubs in their acquisition of materials and equipment (***), Maintaining **** rates without incorporating the price index (***), Reducing commitments (***).

3.3 Which owners and which stadiums?

The organization and structure of a handball club is very different from one club to another, and has evolved considerably with the arrival of foreign investors in the French handball club market, such as Qatar at PSG. Firstly, the legal structure is different within the Starligue:

Legal status Starligue, ****-**** lnh

Legal form of companies Starligue, ****-****

The SASP is still the most common legal form, but it has been declining for several seasons in favor of the more flexible SAS and SASU.

Furthermore, the majority of clubs do not own their stadiums, as shown in the table below[***].

Sports stadiums :

The last column corresponds to **** fill rates, to give an idea of the situation before Covid-**. Fill rates are very high, sometimes close to ***%.

4.1 The main clubs

Summary table of Starligue and Proligue club rankings:

The Starligue is made up of ** clubs with varying budgets, ranging from just over * million to over ** million euros a year, depending on the year. Starligue rankings are highly dependent on club budgets (***), with PSG topping the Starligue rankings and the biggest budgets.

distribution of clubs in France in ****:

French professional and amateur clubs are fairly well distributed across the country. There are a total of *,*** handball clubs in France.

The two regions with the most clubs are Nouvelle-Acquitaine (***).

4.2 Charities and initiatives

To pass on the values of the sport, French handball clubs organize charity events.

Disability initiatives:

Handball clubs and the French Handball Federation are highly committed to disability initiatives.

Handfit, for example, is an innovative handball practice that adapts to all players and is part of this dynamic of inclusion[***]. Handfit was introduced by the FFH in ****. Handfit is a less traumatic form of handball adapted to a wider public, with no notion of results. Its aim is not only physical activity, but also psychological well-being, and it's therefore in step with the times. Thanks to this type of campaign, the FFH is promoting handball and contributing to the growth of the sport.

Ecological actions:

All professional handball clubs have signed a green charter. According to Bruno Martini, President of the French National Handball League (***), "environmental issues are playing an increasingly important role in the life of clubs and the LNH".

For the ****-**** season, the NHL has launched a program called Zone Verte (***), which aims to ban the use of single-use bottles within the stadiums, to carry out a joint eco-responsible action and to experiment with actions in the fields of responsible nutrition and active mobility[***]

To give a concrete ...

4.3 The development and success of women's handball

French women's handball is developing at a rapid pace.

Numerous surveys clearly indicate an overall interest in women's sport in general, and a desire to see more of it in the media. According to a study carried out by the agency Two Circles, interest in women's sport was at an all-time high in France, with **.* million fans in **** and *** million revenues (***) expected by ****[***]

The Ligue Féminine de Handball, which is in the midst of structuring and professionalizing, features ** players who took part in the World Cup. Brest Bretagne Handball reached the final of the Champions League, and Les Neptunes de Nantes won the European Cup in ****. The French women's championship is therefore very attractive and has a lot going for it.

And if women's handball is so successful, it's mainly because there's so much interest in the sport.

Source: ****

In the table above, we can see that the proportion of women among licensees is **% for handball, which is significantly higher than for soccer (***) is virtually the same as for soccer. This shows the potential not only of women's handball, but of handball as a whole.

Today, despite the interest in women's handball, there is little or no broadcasting of championship ...

5.1 Official handball rules and regulations

Link to the official rules: Game rules

The sports code:

The reference text in this field is the Code du sport, published between **** (***), regulating * aspects of sporting life:

Organization of physical and sporting activities Sports players Methods of practising sport, safety and hygiene of sports facilities Financing of sport and provisions applicable to overseas territories

Regulation of handball clubs and players:

As regards transfers (***), regulations have been put in place, including on tax issues. These transfer rules and procedures have been implemented by the EHF and IHF, to facilitate and standardize national and international transfers. See the transfer procedure: Euro handball

For its part, the French Handball Federation has implemented a set of regulations that apply to all licensees and members. The FFH website states: "By choosing to become involved in handball, each licensee, member, volunteer, manager and affiliated structure must feel both a custodian of the values of our sport and responsible for defending and promoting them".

There are also regulations applicable to the national leagues (***).

The main FFH regulations for the ****-**** season are as follows:

Internal regulations Medical regulations Disciplinary regulations National Arbitration Commission Sports agent activity Ethics and deontology charter Financial regulations

These documents are available on ...

6.1 Player segmentation

• Nike
• Adidas
• Puma Groupe
• bein Sports France
• Decathlon Groupe
• Paris Saint Germain PSG
• Montpellier Handball
• Nantes HBC