Key decisions for EHF CongressArticle
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EHF CONGRESS PREVIEW: The 12th EHF Congress in Dublin, Ireland will reach decisions on which nations will host upcoming EHF EURO events in 2018 and 2020 as well as motions put forward by member nations and the EHF
 

Key decisions for EHF Congress

The European Handball Federation's 49 member federations will meet in the Irish capital, Dublin, on Friday, 19 September and Saturday, 20 September to decide on a number of motions as well as the allocation of hosts of the upcoming EHF EURO events in 2018 and 2020.

Ahead of the start of the Congress, eurohandball.com takes a look at the key decisions to be made in Ireland.

Awarding of events

Two men’s and two women’s EHF European Championship events will be allocated, the following nations are bidding for the championships to take place in 2018 and 2020:

Men’s EHF EURO 2018 (14-28 January 2018)
Bidding nation: Croatia (Split, Varazdin, Porec, finals in Arena Zagreb)
Find out more>>

Women’s EHF EURO 2018 (2-16 December 2018)
Bidding nation: France (Nantes, Brest, Nice, Nimes, Metz, Pau and finals in Palais Omnisports de Paris, Paris)
Find out more>>

Men’s EHF EURO 2020 (10-26 January 2020)
Bidding nations (joint bid with 24 teams): Sweden, Austria and Norway (Malmö, Gothenburg, Vienna, Graz, Trondheim and Oslo, finals in Tele2 Arena, Stockholm).
FInd out more>>

Women’s EHF EURO 2020 (6-20 December 2020)

Bidding nations (joint bid): Norway and Denmark (Herning, Stavanger, Trondheim and Oslo with the finals in the Telenor Arena, Oslo). More information to follow.

Elections

Two elections will be held during the Congress for the Nations Board (NB) and Women’s Handball Board (WHB) for the period 2014-2016.

Nations Board

Function
Nominations
Member 1 - ESP
Francisco Sanchez (ESP)
Member 2 – DEN
Morten Stig Christiansen (DEN)
Member 3 (Nat. Fed. Ranked 3-6) – CRO, SLO, GER, SRB
Heiner Brand (GER)
Aleksandar Blagojevic (SRB)
Member 4 (Nat. Fed. ranked 7-12) – SWE, FRA, HUN, NOR, RUS, ISL
Philippe Bana (FRA)
Aleksander Tuchkin (RUS)
Member 5 (Nat. Fed. ranked 13-24) – POL, SUI, BLR, MKD, CZE, AUT, POR, NED, ROU, SVK, BIH, MNE
Marek Goralczyk (POL)
Sorin Toacsen (ROU)
Martin Simonides (SVK)
Member 6 (Nat. Fed. ranked 25-50) – FIN, TUR, LTU, UKR, ISR, GRE, EST, BEL, LAT, ITA, GBR, LUX, CYP, BUL, GEO, ARM, MDA, FAR, ALB, AND, AZE, IRL, LIE; MLT, MON
David van Dorpe (BEL)
Stephen Neilson (GBR)
Arik Deutch (ISR)
Anrijs Brencans (LAT)
Arsene Welter (LUX)

Women’s Handball Board

Function
Nominations
Member 1 (Nat. Fed. ranked 1-6) – DEN, NOR, HUN, RUS, FRA, SWE
Tina Fensdal (DEN)
Nodjialem Myaro (FRA)
Member 2 (Nat. Fed. ranked 7-24) – ROU, SRB, MNE, GER, ESP, POL, CRO, CZE, NED, POR, AUT, SVK, SLO, ISL, UKR, TUR, MKD, BLR
Lidija Bojic-Cacic (CRO)
Begona Fernandez (ESP)
Jutta Ehrmann-Wolf (GER)
Narcisa Lecusanu (ROU)
Marta Bon (SLO)
Member 3 (Nat. Fed. Ranked 25-50) – SUI, ITA, LTU, GRE, AZE, ISR, FIN, GBR, BUL, ARM, EST, BIH, LAT, MDA, CYP, ALB, AND, BEL, FAR, GEO, IRL, LIE, LUX, MLT, MON
Pirje Orasson (EST)
Member 4 (representing the clubs)
To be nominated by the club, resp. the Executive Committee
Member 5 (representing the leagues)
 
To be nominated by the club, resp. the Executive Committee
Member 6 (representing the players)
To be nominated by the club, resp. the Executive Committee

Motions relating to EHF Statutes

Changes to the EHF Statutes have been proposed by the member federations and also the EHF itself. Here is a rundown of the most important motions put forward:

Age limit for elections
(motion by Austrian Handball Federation
)

It has been proposed that the age limit for election to the EHF Executive Committee, which currently states that an executive committee member shall not have attained the age of 68 at the time of election or re-election, should be removed. The basis for the proposal from the Austrian Federation is that the current age limit excludes people with both capacity and experience above the age of 68 from taking on responsibilities within the EHF.

Promoting gender equality in handball
(motion by Norwegian Handball Federation
)

In order to promote gender equality in handball and within member federations, the Norwegian Handball Federation has proposed that one additional vote should be granted to federations at a Congress where the delegation comprises members of both genders. In this case each member of the delegation should hold office within the national executive committee or a corresponding senior position (e.g. Secretary General).

Separation of functions
(Motion by EHF)


The EHF has put forward the motion that there should be clear separation of functions for those holding top office within the EHF, due to the scale and responsibilities attached to these positions and also to avoid conflict of interests. The proposal is that those elected to the core positions of president, vice-president or treasurer within the EHF should not hold related positions in their national federations at the same time, and should withdraw from these positions upon election to the EHF.

Rules for previous holders of top positions within the EHF
(Motion by EHF)

The EHF has proposed that those officials who serve for the maximum three terms of office should not then be able to hold a lower funtion within the EHF, given the possible destabilising effect and questions that can arise regarding competence and responsibility from such a situation. The motion defines these core positions as president, vice-president, treasurer as well as the chairs of the EHF technical commissions.

Term of election for board members
(Motion by EHF)

The EHF has proposed that the election term for boards and committees, notably the Professional Handball Board, Women's Handball Board and EHF Nations Board, should be brought into line with the four-year election cycle of other EHF bodies. If agreed, elections would be held in 2016 for a four year period.

Competition Commission – Member club competitions
(Motion by EHF)

In order to optimise representation of stakeholder interests, and in line with bodies such as the Professional Handball Board, the EHF has proposed that the member representing club competitions within the Competitions Commission should be elected and nominated by the group recognised by the EHF as representing the clubs participating in EHF competitions rather than by Congress.

The change, requested by the clubs playing in EHF competitions and their respresentatives, would see the direct involvement and inputs of representatives of this stakeholder group in the issues around club competitions in the Competitions Commission.

Court of Handball – increase in number of members
(Motion by EHF)

Given the large workload of the EHF Court of Handball and to ensure better neutrality in the composition of its panels, the EHF Exceutive Committee has moved to extend the number of additional members from five to six. If agreed by Congress, the Court would then comprise nine members; including the president, two vice-presidents and six additional members.

Motions (Regulations)

The following motions have been put forward to amend the regulations of the EHF:

Men’s EHF EURO Events with 24 teams
(Motion by EHF)

Based on an initiative of the national federations, the EHF installed a task force ‘EHF EURO Events in the future’ to look at the development of the EHF’s flagship national team competition. The motion to Congress is based on the recommendation that from 2022, the number of participating teams in the Men's EHF EURO should increase from 16 to 24 with an organisational structure involving three nations.

The change would give the opportunity for eight more European nations to take part in the EHF's flagship national team competition, meaning greater access to funding and sponsorship for these nations as well as the chance to create a 'home-nation' atmosphere for each of the preliminary round groups. Find out more>>

EHF YAC Events
(Motion by EHF)


A change to the organisation of the EHF’s younger age category events is proposed to Congress. The motion sets out a new system with two divisions, the first comprising 16 teams and named the EHF YAC EURO (e.g. 2016 M20 EHF EURO) and second named the EHF YAC OPEN EURO (e.g. 2016 M20 Open EURO) and involving an open number of teams.

The change has been proposed to make access to the events as easy and affordable as possible, providing all teams with a reasonable number of matches. The ultimate aim being to enlarge the number of teams and nations being competitive for Men's EHF EURO qualification. Find out more>>

Additional motions

The Congress will deal with a motion from the EHF relating to an overall sponsorship concept within the federation, allowing the EHF to award 'overall sponsorship' rights across all competitions to a partner company in the future.

Further proposals, also from the EHF, deal with a sports organisers' right to consent to bets and a change to the EHF legal regulations, which would allow an event’s tournament management to initiate legal proceedings.

Motions relating to the finances

The EHF has proposed an increase in competition fees, which have remained at a set level for the past 15 years. If agreed the increased fees would be implemented from the start of the 2015/16 season.

The Faroese Handball Federation has put forward a proposal to increase the fees payable to referees and delegates for their assignments in EHF club and national team competitions.

Admission of new members

The Congress will vote on whether the Handball Federation of Kosovo should be accepted as the full member of the European Handball Federation.

At the 2012 EHF Congress in Monaco a resolution was passed that as soon as the political situation enables, the EHF should grant full membership to Kosovo and as such the EHF Executive Committee has now moved that the Kosovo becomes the 50th full member of the EHF.

Congress timetable

Day 1 – Friday, 19 September 2014

09:00 – 12:00 hrs – Congress
Approx. 12:00 hrs – Draw Qualification Groups W17 European Championship
14:30 – 18:00 hrs – Congress
Approx. 16:00 hrs – Draw Qualification Groups W19 European Championship - Draw previews>>

Day 2 – Saturday, 20 September 2014

09:00 – 12:00 hrs – Congress (with presentation and awarding of EHF EURO 2018/2020 bids)
Approx. 10.30 hrs – Draw Qualification Groups M21 World Championship - Draw preview>>
14:30 – 18:00 hrs – Congress (Optional)

Note that timings are subject to change.

Coverage

Full coverage from the Congress event will be provided by the EHF Media and Communications team, with live tweeting on the @EHFMedia Twitter channel using the hashtag #EHFDublin2014 and regular new articles on the eurohandball.com website.

Draws for the qualification groups in the W17 European Championship and the W19 European Championship as well as the M21 World Championship will be available via live ticker at eurohandball.com and also on the @EHFMedia Twitter channel.


TEXT: EHF / jjr
 
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