Conference of Presidents opens in Romania

A total of 48 nations and two associated federations (England and Scotland) were in Bucharest, Romania on Saturday, 14 November for the 12th edition of the EHF Conference of Presidents.

Proceedings began in sombre mood following the terrible events overnight in Paris.

In welcoming the member nations to the event, the EHF President, Jean Brihault, said: “Our only way to deal with this kind of circumstance is to refuse to be terrorised and to promote understanding between people and groups.”

He asked delegates to mark the occasion with a moment of silence and urged all those present to stand against terrorism and violence.

Member federation representatives and guests were also welcomed by Narcisa Lecusanu, Vice President of the Romanian Handball Federation, who spoke on behalf of the federation’s president, Alexandru Dedu, who was unavailable to attend the event due to a serious accident.

Specially invited guest, Alin Petrache, President of the Romanian Olympic Committee, also addressed the meeting.

The President of the International Handball Federation, Dr Hassan Moustafa, was the final guest to speak. He stressed the importance of Europe to the international handball community.

EHF Report

In his report, the EHF President, Jean Brihault, highlighted two changes that have been made as a direct result of the inputs of the national federations and will be presented during the meeting.

These included proposals for the new qualification system to EHF EURO 2020 and also the new system for Younger Age Category events to be introduced in summer 2016.

He also spoke about the positive quality of the dialogue with stakeholder groups including the Professional Handball Board and his new role representing handball on the High-Level Groups on sport diplomacy.

Competition Matters

Chairman of the Competition Commission, Leopold Kalin, presented an overview of the new system for Younger Age Category events which will be rolled-out, starting with the Men’s 18 EHF EURO and Championship.

Looking ahead to 2020 and the Men's EHF EURO final Tournament, which will have 24 nations participating for the first time, Markus Glaser, Senior Manager responsible for club competitions presented three possible models for the qualification format to this event.

Model 1 would have potentially 44 nations registered. Four nations would qualify directly to the final tournament (host nations plus the defending champion) and qualification would then be played in 10 groups with four teams each. The two top teams from each group would qualify.

The second model would be played in a similar way to that currently in place, in two phases with the second phase involving 32 teams.

A third option envisages a new development and the use of the IHF Emerging Nations tournament as an initial qualification phase for the lower-ranked nations.

Jean Brihault pointed out that qualification for 2020 would need to start as early as 2017 and a decision on the system to be implemented would be needed in due course.

Market position of handball

The EHF Secretary General, Michael Wiederer, presented a detailed report on the marketing activities of the European Handball Federation and its marketing daughter-company, EHF Marketing GmbH, discussing current and future contracts with partners and sponsors.

Concluding the presentation, the newly appointed Digital Media Manager, Henry Blunck, provided an update on the federation’s media and social media strategy with a particular focus on fan engagement and content from the federation’s top competitions including the VELUX EHF Champions League and EHF EUROs.

EHF EURO 2016

With just 62 days until the biggest EHF EURO to date throws off in Poland, Vice President of the Polish Handball Federation and head of the event’s organising committee, Marcin Herra, gave delegates an update on the progress of the organisation of the event.

Awards and contract signings

The federation of FYR Macedonia was honoured for their contribution to the sport of handball and in particular for hosting the Women's 17 EHF EURO 2015 (Photo: Filip Miloshevski, Secretary General of Macedonian Handball Federation receiving the honour from Jean Brihault and Michael Wiederer).

Belgium became the 38th member federation to sign the RINCK Convention that works on establishing mutual coaching standards across Europe.

New SMART programme agreements were signed between the European Handball Federation and Estonia, Belgium and LIthuania to further support the development of handball in these nations.

Furthermore France and Belgium entered into the Foster Programme that sees the French federation supporting their Belgium counterparts.

Further photographs from the event can be found on the EHF Facebook page.