Top Handball Transfers 2015: Part I

GamingZion looks at some of the most attractive transfers in the handball world this summer.

The end of the EHF Velux Champions League is commonly taken as a starting point for the transfers and the big speculations in the handball world. Before the beginning of the summer preparations in the middle of August,

• Some changes are on the horizon
• Nikola Karabatic on his way to Paris
• Maqueda: a great reinforcement for Vardar’s backline

all the participants in the next Champions League are trying to acquire in their squad the best from the market, of course according to their financial possibilities. GamingZion looks at some of the top handball transfers for the following season as well as to few speculations about possible ones that many expect to be announced in the days to come.

Jorge Maqueda

The ambitious team of RK Vardar Skopje signed another great player in order to come to the Final Four in Cologne next season. Jorge Maqueda, former player of French HBC Nantes and current player in the Spanish national team will defend the colors of Vardar in the upcoming three seasons. Maqueda will play on the right back position together with his compatriot and team-mate in the national team, Alex Dujshebaev, who is already established as a superstar in the team. How Raul Gonzalez, coach of RK Vardar, will divide the minutes that both of them will spend on the court is something we are about to see in the beginning of September.

Maqueda spent the last 3 seasons in Nantes. The biggest success with the French team was the EHF Cup’s F4 where they gained the 3rd place. His career with the national team is however more successful. The experienced Maqueda won several medals on the European and World Championships with Spain, the brightest being the golden one from the World Handball Championship in 2013.

Maqueda is the 4th reinforcement in Vardar for the next season, after Dejan Manaskov, Alexander Dereven and Mijajlo Marsenic. Meanwhile, the club extended the contracts of Stojanche Stoilov, Alem Toskic, Filip Lazarov, Matjazh Brumen and Alex Dujshebaev. According to many that bet on sports in the EU, the team of Vardar has great chances to be one of the four teams that will participate in the Final Four tournament of the Champions League. In the last two seasons the team was stopped in the quarter-final of the competition.

Nikola Karabatic

The transfer of the best handball player in the world to another team is still not confirmed. What already is confirmed, however, is that the French player will definitely leave FC Barcelona. It was said in an official announcement by the „blaugranas“ that Nikola Karabatic bought out his contract with the Catalan team last Thursday. He used the terms in the contract which enabled him to become a free agent, reports gambling news.

Xavi Pasqual, coach of FC Barcelona stated after that in a conversation with his player, he and the officials of Barcelona, heard the personal wishes of Karabatic to leave the club. Karabatic played two seasons in FC Barcelona, making the last one the most succesful in the club’s history. During Karabatic’s two seasons in Barcelona, the Catalan team won a total of 12 titles, including the Champions League, two ASOBAL Leagues and two World Cups.

Nothing is yet confirmed, but nothing is also mysterious about the future team of the world’s biggest handball superstar. His brother Luka already signed for Paris Saint-Germain as well as his favorite trainer, the legendary Noka Serdarusic. Many say that the last one to join the “millionaires” will be exactly Nikola. According to online sportsbooks in the EU this transfer will make PSG one of the main contenders for the title of European Champions together with his past team F.C. Barcelona. It is expected that PSG Handball will unveil the new member in the following two weeks.