European Handball Manager

Stefan Walzel studied Sport Science at the German University Cologne, majoring in Sport Economics and Sport Management and at Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. He completed his doctoral studies at the German Sport University in 2010.

He has been teaching Sport Marketing, International Sport Management, and Sport Business for over 10 years and is a regular speaker at various European universities. His research interests include Sport Marketing, Sport Business and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in and through sport. 2013 he was awarded a research grant by the UEFA and researched into the effects of CSR activities of football federations. Stefan played handball for more than 15 years, worked for 2 years as manager of a handball club and was president of the same club for more than 4 years.

Dr. Gerd Butzeck, was born in 1959 in Solingen, Germany. He  currently works as the managing director of “Forum Club Handball eV” and since 2014 also as the managing director of “Frauen Forum Club Handball 2014 eV“. Butzeck previously managed the Soviet National Handball Team from 1982 to 1992 and the German Bundesliga Team TSV Milbertshofen from 1986 to 1988. In addition he was a member of the IHF Commission for Propaganda and Promotion from 1998 to 2002 and the managing director of “Group Club Handball EEIG“ from 2006 to 2011. At present he is part of the EHF Marketing GmbH Advisory-Board in addition to his function in the “Forum Club Handball eV”.

Mag. Helmut Höritsch, born 26^th February 1957 in Vienna, Austria has been working as a full-time staff member for the European Handball Federation (EHF) since 1993. He is management board member and the head of the department “education and development” at the EHF headquarters in Vienna, Austria.

Since 2004 he has been a permanent member of the Development Commission of the International Handball Federation (IHF).

Höritsch, who completed his "Magister" in Vienna, Austria, in 1985, participated in 99 games for the Austrian National Team including 3 C-World Cups and 2 B-World Cups. From 1989 to 1993 he was the coordinator of the  “AUT Handball Federation Girls’ Academy”.

Carmen Manchado López is Professor of General and Specific Didactics at the University of Alicante. As a member of the EHF Competition Commission and former coach of the German and Spanish National Handball Team, she is linked to the European Handball and it´s federation (EHF) for many years.

Carmen Manchado López greatest success as a (Co-)trainer in handball are a 5th place with de Spanish National Handball Team at the World Championships 2003, a 6th place at the Olympic Games 2004 and a Bronze medal with the German National Handball Team at the World Championships in 2007.

The focus of her research is on the detection of doping, endurance training studies and performance factors in women´s handball.

Holger Preuss (born 1968, Dr. disc. pol.) is Professor of Sport Economics and Sport Sociology at the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz. He is also Professor in Molde (Norway) and Ottawa (Canada). As one of the founding partners of MESGO (Master of European Sport Governance), he has many links to national and international sport organizations.

The focus of his research is the governance and organization of mega sport events and their economic and social impacts. In this context he also investigated the FIFA World Cup 2006, 2010 and 2014 as well as the EURO 2008. From 2012 2014 he was the editor of one of the leading Sport Management Journals (European Sport Management Quarterly) and actively publishes (15 books, 50 journal papers and 20 book chapters). He is a member of the ethics commission of the WFDF (World Flying Disc Federation) and member of the ad hoc committee of the UIPM (Union International Pentathlon Modern). Currently he is researching into the changed perception of the Olympic Movement and the efficiency in high performance sport aid.

Sebastian Uhrich was appointed Full Professor and Chair of the Department of Sport Business Administration at the German Sport University Cologne in 2012. After completing his studies in Sports Economics and Sport Management at the University of Bayreuth, he finished his doctoral thesis at the Institute of Marketing and Service Research of the University of Rostock. His research focus is on sport and marketing. His current research projects address the topic of ambush marketing.

Dr. Christoph Bertling is senior lecture at the German Sport University Cologne. He has published many books (e.g. "Sportainment") and  articles in different journals (e.g. Journal of Olympic History, Sport in History, Leistungssport, Journal of Communication Socoiology and Media Ethics). Dr. Bertling is a member of the Quality Improvement Commission for Teaching and a member of the Senate at the German Sport University, a Board Director of ass (alumni  Sport Economy and Sport Management), and a reviewer (e.g. of the journal Sport Science). He won the Teaching Award of the German Sport University twice.

He has over ten years of experience as a journalist and has worked for major publishing houses and newspapers (e.g. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Die Welt, Financial Times Deutschland, Spiegel Online, FAZ.net, Deutsche Welle, Lufthansa/Deutscher Sportverlag). 

In his fundamental  and applied research he works with media companies (e.g. Sky Deutschland, Red Bull Media House, Kitzbüheler Anzeiger, Sportinformationsdienst (sid)), public authorities (e.g. European Union, Council of Europe), consultancies (e.g. Infront/HBS), sport federations (e.g. the German Football League (DFL), the German Icehockey League (DEL), the German Hockey Association  (DHB), European Paralympic Committee (EPC)), foundations (e.g. CAFE/Uefa, Deutsche Sporthilfe), universities (e.g. University of Cambridge, Beijing Sports University).

He supervises Module 5 (Media and communication training) of the certificate course European Handball Manager together with Dr. Lobinger. 

Guillaume Bodet is Professor of Sport Marketing and Management at the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, at the University of Lyon (France), a member of the Laboratory on Vulnerabilities and Innovation in Sport, and the director of the Sport Management Masters (Y2) programme at this university. He is also Visiting Fellow at the University of Loughborough (UK). His main research interests deal with sports consumer behaviour from a marketing perspective. Guillaume has been playing handball for about 25 years in France and England, and currently seats on the board of his club, the Villeurbanne Handball Association (VHA).

Arnout Geeraert is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at University of Leuven, LINES institute. His recent work analyses the role of the European Union in international sport through different theoretical lenses, looks into elements of good governance in sport organisation, and explores the causes of corruption in international sport federations. His work has appeared in such journals as Journal of European Public Policy, Journal of Sport & Social Issues, Global Affairs, and International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. He is the author of The EU in international sports governance (Palgrave, 2016), develops the Sports Governance Observer for Play the Game, and has recently devised a code and indicators of good governance in sport federations on behalf of the Flemish government. He has been consulted by the European Commission, the Council of Europe, and UNESCO on sports governance issues.

Dr Anders Thomas Hjelström graduated from Stockholm School of Economics (SSE) with a Master’s degree in 1994. After his graduation, he stayed at the SSE as a lecturer and teaching assistant at the Department of Accounting.
Since 1995, Hjelström works as Program Director at the SSE’s IFL, where he focused on Finance programs. In addition to that, Hjelström was responsible for equality issues at the Department of Accounting at the SSE from 2000 until 2003.
In 2007, a doctoral degree kept Hjelström’s academical career pushing forward. He got hired as Assistant Professor at the Department of Accounting at the Stockholm School of Economics and was furthermore pedagogically responsible for the Accounting courses at SSE’s Bachelor program.
Eight years ago, he agreed to the job offer of Valuation Företagsvärderingar, a Swedish agency which evaluates other companies. In this institution he is employed as Chief Analyst.
Last year, Hjelström became Director of the Accounting and Financial Management Center of Excellence at the Stockholm School of Economics.
During the last few years, he began to publish scientific papers and journals.

Mag. Helmut Höritsch, born 26^th February 1957 in Vienna, Austria has been working as a full-time staff member for the European Handball Federation (EHF) since 1993. He is management board member and the head of the department “education and development” at the EHF headquarters in Vienna, Austria.

Since 2004 he has been a permanent member of the Development Commission of the International Handball Federation (IHF).

Höritsch, who completed his "Magister" in Vienna, Austria, in 1985, participated in 99 games for the Austrian National Team including 3 C-World Cups and 2 B-World Cups. From 1989 to 1993 he was the coordinator of the  “AUT Handball Federation Girls’ Academy”. 

Head of Strategic Projects, DFB GmbH, Frankfurt am Main

Jan Kremer holds a diploma in business administration from the University of Cologne and a diploma in sports science with major in sport economics and sport management from the German Sport University Cologne.

From 2011 to 2015 he worked for the Sport Business Group of Deloitte, based in Düsseldorf. As a senior consultant in the Corporate Finance department, he focused on financial and strategy consulting in the sports and leisure industry. The German Football Association (DFB), FC Bayern Munich and the German Handball Bundesliga (HBL) are among his references for Deloitte. Jan Kremer also was co-editor of the renowned Deloitte studies in the sport business: “Annual Review of Football Finance”, “Football Money League” (German issues) and “Financial Report of German Professional Sports Leagues”.

Since 2016 Jan Kremer is Head of Strategic Projects at DFB, which is a 100% daughter of the German Football Association, which bundles economic activities and digital business.

Kim Lachmann started working for Deloitte in the area of Audit in 2011. For his Master program he interrupted his job for one year from 2013 to 2014. In 2014 he took up his work again for Deloitte in the area of Corporate Finance as Senior Consultant of the Sport Business Group.

His work includes strategic and economic questions of the sport and leisure industry, specifically with a focus on the areas of sport events and soccer. Besides that he is the co-author of a number of Deloitte publications, such as the "Annual Review of Football Finance" and the "Football Money League". As a former professional cyclist Kim Lachmann was able to gain deep insights into high performance sports and its environment.

Mr Paulis work is mainly concerned to the fields of commercial and corporate law, contract law and litigation. He advises national and international corporations, that want to transact business, found or buy a company in Germany. In the topic of sports law Mr Pauli advises federations as well as individual athletes.

Tim Pawlowski studied Economics at the University of Cologne as well as Sport Management at the German Sport University where he also gained his Ph.D. in 2009. In 2012 he joined the University of Tübingen as Full Professor for Sport Economics (Chair in Sport Economics, Sport Management and Media Research).

His research focuses on the economics of league competitions, the economic analysis of sports demand as well as the financing of sport systems and was supported with research grants from UEFA and FIFA. Amongst others, he was principal investigator in research projects for the Federal Ministry of Finance in Germany, Major League Soccer (MLS) and Hamburger Sport-Verein (HSV) as well as guest speaker invited by the United Nations Children’s Fund (unicef) and the Sports Committee of the German National Parliament. Currently, he is General Secretary of the European Sport Economics Association (ESEA) and serves as referee for several journals and institutions such as the German Research Foundation (DFG).

He supervises Module 1 (Economic and legal requirements of team sport) of the certificate course European Handball Manager together with Dr. Stefan Walzel.

Stephan Schröder is Managing Director Germany for Nielsen Sport in Cologne. 

Before taking over the responsibility as a Managing Director, Stephan Schröder worked for a market research and consulting company operating worldwide in sport and entertainment business, specifically in the areas of project management, public relations, account management and market. With his extensive experience in the area of strategic sponsoring research he is advising right holders and brands in terms of optimizing their sponsoring engagements.

Dr. Thomas Schulz is a lawyer with specializations in labour law and sports law and his currently working as a senior associate at Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek. He studied legal science at the University of Kiel. He completed his legal clerkship at the Higher Regional Court of Schleswig-Holstein. During this Schulz also worked at the German Football Association (DFB) in Frankfurt as well as in the Ministry of the Interior of the State of Schleswig-Holstein in the department for sports and municipal commercial law. Furthermore Dr. Schulz did a LL.M Sports Law at the Nottingham Trent University.

Rasmus K. Storm (PhD) holds a position as head of research at the Danish Institute for Sports Studies. Furthermore, he is affiliated as adjunct associate professor at Trondheim Business School in Norway. Dr. Storm has managed several research projects on Danish elite sport, edited and co-edited five  books on sport, and has published in a variety of international sport science and sport management  journals such as European Sport Management Quarterly, International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, and Soccer & Society. He has conducted research into the economics of Danish professional handball, and is regularly interviewed in the Danish media on the subject Furthermore, he writes regularly in Danish newspapers on various sport related topics together with giving a large number of public lectures.

Johannes Struckmeier is a Managing Director at ETL Global Sportdesk, studied business administration at the FHDW Hannover and holds an MBA sport management from the Friedrich-Schiller-University in Jena.

Until 2018 he worked as a manager for the Sport Business Group of Deloitte. Previously, he worked for more than four years for a major auditing firm in the field of corporate finance and auditing. The focus of his specialist and conceptual work is business administration in finance, with focus on sports organisations and companies. In addition, Mr. Struckmeier is familiar with M & A projects as well as the optimization of the financial sector with regard to tax and commercial law topics. His references include the German Football Association (DFB), FC Bayern Munich and SC Freiburg.

Johannes Struckmeier is author of the renowned study “European Health and Fitness Market Report” and was supporter for the conception of the Deloitte sport business studies such as the “Annual Review of Football Finance”, the “Football Money League” (German issues) and the “Financial Report of German Professional Sports Leagues”.

Dr. André-M. Szesny, LL.M. is lawyer and partner at Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek in Dusseldorf and visiting lecturer for commercial law at the Fresenius University Cologne. He advices companies and individuals in the fields of compliance as well as of commercial and criminal law. After his studies in Osnabrück and Leiden (Netherlands) he worked at the Institute of Commercial Law. Industry services as JUVE, Chambers or Legal500 find Szesny to be among the leading lawyers in the sectors of commercial law and compliance. He frequently publishes texts on criminal law and criminal procedural topics in specialist journals and books.

Sebastian Uhrich was appointed Full Professor and Chair of the Department of Sport Business Administration at the German Sport University Cologne in 2012. After completing his studies in Sports Economics and Sport Management at the University of Bayreuth, he finished his doctoral thesis at the Institute of Marketing and Service Research of the University of Rostock. His research focus is on sport and marketing. His current research projects address the topic of ambush marketing.  

He supervises Module 3 (Sport marketing and sponsorship) together with Dr. Walzel.

Stefan Walzel studied Sport Science at the German Sport University Cologne, majoring in Sport Economics and Sport Management and at Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. He completed his doctoral studies at the German Sport University in 2010.

He has been teaching Sport Marketing, International Sport Management, and Sport Business for over 10 years and is a regular speaker at various European universities. His research interests include Sport Marketing, Sport Business and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in and through sport. 2013 he was awarded a research grant by the UEFA and researched into the effects of CSR activities of football federations. Stefan played handball for more than 15 years, worked for 2 years as manager of a handball club and was president of the same club for more than 4 years.

He supervises Module 1 (Economic and legal requirements of team sport) together with Prof. Pawlowski, and Modules 2 (Team sport governance and handball management) and 3 (Sport marketing and sponsorship) of the certificate course European Handball Manager.

Since 2000 Dr. Frederik Wiemer is a licensed lawyer and since 2010 partner at the chancellery Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek. He studied law and economics at the University of Heidelberg and the Université Robert Schuman Strasbourg. 1997 he earnt a doctorate from the University of Heidelberg. Dr. Wiemer is specialized on the German and European antitrust law and advices on compliance.