The European Handball Federation (EHF)

Background

At the start of the project, the EHF had an outdated website and struggled to find a partner and a CMS that can handle the specifics of sports competitions across clubs and countries, as well as the technical setup for hundreds of news articles as well as multiple parallel competitions including live coverage and integration with various third party providers.

Solution

With the relaunch of the official EHF web portal, kraftwerk has created a digital home for European handball – emotional, user-centered, and data-driven. The focus was on developing a platform that brings the diversity and dynamism of the sport to life digitally – from the Champions League to the EURO. The aim was to combine the different needs of fans, media representatives, officials, and players in a consistent user experience.

Together with the EHF team, a modular content management system was set up that is easy to use editorially and at the same time offers maximum flexibility in the presentation of content – from live tickers and game statistics to background reports. The system's theming architecture allows each EHF EURO tournament to be presented in its own distinct visual identity – with tournament-specific color schemes, imagery, and branding – while the underlying page structure, navigation, and editorial workflows remain consistent across the entire platform. The new website impresses not only with its international scalability, but also with its expressive visual design, which strengthens the EHF brand on all devices.

Impact

For an international sports portal with millions of fans, dozens of competitions, and high real-time demands, the choice of platform was a strategic decision. Umbraco delivers the combination of enterprise security, scalability, and openness that this project needs.

Security as a foundation As a .NET-native platform, Umbraco benefits directly from the security architecture of the Microsoft ecosystem - with transparent security updates and proven enterprise suitability. For the EHF, with sensitive media and accreditation data and responsibility for 50 member associations, this was a prerequisite.

Scalability for live events Sports portals do not experience a consistent load. During finals and the EHF EURO, thousands of fans simultaneously access live tickers, statistics, and video highlights.

The architecture based on .NET Core and Umbraco allows horizontal scaling without platform breaks - stable and high-performing exactly when it matters. In Germany alone, ZDF reported an audience of 12.82 million users watching the final of the EHF MENS EURO 2026, and in Denmark an average of 1.77 million viewers watched the event - many of them using the homepage on mobile as a second screen.

Foundation for a digital experience platform The EHF portal is a starting point, not an end point. Umbraco forms the basis for a growing DXP: live scores and real-time game statistics via EHF data feed, integration of image databases, structured video content across all competitions, and, in the future, CRM integration for personalized fan experiences. As an Umbraco Gold Partner since 2017, kraftwerk is accompanying this journey with a clear roadmap and reliable further development.