Club Handball World Cup kicks off today

The IHF Super Globe, the club handball World Cup, kicks off today in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, with 10 clubs participating, and will run until October 1 next year. Today’s preliminary round features Egypt’s Zamalek against the United States’ Los Angeles, and Hungary’s Veszprém against Australia’s Sydney. The participating teams have been divided into two groups. Group 1 includes Spain’s Barcelona, champions of the previous edition, Brazil’s Pinheiros, Morocco’s Darb al-Sultan Forum, and the winner of the Zamalek-Los Angeles match. Group 2 features Asia’s champion, Al-Bukayriyah’s Al-Bukayriyah (Barkan), alongside the host, Egypt’s Al-Ahly, Germany’s Füchse Berlin, and the winner of the Veszprém-Sydney match. This year, the International Handball Federation introduced a new format for the tournament: the top team from each group advances directly to the final, while the second-placed teams from each group play for third place, with similar arrangements determining the remaining positions. Barkan will play its first match tomorrow against the winner of the Sydney-Veszprém fixture, followed by a second match on September 27 against Al-Ahly, and will conclude its group stage on September 29 against Füchse Berlin. Barkan prepared for the tournament with an overseas training camp in Bosnia, where it played several friendly matches. However, the team suffered a significant blow when its Japanese professional player, Yasuhiro, was injured during training, ruling him out of participation in the competition.