The main objective of this study was to analyze the influence of tactical and situational variables on offensive sequences during elite European handball matches. A sample of 55 games and 5.857 offensive sequences from the European Handball Federation Champions League, the selected teams were classified as the top eight teams in the league, were analyzed using X2 and logistic regression analyses. Results indicated that positional attacks [odds ratio = 0.34; 95% CI: 0.28–0.42; p < 0.001] and fast attacks decreased the (...) probability of success for an offensive sequence by 66% and 54% when compared with counterattacks. Offensive sequences that start in the attacking zone seem to be less effective than those that start from a situation of “ball in center.” Additionally, offensive sequences that finished in the defensive zone of the observed team were 3.19 times more effective than those that ended before the 9 m zone. We concluded that compared with offensive sequences where the shot is performed from the 9 m zone, the chances of an offensive sequence ending successfully are 3.65, 3.60, and 2.21 times higher, for offensive sequences where the shot is performed from 9 m, 6 m, and the defensive zone, respectively. On the other hand, many variables seem to impact the performance of handball teams. Nevertheless, a significant challenge remains, and more research needs to be conducted to analyze the obstacles that teams need to overcome while attacking in the most effective way possible. (shrink)

Diamantino Martins, one of the main masters of the Braga School, was part of the founding group of the Portuguese Journal of Philosophy. He is the author of a vast philosophical work, and presents an original thought on natural evidence and immediate intuitive knowledge of God. The fine sensitivity and psychological analysis of the feeling of the divine in the deepest identity of the human being manifest, in his work, a penetrating understanding of the actuality of the question of God, (...) very present in the return of the religious and the divine, in the literature of the end of last century. It is also situated in the innovative current of philosophical thought of contemporary Portuguese authors, about the philosophical treatment of the question of God, like Sampaio Bruno and Fernando Pessoa. (shrink)