3rd Meeting of the Professional Handball Board (PHB)

The third Meeting of the Professional Handball Board took place on 30 May 2011 in Cologne (GER).

The meeting was attended by Jean Brihault and Jan Tuik representing the EHF Executive Committee, Joan Marin and Gerd Butzeck representing Forum Club Handball (FCH), Philippe Bana representing the National Team Board (NB), Reiner Witte and Arne Josefsen representing the European Professional Handball Leagues Association (EPHLA), Marcus Rominger representing the European Handball Players Union (EHPU) as well as Tor Lian, EHF President, Michael Wiederer, EHF Secretary General and Alexander Toncourt, Asst. Secretary General.

The meeting had to take place without the excused Morten Stig Christensen (NB Chairman), and Marc-Olivier Albertini, EHPU Vice President.

The Professional Handball Board meeting was carried out on the occasion of the VELUX EHF Champions League FINAL4. The participants appreciated the high quality and the superior standards of the tournament.

Prior to the meeting, the European Handball Players Union (EHPU) and the European Handball Federation (EHF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The EHPU representative Markus Rominger, goalkeeper for Rhein-Neckar Löwen (GER), had played the 3/4 Placement Match of the VELUX EHF Champions League only one day before.

The 3rd meeting of the PHB served the purpose of information exchange, covering topics from various interest groups.

Due to the complexity of the issue of insurance system, the solution requires further discussion and this will continue within the PHB. Furthermore, at the meeting it was agreed that a new structure covering activities of national teams will be developed.

In the men’s national team week between 31 October 2011 and 06 November 2011; in a pilot project, a management course will be held in order to support further education and to raise the balance across Europe in this particular field.

The PHB supports the creation of the study "Position of Handball". It will be presented in November 2011 on the occasion of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the EHF. Further topics of discussion were international matters as well as questions around future European Cup competitions.

Chairman Joan Marin stated after the meeting: "The discussions were held very openly. I would like to underline the excellent cooperation, which builds a solid foundation for the positive development of the world of handball for the future."