The Morning Club - 18 June: Åhus beach chats with Australian Olympian Daryl McCormack and Dr. Beach handball Marcio Menino Chris continues his summer of handball events with Åhus beach, probably the largest beach handball festival in the world, but with a twist, which he discusses with Marcio Menino on their way to the courts. Among the coaches of the 1300 participating teams was Daryl McCormack, Australian handball hero and Sydney 2000 Olympian, who speaks about his handball journey, how it led to settling in southern Sweden and hopes for his nation's next tilt at the Olympics in 2032. This episode of the Morning Club is free for all, to give you a taste of what's to come when we shift our focus to Paris next week, where we'll be on site to cover the Olympic tournaments. Catch all bonus content by supporting us on patreon.com/handballhour

German journalist, commentator and Kreis Ab podcast host Sascha Staat joins us to chat about last week's REWE Final4, convincingly won by Magdeburg, the business end of the Bundesliga season and Germany's three remaining clubs in the men's and women's Champions League. The Morning Club is a weekly show available exclusively for our fans on patreon.com/handballhour. Join the gang and get access to all episodes now.

There are six spots for Paris 2024 up for grabs and this weekend and 12 men's teams will be battling for them. We look forward to the three groups and try to figure out who will emerge with those golden tickets, plus we break down Sunday's top-of-the-table clash in the Bundesliga. This is a special Morning Club show available to all for free. The regular weekly Morning Club can be accessed by supporting us on patreon.com/handballhour

We take a break from our preview podcast recordings to look forward to our coverage of the EHF EURO in Germany and share some of the good stuff coming your way in the next three weeks. There's a taste of what's to come from our experts in the two upcoming preview pods, Brian looks forward to a fitness test in the world record game and we consider which major team could see their campaign crash to an early end. Join us on patreon.com/handballhour to get early access to our previews plus more bonus content throughout the championship.

Cameroon made history at the 2023 Women’s World Championship this week, reaching the main round for the first time, thanks to a 26:23 victory over Paraguay on Monday. However, they have achieved this success with a 14-woman squad, an unusual sight at this level in this day and age. The depleted squad is not due to a lack of handball athletes in Cameroon but rather players disappearing from the squad. Cameroonian sports journalist Leocadia Bongben spoke to us about the conditions for these players, why some of them make this life-changing decision and what could be done to help them. The Morning Club is a weekly short podcast we release for our Patreon subscribers. If you'd like to catch all episodes and more bonus content from the championship, join us on patreon.com/handballhour

We're making the first of our two Morning Club episodes this week available for everyone to enjoy! You can access bonus Morning Club podcasts every week if you join us on patreon.com/handballhour. Chris speaks to Kim Ekdahl du Rietz, who has just experienced his first championship as a coach as he led Hong Kong's men's team to the Asian Games, facing Qatar and South Korea in an incredibly tough group. The former Sweden, PSG and Rhein-Neckar Löwen left back speaks about living his happiest life in Hong Kong, how he got involved with the team and how their enthusiasm and dedication keeps them all battling against the odds.

Kolstad cutting wages as their big names arrive in town, is the honeymoon over before it even began, or is it just a bump in the road? Brian is still going strong in Romania, where the race for the medals heats up at the Women's 19 EHF EURO. Want access to all the morning club episodes on a weekly basis? Support the podcast on https://www.patreon.com/handballhour

Brian and Chris give us a taste of what's to come at the EHF FINAL4 Women in Budapest in the first of two morning club episodes this week.   We'll be live on Friday at 19:30 CEST with a full preview on the Home of Handball Twitch channel and we'll share it here as a podcast as well!   Enjoy access to all Morning Club episodes and plenty more on patreon.com/handballhour

In the morning club, we have 15 minutes to tackle one hot topic in the handball world. This is usually only found on our Patreon account, but we're giving everyone a taste this time. If you want more, support the podcast on https://www.patreon.com/handballhour. This week, Brian and Chris check in at the halfway mark of the Men's EHF Champions League Quarter-finals.

We continue our bumper preview of EHF EURO 2022 with Groups C and D, where we are joined by Dragan Djukic, Zika Bogdanovic and Conny Wilczynski as guests. Join our prediction league now on Bit.ly/predictorEHF