Executive Committee gathers in Belgrade for first meeting in 2019/20 season

The EHF Executive Committee gathered in the Serbian capital of Belgrade for its first meeting within the 2019/20 handball season.

Following several meetings of bodies within the EHF structure earlier in September, including those of the Finance Delegation, the Competitions, Methods and Beach Handball Commission as well as the EHF Marketing Advisory Board, the EXEC took note of the various bodies’ reports and reached a number of key decisions.

Bids confirmed for Women’s EHF EURO 2024

Seven nations are bidding to host the Women’s EHF EURO 2024, as the Executive Committee confirmed the joint bids of Czech Republic/Poland/Slovakia and Hungary/Switzerland/Austria as well as the single bid of Russia.

Site visits will be carried out in October and November; the EXEC will eventually award the event in its meeting on 21 November.

The Women’s EHF EURO 2024 is the first to be played with 24 (instead of 16) teams. It is scheduled to take place from 29 November to 15 December 2024.

Road set to Men’s EHF EURO 2022

The EXEC confirmed the following roadmap towards the Men’s EHF EURO 2022 in Hungary and Slovakia.

• The draw for the qualifiers will take place on 22/23 April 2020 as part of the Secretaries General Conference in Bratislava.
• The final tournament draw will take place in Budapest at the beginning of May 2021.

Parallel to EHF EURO 2022 Qualifiers, the EHF EURO Cup will be played by the two organisers, Hungary and Slovakia, as well as by the two best-ranked teams of EHF EURO 2020. These two best-ranked teams from the 2020 final tournament are hence automatically qualified for EHF EURO 2022.

The EXEC also took note of a venue change for 2022. The arena in Veszprém will not – as originally foreseen – host a preliminary round. The newly-constructed arena in Budapest will be used instead.

Development fund for Women’s EHF EURO 2020 Qualifiers introduced

The Executive Committee approved the creation of a development fund for the Women’s EHF EURO 2020 Qualifiers which will cover the costs for referees and delegates as well as support the participating teams for investments into organisational measures.

Following the introduction of a development fund for the Men’s EHF EURO 2020 Qualifiers, this is the first time such a fund will be put in place in the women’s national team competitions.

Appointment to view in women’s club competitions

After the decision on the playing times in the men’s club competitions from the 2020/21 season onwards at the EXEC meeting in June, playing times in the DELO WOMEN’S EHF Champions League und the new Women’s European Handball League from 2020/21 onwards have also been set following consultation with TV and marketing partners.

WOMEN’S EHF Champions League matches will throw off at either 14:00 or 16:00 CET on Saturday and Sunday. The slot for matches in the European Handball League is either 16:00 or 18:00 CET, also on Saturday and Sunday.

A decision on a minimum arena capacity was postponed to the next EXEC meeting in November in order further analyse the current venue situation.

New competition for younger age category teams

The successful organisation of the summer’s younger age category events was noted. Emphasis was laid not only on the event’s top matches, such as the final of the Women’s 19 EHF EURO in Hungary which was played in front of 5,000 fans, but also to the fact that the EHF Championships continue to provide a high-level competition for the teams involved.

Furthermore, the EXEC praised the successful launch of the 'Respect Your Talent' campaign at this year's events (introduced by the Women's Handball Board) and confirmed that the initiative will be extended to the men's YAC events in 2020.

Positive feedback was also received for the first ‘YAC summer ranking’, an overview very much appreciated by the federations.

With this in mind, the EXEC approved a motion by the Competitions Commission that sees two new competitions on the younger age level being introduced.

• A competition in-between for the M18 (MU19) and W17 (WU18) in the same year of the World Championships for this age category will be implemented for those teams not qualified directly for the World Championship (e.g. teams ranked 12 to 16 in the EURO and the 3 second ranked teams in the championships). This competition shall serve as an additional possibility to promote to the next EURO or to stay in the EURO and not as an additional qualification to the respective World Championship.
• An additional competition for MU21 and WU20 teams in the same year of the World Championship for this age category will be implemented and shall serve as a ‘second chance’ to qualify for the MU21 or WU20 World Championship. This competition shall be played between the last ranked teams of the EURO and the championship winners (and/or 2nd ranked teams) which did not directly qualify for the World Championship.

Further motions regarding the regulations of younger age category events, relating to extra time as well to the draw if there are two organisers, were also approved by the EXEC.

EURO Qualifiers and ‘coach’s challenge’ in beach handball

The Executive Committee positively noted the increase of participating federations at the Beach Handball EURO 2019 at which 20 men’s and 20 women’s teams were playing.

However, with the rise of interest being very positive on the one hand, it was also noted that for organisational as well as for TV and marketing reasons the ideal playing system would be 16 + 16 teams.

The EXEC hence approved a motion that sees Beach Handball EURO Qualifiers being put in place by 2020 to reach a structure of 16 + 16 teams. The qualification tournaments are scheduled to take place in the years between the EUROs and parallel to the World Championships with the teams not taking part in the World Championship as such.

The EXEC also approved the motion that will see a ‘coach’s challenge’ introduced and tested as pilot project at the EHF Beach Handball Champions Cup which takes place in Catania at the end of October.  

Additional decisions

The Executive Committee confirmed that the matches being played at the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) as well at the Men’s 17 / Women’s 16 European Open are national team matches according to the IHF’s recognised list of international competitions.

The 2019 European Wheelchair Handball Nations’ Tournament has been awarded to the Croatian Handball Federation. It is scheduled to take place from 12 to 15 December in Zagreb.

The continuation of the SMART programmes in Finland (financial support for the digitalization of coaches’ education as well as for youth player programmes) and in Luxembourg (focus on ‘Handball-at-school’ and Young Referee Programme) was confirmed.

A new age category for the European Masters, 55+, will be implemented. The EXEC also awarded the tournament’s 2020 edition to Granollers, Spain.

With the relevant information at the hand, the Beneleague was formally approved for the 19/20 season.

Report of the EHF Finance Delegation

The EXEC was informed about the current status of the budgets for 2019 as well as for 2020.

The 2021 budget will be the EHF’s first which refers to the new EHF contract with Infront & DAZN and the EHFM/I&D agreement. Due to the new date of the EHF Ordinary Congress in April 2021 in Luxembourg, the Extraordinary EHF Congress in 2020, on the final weekend of the EHF EURO 2020, will have to approve the 2021 Budget.

Report of the EHF Marketing Advisory Board

The Executive Committee received information on the positive financial result of 2018/19 financial year for EHF Markting Gmbh which resulted in payment to the clubs to an amount more than double of the guaranteed reimbursement.

Report of the EHF Anti-Doping Unit

More than 130 doping controls have been carried out during the younger age category events this summer. Furthermore, between March and July 2019, more than 3,000 handball players have taken part in the WADA online education tool ‘ADeL’.

Venue for next EHF Executive Committee meeting

The EHF Executive Committee will meet next in Cologne, Germany, on 21 November 2019 on the occasion of the EHF Scientific Conference.