European federations meet in Hungary

In preparation for the EHF Congress in September 2014, 60 representatives from Europe’s handball federations met in Budapest on the closing day of the MVM EHF FINAL4.

On the agenda were updates from members of the EHF Executive and information on proposals that will be dealt with at the Congress.

EHF Secretary General, Michael Wiederer, presented the new playing format in the Women’s EHF Champions League from the coming season, as well as the system to be played in the VELUX EHF Champions League from the season 2015/16.

The proposed expansion of the Men’s EHF European Championship in the future was also outlined by EHF Vice President, Arne Elovsson.

Expansion of the competition to 24 teams from 2020 (and as early as 2018) as well as the awarding of both the men’s and women’s competitions for 2018 and 2020 will be decided by Congress in September.

Lidija Bojic-Cacic, chair of the Women’s Handball Board also presented the work of the board, which has included supporting the introduction of the Final4 format to the Women’s EHF Champions League.

At the conclusion of the meeting several contracts were signed between member nations and the EHF. 

Finland, Greece, Israel, Malta and FYR Macedonia signed the Rinck Convention, an agreement that regulates the mutual recognition of standards and certificates in the field of coach education.

Smart agreements to support the development of handball in member nations were signed by FYR Macedonia and Greece.

Finally, England signed a continuation of the their existing Infrastructure Support Programme (ISP) to 2017, a programme that supports the employment of staff to develop handball and build capacity in selected nations.