EHF Executive meets in Valencia

Venue for the upcoming Women’s 19 EHF European Championship from 23 July to 2 August 2015, Valencia, hosted the first meeting of the year of the EHF Executive Committee on 26 March 2015.

The meeting was the second in Spain for the Executive Committee, having met back in 2003 in Valladolid on the fringes of the Men's Club Championship.

The eleven members of the Executive, together with EHF Secretary General, Michael Wiederer, and members of the EHF office, worked their way through a busy agenda including reports, a large number of motions and key decisions on a wide range of topics.

New playing system in the VELUX EHF Champions League

The criteria for the allocation of teams in the new playing system of the VELUX EHF Champions League 2015/16 and the related points system were discussed.

The system, agreed by the EHF Executive at its meeting in December 2014, allows for the evaluation of teams on criteria including venue, TV market, performance and number of spectators, with points to be allocated by the EHF and EHF Marketing, and subsequently reviewed, before submission to the EHF Executive Committee for a final decision on allocation of places at its meeting in June 2015.

The financial distribution for the new season of the VELUX EHF Champions League was confirmed, with an increase of 30% in revenues to be distributed and an increase to one million euro for teams reaching the VELUX EHF FINAL4, with €500,000 for the eventual winner. 

An adaptation to the participation fees for the VELUX EHF Champions League according to the new playing system from 2015/16 was agreed.

Regulation changes

Changes to competition regulations were confirmed.

In both the VELUX EHF Champions League and Women’s EHF Champions League, to ensure the defending champion is able to participate in the next season, also where the team does not qualify directly from its own domestic league, or where a national federation cannot request an additional place, the national federation will have the right to request an additional place for this club in the respective competition.

An amendment was agreed whereby all clubs in the VELUX EHF Champions League and Women’s EHF Champions League as well as national federations playing in the EHF EURO qualifications rounds will be required to have a replacement goal available at matches from the start of the 2015/16 season.

VELUX EHF FINAL4

With the existing agreement with the City of Cologne and the LANXESS arena for the organisation of the VELUX EHF FINAL4 expiring in 2016, the EHF Executive Committee confirmed an approach in the form of a letter of intent from the City of Cologne and the LANXESS arena.

The EHF Executive confirmed that the event would be awarded to Cologne for a further four year period, from 2017 through to 2020. An additional clause provides an option, if desired, for the event to be organised in a new city/venue for a one-off event in 2018, 2019 or 2020.

The contract will be signed with the City of Cologne and the LANXESS arena during the draw for the semi-finals of the VELUX EHF FINAL4, which takes place at Palais Flora in Cologne on 21 April 2015.

For more detailed information visit the ehfFINAL4.com website.

Merging of Women’s EHF Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup

A motion from the Competitions Commission for the merging of the Women’s EHF Cup and the Cup Winners’ Cup was approved by the Executive and will be introduced from the beginning of the 2016/17 season.

Proposed change to qualification procedures

A motion from the EHF Competitions Department was considered for a change to the draw procedure for the Women’s EHF EURO 2016 to take into account current political situations in Europe that could cause difficulties in the playing of matches. After a careful evaluation, and based on experiences in the past, the decision was reached to continue to carry out an open draw, based on performance criteria.

Men’s 18 EHF European Championship 

The Executive acknowledged the record number of entries for a Younger Age Category event.

Following an extension to the registration deadline, and an additional entry from Cyprus, a total of 43 EHF member nations have registered to take part in the competition under the new playing system for the Men’s 18 EHF European Championship in 2016.

The Younger Age Category competition will be played with 16 nations playing in the Men’s 18 EHF EURO 2016 and 27 nations in the Men’s 18 EHF Championships 2016.

EURO Delegation

The meeting of the EHF EURO delegation held on 16 March 2015 was discussed, which had dealt with the follow-up to the Men’s and Women’s EHF EURO 2014 and looked at organisational issues around future events. A package of proposals will be developed for submission to the EHF Executive at its meeting in June 2015. 

Player eligibility - Based on the experience of the EHF EURO and other championships, the EHF Executive Committee agreed to submit a motion for a change to the Player Eligibility Code to the IHF Extraordinary Congress, taking place 5/6 June 2015 in Budapest.

The proposal would see an amendment to the ability of a player to play for a different national team (IHF Player Eligibility Code, Articles 6.1/6.3). 

Under the current eligibility code a player is permitted to switch national teams once, and then play for a new nation after three years. The EHF will propose that a player will not be permitted to change national teams once they have played in an official match for a national team after 31 December of their 21st year.

Task Force Democratic Representation - The Executive discussed proposals from the Task Force Democratic Representation and inputs received from the national federations regarding EHF structures, statutory issues and other points relevant for election procedures.

Following an extensive discussion, a vote of committee members was carried out and, by a small majority, it was determined that an Extraordinary Congress would not be called by the EHF Executive.

Presenting sponsorship  - The EHF Executive further discussed the follow-up to the submission made to the 2014 EHF Congress in Dublin for an presenting sponsorship on a national team level. 

Following detailed inputs from a consultation group, nominated by the EHF Executive, Nations Board and Women’s Handball Board, which met in October 2014, the EHF Executive approved a motion that will allow for an overall partner on a national team level.

The optimisation of the package of sponsorship/advertising possibilities available to both the national federations and the EHF will also be examined.

Conference of Presidents

The venue for the Conference of Presidents, scheduled for 14 November 2015, was confirmed and will take place in Bucharest, Romania. 

International calendar

The international calendar for 2016/17 was approved.

Next meeting

At the conclusion of the meeting, the EHF President, Jean Brihault, thanked the Royal Spanish Handball Federation for its kind hospitality, and in particular the federation’s president, Francisco Blázquez, for the invitation to his home city of Valencia.

The EHF Executive Committee will next meet on 19 and 20 June 2015 in Krakow on the fringes of the EHF EURO 2016 draw, which is scheduled to take place in the ICE Congress Centre in the city.