The Serbian Organisation Committee has undergone a long journey. The EHF Men’s European Handball Championship 2012 was announced in April 2007. At the EHF Congress 2008 in Vienna the majority of member federations voted for the Serbian bid.

Since then preparations have been undertaken in Serbia. On the competitive side, Qualification Phase 1 is already finished and Qualification Phase 2 is currently ongoing.

On 25 November 2010 the Serbian Handball Federation and the EHF signed the EHF EURO 2012 contract, cementing all the organisational details.

Infrastructure issues

Three playing halls will be modernised in order to meet the requirements for EHF events.

Plans for the complete renovation of playing hall Cair in Niš were presented to the officials shortly. The construction work will start in mid January 2011 and is planned to be completed in mid September 2011.

Belgrade’s Pionir hall will also see renovation work between the beginning of June and mid September 2011.

Parallel to renovation work at the Pionir, also the “Spens”, as the SPC Vojvodina is often called, in Novi Sad will be modernised.

Contract signing ceremony

The organisation contract was signed by EHF President Tor Lian, EHF Secretary Gemneral Michael Wiederer, the President of the Serbian Federation Velimir Marjanović and the Secretary General of the Serbian Federation, Božidar Đurković, at the occasion of a press conference in Belgrade’s Hyatt Hotel. Among the guests of honour was also Slaviša Zlatanović, state secretary for sports.

In his speech, RSS President Velimir Marjanović stated that the Serbian Federation is willing to organise “the best event ever”, whose pictures of a perfect tournament shall be broadcasted to 1.5 billion TV viewers worldwide.

EHF President Tor Lian underlined the good relationship between the Serbian Federation and the EHF over many years and made clear that regarding the EHF EURO 2012 a comprehensive preparation phase will be on the agenda of the next months.

Test games to be scheduled

On 8 January 2011, the Millennium Hall in Vršac will play host to a friendly game between Serbia and Austria. Other matches are planned to take place in Serbia in the period between 6 and 8 January 2011. The fixtures will be published at a later occasion.

Find more information on the tournament on the Official EHF EURO 2012 SRB website.