EHF Executive meets on fringes of EHF EURO 2016

Ahead of the final matches of the Men's EHF EURO 2016 in Poland, the members of the EHF Executive Committee held their scheduled meeting in Krakow, Poland.

Present for the opening of the meeting were guests Patrick Hickey, President of the European Olympic Committees, and Andrzej Kraśnicki, President of the Polish Handball Federation, representing the hosting nation.

Executive Meeting

Reports were presented dealing with the current financial situation to the end of 2015. 

An update was given on the situation regarding the Managing Director position within EHF Marketing GmbH. It was agreed to release the current Managing Director from his responsibilities within the company and appoint David Szlezak to the position on an interim basis.

Further follow-up measures to the EHF Marketing General Assembly held in Bucharest were approved.

Competitions Commission

A report from the Competition Commission relating to the national team and club competition was received. 

The success of the most recent EHF Referee Candidate Course was highlighted with five new referee pairs from Belarus, Bulgaria, Germany, Kosovo and Slovakia gaining EHF status.

Also, looking ahead to the ninth edition of the Women’s IHF/EHF Trophy to be played in Tbilisi, Georgia from 8 to 13 March 2016, the Executive Committee confirmed the eight nations that would participate: Albania, Armenia, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Georgia and Latvia.

Methods Commission

The success of the 3rd Scientific Conference in Bucharest in November was reported as were the very positive results from the European Wheelchair Handball Nations’ Tournament, which took place in St. Pölten in December 2015. The event involved teams from Norway, Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden.

On the topic of coaching licencing it was noted that EHF Top Coaches’ and Licence Renewal Seminar had taken place in Poland during the course of the European Championship.

Beach Handball Commission

Following a proposal from the Beach Handball Commission, the European Beach Tour (ebt) Finals 2016 were awarded to Avant Garde BHT (Thessaloniki, Greece).

The Commission Chairman, Ole Jorstad, reported on the high level of interest in the Younger Age Category Tournament (15 men/ 16 women) to take place in Nazare, Portugal in 2016. A contributing factor being qualification to the Youth Olympic Games.

Women’s Handball Board

The Executive confirmed the awarding of the 'Best Fostering Project' (targeted at schools and youth handball) to Spain (Women’s Catalan Handball) and Croatia (Handball Club Garesnica) in the 5-10 age category and Germany (TSV Bayer04 Leverkusen e.V. handball department) and Slovenia (Siska Secondary School, Ljubljana) in the 11-20 age category.

Information Technology

The federation’s Head of IT, Christoph Gamper, gave a comprehensive presentation to the Executive, on the functions and responsibilities of the IT business unit including the use of technology within the EHF and its IT-related business processes.

Preview 2016 Events

The Executive Committee was presented with an overview of meetings and events in the coming year, including the EHF Conference of Secretaries General in Dubrovnik, Croatia from 12 to 14 April 2016. The event will include the qualification draw for the Men's EHF EURO 2018 in Croatia.

It was also confirmed that the EHF Ordinary Congress will take place 17/18 November 2016 with the 25th anniversary gala to take place on the evening of Friday, 18 November 2016.

Next Meeting

The EHF Executive Committee will meet next on 16 March 2016.