Croatia hosts meeting of EHF Executive Committee

At the invitation of the Croatian Handball Federation, the EHF Executive Committee met on Friday, 20 June and Saturday, 21 June 2014 for its 120th meeting in Umag, in the Istria region of Croatia.

Opening the meeting in the presence of the President of the Croatian Handball Federation, Sandi Sola, the EHF President Jean Brihault thanked the Croatian Federation and the City of Umag for their kind hospitality in hosting the event.

The focus of the meeting was on a number of key competitions decisions for the coming season 2014/15 including the line-up for the VELUX EHF Champions League and Women’s EHF Champions League as well as preparations for the EHF Congress, which will take place in Dublin, Ireland on 19 and 20 September 2014.

Reports

The meeting opened with the presentation of financial reports including those from the auditors and EHF Comptrollers. Treasurer Ralf Dejaco presented an updated budget for 2014 and also the budget for 2015/16, including a definition of fees, which was approved for presentation to the EHF Congress.

Also presented were reports from the Secretary General, Michael Wiederer, EHFM Advisory Board, Commissions and the Women’s Handball Board. Members also discussed feedback on the three final weekend events, MVM EHF FINAL4, Men’s EHF Cup and VELUX EHF FINAL4, held at the end of the season.

The 2015/16 competitions calendar, which had been finalised during the Conference of Secretaries General in April 2014, was confirmed.

EHF legal system

An update on the EHF’s legal management was given, including an overview of legal decisions.

The EHF Executive was informed that at its meeting in Budapest, on the fringes of the MVM EHF FINAL4, the legal delegation proposed the addition of a sixth member of the Court of Handball, necessary because of the number of cases it is required to deal with. The EHF Executive approved the motion be put to Congress.

Anti-doping

A report of the EHF Anti-doping Unit was received and it was noted that during the 2013/14 season no doping cases had been identified as part of the testing programme in EHF competitions.

Competitions

Upcoming younger age categories summer events were discussed and a preview of the Women’s EHF European Championship in Hungary and Croatia was presented. The EHF Executive praised the professional and successful organisation of the Final Tournament draw in Zagreb on 19 June by the Croatian Handball Federation.

High on the agenda were decisions on the VELUX EHF Champions League and Women’s EHF Champions League for the new season, which saw additional requests for participation in both competitions dealt with.

A full report with complete listings of the clubs participating in the Women’s EHF Champions League and the VELUX EHF Champions League can be found on the eurohandball.com website.

Women’s EHF Cup/Cup Winners’ Cup

Looking to the future of European Cup competitions, the Executive agreed to provide the Competitions Commission with a mandate to investigate the merging of the Women’s EHF Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup as has been the case since the start of the 2012/13 season in the men’s competitions system.

World Championship direct qualification from EHF EURO 2014

The EHF Executive Committee agreed to support a motion from the Competitions Commission regarding the direct qualification of teams to the Women’s World Championship from the Women’s EHF EURO to be played in Hungary and Croatia in December 2014.

A reduction in the number of performance places at the World Championships means that a maximum of 10 places are available for Europe (in addition to Denmark as organiser of the event in December 2015).

The agreed change in the qualification process for the World Championship will mean that only one nation will qualify directly from EHF EURO 2014 to the World Championship instead of the top three nations as outlined in the regulations.

The 14 remaining teams from EHF EURO 2014 will now qualify directly to Phase 2 of the World Championship Play-offs, who will be joined by four teams qualifying from Phase 1, to decide the nine remaining European places.

Beach handball

The EHF Executive approved a proposal of the Beach Handball Commission to award best the beach handball nations at the upcoming Congress.

Club handball matters

The Executive noted the formation of the Women’s Forum Club Handball and election of the new board. A meeting will take place on the fringes of the VELUX EHF Champions League and Women’s EHF Champions League draw events taking place in Vienna on Friday, 27 June.

A proposal received from a private entity for the formation of a new regional cross-border Women’s Professional Handball League was also discussed. Given the nature of the project, the EHF Executive did not approve the organisation of the WPHL in the coming season.

The Executive received reports on the Memoranda of Understanding signed with Forum Club Handball (FCH) and the European Handball Players’ Union (EHPU).

It was confirmed that the Memorandum of Understanding with the European Professional Handball League Association (EPHLA) would soon expire and would not be renewed in its current form.

EHF Congress

The meeting dealt with preparations for the 2014 EHF Congress in Ireland, which will see a number of motions both from member federations and the EHF as well as voting on the allocation of the Men’s and Women’s EHF European Championship competitions in 2018 and 2020.

Following inspections by the EHF and co-ordination with the bidding nations, the following submissions have been made:

Men’s EHF EURO 2018 - Croatia
Women’s EHF EURO 2018 – France
Men’s EHF EURO 2020 – Austria/Norway/Sweden (joint bid)
Women’s EHF EURO 2020 – Norway/Denmark (joint bid)

The Executive Committee approved a motion to the Congress will be made for an expansion of the Men’s EHF European Championship from 16 teams to 24 from 2022.

Parallel to this the Men’s EHF EURO 2020 will be organised on the basis of 24 teams in a joint organisation by Austria (Preliminary/Main Rounds), Norway (Preliminary Round) and Sweden (Preliminary/Main Rounds and Finals).

A further motion dealing with the Younger Age Category events from 2016 is also to be submitted to Congress as outlined at the Conference of Secretaries General in April and the EHF Federations’ Meeting in May 2014.

The Executive discussed the list of motions put forward by member nations including those from the Austrian Handball Federation proposing that the age limit for election to positions within the EHF be abolished, a motion from the Norwegian Handball Federation dealing with equality and from the Faroe Islands proposing increasing the fees to delegates and referees nominated for EHF matches and events.

Next meeting

The next meeting of the EHF Executive Committee will take place on 19 September 2014 before the start of the EHF Congress in Dublin.