Executive Committee Report

The members of the EHF Executive Committee met in Miločer, Montenegro on Friday, 20 September 2013 for their 166th meeting at the invitation of the Montenegro Handball Federation.

The first meeting for the Executive of the new season dealt with a range of issues and decisions including a new format for the Women’s EHF Champions League in 2014/15, the introducing of coaching licensing in Europe’s top competitions as well as reports from the Technical Delegation, legal management and the EHF Anti-Doping Unit.

New system for Women’s EHF Champions League

Looking ahead to future competitions, the Executive agreed a proposal from the EHF Competitions Commission for the development of the Women’s EHF Champions League for the season 2014/15. 

The new system will see a reduction in the number of qualification rounds for the competitions, the introduction of a new Main Round Phase - as a way of keeping the strongest teams in the competition for longer - and also the organisation of a new final phase, a Women’s EHF FINAL4, as the highpoint of the season.

A full overview of the new system can be found on the Champions League channel of the eurohandball.com website.

Organisation of 2013 Women’s EHF FINAL4

The EHF Executive agreed to examine further the bids for the Women’s EHF FINAL4, scheduled to take place 3/4 May 2014, and whether the concepts submitted would meet the organisational or economic standards necessary to carry out a top-class event.

From the four bids that have been received, the EHF Executive agreed that only the bids from Ljubljana for the event to take place in the Stožice Center, venue for the finals of EuroBasket 2013, and Budapest, specifically the bid from Hungarofest and the Hungarian Handball Federation, would be examined in futher detail.

Men’s competitions

Further discussions took place around the proposals for a new playing system within the VELUX EHF Champions League for the season 2014/15 based on calendar, economic, media and marketing considerations. Further discussions are set to take place with clubs.

In relation to the Men’s EHF Cup Finals, set to take place at the end of the season – 17/18 May 2014 – the EHF Executive confirmed the submission of seven bids including from HC Meshkov Brest, London GD, Montpellier Agglomération HB, Füchse Berlin and AEK Athens as well as in.Stuttgart and the Luxembourg Handball Federation.

It was agreed that the proposals for event would be examined in more detail and decision reached by the EHF Finance Delegation.

Champions Cup for Beach Handball

Following a proposal from the Beach Commission for the creation of a new competition for the national champions of Europe’s national beach handball championships, it was confirmed that the first pilot event will be played in 2014. The date reserved for the event is 1/2 November 2014, during the men’s national team week.

The meeting further agreed to an update in the competitions regulations relating to the withdrawal of teams from the European Championships and also the introduction of a ranking list for beach handball nations.

Licensing for Europe’s top competitions

An agreement was made for the introduction of standards for coaches in Europe’s top club and national team competitions, through coach licensing, from as early as the 2014/15 season.

The Committee also confirmed to additional EHF Rinck Convention applicants FYR Macedonia (level 3) and Malta (level 2) bringing the total number of nations to 33. These are: signatories Level 3: AUT, BLR, BUL, CRO, CYP, CZE, DEN, ESP, EST, FRA, GER, HUN, ISL, ITA, LAT, LUX, MNE, NED, NOR, POL, POR, ROU, RUS, SLO, SRB, SVK, SUI, SWE,TUR. Signatories Level 2: ENG, IRL.

Development support for Latvia

An application from Latvia for SMART Project support on the basis of their existing Infrastructure Support Programme (ISP) was agreed and will now be realised. 

EHF EURO competitions report

A complete report was presented of the numerous summer events organised by the EHF; including the Men’s 19 European Open in Sweden, Men’s and Women’s 19 Beach European Championships in Denmark, Men’s and Women’s 17 European Olympic Festival in the Netherlands; Women’s 19 European Championship in Denmark and the Women’s 17 European Championship in Poland.

Information on the proposed organisation of the Women’s 19 European Championship in Valencia, Spain was presented and there were additional reports on the progress around the Men’s and Women’s EHF EURO 2014 (Denmark, Hungary and Croatia) and 2016 (Poland and Sweden).

EHF EURO 2018/2020

The bidding documents for the awarding of the next two cycles of Men’s and Women’s EHF European Championships in 2018 and 2020 were agreed by the meeting. A decision on the host nations for the four events will be made at the EHF Congress in Dublin, Ireland on 19/20 September 2014 .

The letters of intent for the four events in 2018 and 2020 were also accepted. These are Men’s EHF EURO 2018: Croatia, Norway, Sweden; Women’s EHF EURO 2018: France, Norway, Ukraine; Men’s EHF EURO 2020: Austria, Norway, Sweden; Women’s EHF EURO 2020: Norway, Denmark

EHF EURO Task Force

The report from the EHF Task Force, which took place on 13 September 2013 – report, was followed up by the Executive meeting and the proposals for an increase in the number of teams from 16 to 20 or 24 discussed.

Further discussions will take place in both the Nations Board and Professional Handball Board, scheduled for 7 October and 8 October 2013 respectively. The EHF EURO Taskforce will provide further analysis at its next meeting in November 2013.

Events awarded

The following events were awarded by the EHF Executive:

Women’s Challenge Trophy to take place in Greece from 26 to 30 March 2014

Men’s and Women’s European Masters Championships from 13 to 15 June 2014 in Prague, Czech Republic

Next meeting

Following the completion of the meeting, the EHF President, Jean Brihault, and Secretary General, Michael Wiederer, attended the General Assembly of the German Handball Federation (DHB) in Wiesbaden.

The next meeting of the EHF Executive will take place on 13/14 December 2103 during the Women’s World Championship in Serbia.

Photo: EHF President, Jean Brihault, EHF Secretary General, Michael Wiederer, and Executive Committee member, Predrag Bošković, also President of the Montenegro Handball Federation and Minister for Labour and Social Welfare in Montenegro, meet with Prime Minister of Montenegro, Milo Đukanović, in Podgorica.