The series of Romanian handball failures continues. An expensive one, which has nothing in common with what should happen in performance sports and rather reminds of the communist period!
The little ones got used to seeing the failures of the Romanian teams in more and more competitions
Except for CSM's win against Gyor on Saturday, December, January and February have been three months of nightmare for our handball! Both male and female. Our first representatives struggled in mediocrity: the girls at the World Cup in Norway, Denmark and Sweden, and the boys at the European Championship in Germany. A 12th place for women and a 22nd place for men are “masterpieces” of the two nationals.
At club level, the Champions League is the competition we've been dreaming of winning since 2016, since CSM's last triumph here. And in the current season, the formation financed by the Capital City Hall holds the flag high in the League. Victory with Gyor, if followed by wins against Bietigheim at home (February 11) and Odense away (February 18), would bring 2nd place in the group. Such a result would send the “tigres” directly to the quarterfinals of the competition and relieve the band prepared by Adrian Vasile from a “double” dangerous in the eighth.
On the other hand, Rapid can already see the end of the road in the League. The failure at home, with Ferencvaros, drastically reduced the chances of the Giulestense team to climb to the 6th place, the last one that ensures access to the eighth. From now on, Rapid's chances belong to the field of science fiction! First, the team needs to win both Zaglebie Lubin away (February 10) and Esbjerg at home (February 18). And even so, they would not be sure of climbing to the 6th place. For that, a disaster at Ferencvaros is still needed. Who must lose against Vipers at home (February 10) and Metz away (February 17) to miss out on qualifying for the last 16.
We pay not to have handball!
So, yet another failure is looming for our handball financed primarily by public money. In the West, and in countries where performance sport is supported by the government, this support means a secondary source of funding. The bulk of the money is obtained from sponsorships. In our country, on the other hand, it is much more convenient for the teams to sit with their hands outstretched. Especially since, as seen in handball, public money flows, regardless of the results obtained. And, in order to understand how much Rapid's impending failure in the League is costing us, it is worth recalling the statement given by president Bogdan Vasiliu to “Fanatik” in October 2023.
“At the moment, we have 2.5 million euros for handball, which is all about handball. At CSM, we had 2.8 million. After I left, they increased the budget to 3.5 million euros”revealed Vasiliu.
So, we give public money so that we don't have handball in Romania! Especially since, by throwing exorbitant sums on performance sports, we leave the base of the pyramid, youth and mass sports, to the fore.
Returning to Rapid, in the failure with Ferencvaros, 16 handball players were entered on the match sheet. Of which only five from Romania (Ostase, Badea, Ilie, Șandru and Ciucă). This statistic indicates that the Romanian women have nowhere to play, and the foreign women, paid with low salaries, are putting their shoulders to desolating performances in the Champions League.
In this landscape, the situation is aggravated by the leaders' escape from responsibility. Hence, the statement given by Bogdan Vasiliu who, according to gsp.ro, blamed the League results on the Dane Kim Rasmussen (51 years old), the team's former coach! “I have to say, even though it will hurt, Kim Rasmussen completely missed summer training. He is the main culprit for this weaker path. Everything she did was completely wrong. This also led to many injuries. At the time, it seemed like a good solution. I'm sorry I haven't stopped working with him since the summer“, said Vasiliu after the failure with Ferencvaros.
Champions League, 12th stage
Group A
Savehof – Buducnost 23-27
Odense – Brest 29-29
Gyor – CSM Bucharest 24-26
Bietigheim – Debrecen 27-31
1. Gyor (Hungary) 12 11 0 1 372-295 22p
2. Odense (Denmark) 12 8 1 3 399-317 17
3. CSM Bucharest (Romania) 12 7 1 4 358-309 15
4. Brest (France) 12 6 2 4 339-312 14
5. Bietigheim (Germany) 12 6 0 6 352-355 12
6. Debrecen (Hungary) 12 5 1 6 329-359 11
7. Buducnost (Montenegro) 12 2 1 9 278-366 5
8. Savehof (Sweden) 12 0 0 12 292-406 0
Group B
Vipers – Zaglebie Lubin 28-24
Krim – Ikast 28-34
Metz – Esbjerg 36-31
Fast – Ferencvaros 20-23
1. Metz (France) 12 10 0 2 411-343 20p
2. Esbjerg (Denmark) 12 9 0 3 381-373 18
3. Ikast (Denmark) 12 8 1 3 409-370 17
4. Vipers (Norway) 12 6 1 5 379-344 13
5. Krim (Slovenia) 12 5 1 6 336-336 11
6. Ferencvaros (Hungary) 12 4 2 6 336-348 10
7. Rapid (Romania) 12 3 1 8 318-345 7
8. Zaglebie Lubin (Poland) 12 0 0 12 293-404 0
*The first two places advance directly to the quarters. Places 3-6 will play in the quarter-finals. Places 7-8 are eliminated from the competition.
