Court of Appeal rejects FTC protest

The EHF Court of Appeal has released a decision regarding the appeal filed by the club FTC Rail-Cargo Hungaria against the decision of the EHF delegate, acting as first instance body according to the 2014/15 Women’s EHF Champions League Regulations.

FTC Rail-Cargo Hungaria protested against the result of the match, arguing that the equalising goal of HC Leipzig during the extra time period should not have been allowed by the EHF referees.

The EHF Court of Appeal has decided to upheld the decision of first instance, consequently, the appeal is rejected and the result (38:39) of the Women’s EHF Champions League Qualification Tournament match: FTC Rail-Cargo Hungaria (HUN) vs. HC Leipzig (GER) which took place on 21 September 2014 is confirmed.

The EHF Court of Appeal decided in substance that “such decision based on the observation and judgement of the factual situation shall be regarded as a decision made by the EHF referees on the basis of their observations of facts or their judgements, i.e. a factual and also final decision of the EHF referees and not a disrespect of the Rules. The decision shall then not be regarded as an obvious error; the elements available to the EHF referees at the moment of the decision were not of nature to enable a different decision.

"In light of the foregoing, without regard to the alleged violations of the IHF Rules of the Game, the EHF Court of Appeal decides that the decision to allow the goal taken by the EHF referees on the playing court in this case is a factual decision based on their own observations and therefore in this case shall be final.”

In line with the EHF Legal Regulations and the Women’s EHF Champions League 2014/15 Regulations, a statement of claim may be filed by any of the parties to the EHF Court of Arbitration (ECA) within 21 days.

ECA is an independent court of arbitration solving disputes between handball related persons and entities once all EHF internal remedies have been exhausted. The disputes brought to the ECA are settled by an arbitral chamber composed of three arbitrators, part of the ECA list of arbitrators, following a specific procedure defined in the Rules of Arbitration for ECA. Further information can be found on the ECA.

Further information can be found on the ECA website.