A ball of thousand touches connected Celje and Ljubljana

The biggest women’s sports event in the history of Slovenia

On the first Saturday in October, sport once again proved that it connects. The Handball Federation of Slovenia connected Slovenian women’s handball teams with the Ball of a Thousand Touches campaign, which accompanied the official ball of the Women’s EHF Euro 2022 from Celje to Ljubljana. “A little more than a month before the start of the championship, for the first time we really got the feeling that the biggest women’s sports event in the history of Slovenia is just around the corner. What a day! What an idea! As many as 27 Slovenian women’s handball clubs with almost 1,000 participants overcame the distance of 80 kilometers between Celje and Ljubljana, the venue of the Women’s EHF Euro 2022, over 2,000 hands and with countless steps. This will start in the Zlatorog hall in Celje and Stožice in Ljubljana on November 4, and after today’s unique campaign, I myself am already counting down the days until the first of the 47 matches that will take place at the Women’s EHF Euro 2022. Thank you to all the supporters, participants of the campaign and thank you to the exceptional organization team,” said Franjo Bobinac, president of the Slovenian Handball Federation and honorary president of the organizing committee of the November competition, about the largest campaign aimed at promoting the European Women’s Handball Championship.

The Women’s EHF Euro 2022 ball

The Women’s EHF Euro 2022 ball was accompanied on its journey by representatives of HC Z’dežele. They were the first to overcome a few kilometers and pass it on. The chain with almost a thousand Slovenian female handball players of various ages, their family members and other club members wound its way through Žalec, Vransko, Tuhinj Valley, Kamnik and Domžale. The official ball reached the Slovenian capital after 11 hours and 80 kilometers covered.

The ball of a thousand touches brought together many Slovenian handball clubs

“As the ambassador of the largest women’s sports event in our country, I am happy and proud to support the campaign, as it is today. The ball of a thousand touches brought together many Slovenian handball clubs that want to contribute to the promotion of the Women’s EHF Euro 2022 and contribute to the popularity of our sport in general. The fact that Slovenia was entrusted with the organization of a major competition is a tremendous honor for all of us working in women’s handball. Our female handball players are aware of this and I can say with certainty that they will give everything and more at the biggest women’s competition in the history of our country. We support them! Slovenians have already proven many times that sport unites and connects us, so I want it to be the same this time as well,” Deja Ivanović, ambassador of the Women’s EHF Euro 2022, summed up her impressions of the exceptional promotional project, and then took the ball herself and handed over to Ana Gros. “I am speechless after today’s promotional campaign! Slovenia came together again and showed what a sporty nation it is. Playing on home soil will be a special privilege that the generations before us have not tasted, and we want to take advantage of it. We will do everything ourselves to get as high as possible, but we will also need some help from the loud Slovenian fans! With the kind of support we received today, I’m not afraid that we won’t be able to achieve something big together,” said the captain of the Slovenian national team, after she and her national team colleagues added their stone, their touch in the mosaic of an exceptional handball day.

You can buy tickets for the Women's European Handball Championship on the website:

tickets.eurohandball.com/sl/women2022