European Handball Manager course launches

Europe’s first professional qualification in handball management launched on 1 July 2015 and the first intake of students has now begun studying for the qualification offered by the German Sport University Cologne.

A total of 17 participants have joined the first year of the programme, amongst them experienced managers from the German Bundesliga, including Benjamin Chatton (TSV Hannover-Burgdorf) and Axel Geerken (MT Melsungen) as well as former national team player Grit Jurack and world champions Henning Fritz and Holger Glandorf.

Whilst there are plenty of professional development opportunities for coaches, comparable offers in management have been lacking to date.

Now, in cooperation with the EHF, the European Handball Manager has been launched with the aim of preparing participants for the increasingly professional and commercial requirements of European handball.

Teaching in Cologne

The course began with a self-study phase focused on the areas of sports economics, management and legal issues.

The first taught modules of the course will begin on 5 October at the German Sport University in Cologne, where participants will further extend their knowledge with the assistance of high-profile experts from both academia and the sports industry.

On the agenda will be topics including strategic management in handball, club and federation law and the governance of team sports.

Expert lecturers

The relevance of the further education programme is underlined by the inclusion of Michael Wiederer, EHF Secretary General, as a speaker.

Further experienced course lecturers including Sylvia Schenk (Head of the Working Group on Sport at Transparency Deutschland) and Prof. Dr. Martin Gutzeit (Professor of Civil Rights, Employment and Social Law at the Justus Liebig University Giessen) guarantee a high-quality programme with practical relevance.

Legal adviser and former national team goalkeeper, Andreas Thiel, will also be offering his expertise combining legal matters with aspects from professional handball.

The second part of the course at the German Sport University takes place in January 2016 and will be followed by a final phase in May. Assuming they pass the course, participants will then leave the university with the ‘European Handball Manager’ qualification.

Watch the interview below with Dr. Stefan Walzel, Programme Director, for more information on the new qualification.

The course will be offered in German and English in alternating years, starting with German in 2015. Club managers are the primary target group, but federation managers are also eligible to apply. Each course will consist of a maximum of 20 participants.