Every championship has their own mascot. And when the Men’s World Championship takes place in 2019 in Germany and Denmark the mascot will be designed partly by fans.

The Danish and German Handball Federations are preparing for the Men’s World Championship 2019 held in both Denmark and Germany. This collaboration between two strong handball nations, that both are very experienced in hosting Handball Championships, has resulted in a very unique opportunity. 

By using crowdsourcing, they are inviting fans and creative designers from all over the world to design the mascot for the Championship. 

The mascot at any Championship is a significant character that spreads joy and brings smiles on our faces when engaging younger as well as older fans and warming up the audience in- and outside of the arenas. 

Secretary General of the Danish Handball Association, Morten Stig Christensen is thrilled to invite fans even closer:

“At every championship there are two important ingredients - the players and the fans.  A world championship is gathering thousands of fans that are invited to join the event at the arenas and at home in front of the TV – cheering at their team.

“At the Men’s World Championship in 2019 we want to invite fans even closer and open up the possibility of being co-creators of a very significant character in the championship, the mascot. This is possible with crowdsourcing. Instead of us designing the mascot we would love to get ideas and inspiration from fans around the world and we believe that generated content from the fans will be superior”.

The simple principle behind crowdsourcing is that more heads are better than one. The word is a combination of the word “crowd” and “outsourcing”. There are many dedicated handball fans around the world, in all ages and with different creative skills.  

Mark Schober, Chief Executive Officer at the German Handball Association sees this invitation as a great opportunity to underline what handball also is about:

“Handball is a strong community where everyone can join. People play handball almost all around the world from 2-70 years of age.  A World Championship is for the professionals on the court, but this invite to create the mascot, is supporting what handball is on an everyday basis. You don’t have to be a professional designer. 

“The important thing is that you understand the role of a championship mascot. It is for the fans – and now with the fans - and shall symbolize and visualize all the positive feelings that surrounds handball and not least, that we want this world championship to stand out.” 

HOW AND WHO CAN JOIN?

Everyone over the age of 18 can join this crowd competition. Go to www.handball19.com to read more and how to sign up. 

The competition lasts between 10-17 January 2018.