EHF Executive Committee meeting in Krakow

On the fringes of the draw for the Final Tournament of the Men’s EHF EURO 2016, the EHF Executive Committee held its 125th meeting at the invitation of the Polish Handball Federation.

The meeting took place over two days 19-20 June 2015 and dealt with a range of issues ahead of the new 2015/16 season, with a particular focus on the allocation of places for the VELUX EHF Champions League and Women’s EHF Champions League.

Reports and finances

Proceedings opened with a number of reports, including from the EHF Anti-doping Unit, confirming that there had not been any positive doping tests in the past season; from the Secretary General, Michael Wiederer; from the EHF Treasurer, Ralf Dejaco, who informed the meeting that the accounts for the 2014 financial year had now been closed as well as reports from the various technical commissions.

The EHF Executive Committee was also presented with a summary of current legal cases.

Following a meeting of the chairs of each of the legal bodies in April 2015, the EHF Executive Committee confirmed that a motion would be made at the Extraordinary Congress to take place in November, proposing that the EHF Court of Arbitration would have a new composition with involvement of representatives of stakeholder groups.

Additionally, there were proposals for changes to the EHF Code of Conduct and a change to the legal procedures in the final stages of major events.

EHF Marketing GmbH

The EHF Executive Committee was informed on the reports and decisions of the EHFM Advisory Boards and the signing of contracts by EHF Marketing with the VELUX Group, title sponsor of the VELUX EHF Champions League, and the City of Cologne for the continued organisation of the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in the city.

It was noted that in addition to the contract signed with MP & Silva in 2013 for the media rights to the EHF’s top club competitions, EHF Marketing has now concluded three contracts with major partners through to 2020.

Infront

Together with its long-term partner for media and marketing of the EHF EURO Events, Infront Sports and Media, the EHF is working on final preparations for the Final Tournament in Poland from 15 to 31 January 2016.

Additionally, Infront and the EHF are developing new models of marketing the EHF EURO Events, including the development of fan villages and a new presenting sponsor package as well as looking at issues around the further development of the product.

EHF Boards and stakeholders

Reports from the meetings of the EHF Boards and stakeholders were discussed, and the EHF Executive Committee was informed that the EHF leadership had attended the general assemblies of various interest groups during the Women’s EHF FINAL4 in Budapest and the VELUX EHF Champions League in Cologne.

Beach handball

The 2016 YAC European Beach Handball Championships were awarded to Nazaré, Portugal. The event will take place 8-10 July 2015. The town is one of the most popular seaside resort on the Costa de Prata.

Awarding of 2016 YAC events

Following a decision of Congress to delegate the awarding of the new format Younger Age Category events in 2016, to the EHF Executive Committee, decisions were reached at the meeting in Krakow.

Eight nations had provided bids for the events, which will be played in summer 2016: Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Georgia, Hungary, Israel, Lithuania and FYR Macedonia.

On the basis of evaluations and site visits, the EHF Executive awarded the events as follows:

2016 EHF M20 EURO – awarded to Denmark – the event will be played in Kolding and Vamdrup (arena yet to be confirmed)

2016 EHF M18 EURO – awarded to Croatia – the event will be played in Zagreb and Koprivnica

2016 EHF M18 Championship – awarded to Bulgaria (with 11 teams), Lithuania (with eight teams) and Georgia (with eight teams).

VELUX EHF Champions League 2015/16

The line-up for the new season in the VELUX EHF Champions League and Women’s EHF Champions League was confirmed.

Following the recommendations of a consultation group, consisting of Leopold Kalin, Club Competitions Commission Chairman, Joan Marin, representing the clubs as President of Forum Club Handball together with EHF and EHF Marketing representatives, and on the basis of points assigned to all clubs in a criteria system, the final composition of the competition was agreed.

An overview can be found on the eurohandball.com website.

Women’s EHF Champions League 2015/16

The participating clubs in the Women’s EHF Champions League were also agreed for the coming season.

Full information can be found on eurohandball.com. The draw for both the men's and women's competitions will take place in Vienna on Friday, 26 June 2015.

Conference of Presidents / Extraordinary Congress

The EHF Executive Committee confirmed that following the request of member nations, an Extraordinary Congress will take place on the occasion of the Conference of President, already scheduled for 14 November 2015.

The event will take place in Bucharest, Romania, in cooperation with the Romanian Handball Federation.

The Extraordinary Congress will deal with the statutes relating to democratic representation on the basis of the proposals from the task force formed following the Congress in Dublin, including the issues of age, gender and positions within the EHF Committees, Commissions, and Boards.

IHF Congress change of date

The EHF Execuitve noted the change to the venue and scheduling of the IHF Congress, which had been planned for 4-7 June 2015 in Budapest, and will now take place in Sochi, Russia from 6 to 9 November 2015, a few days before the EHF Conference of Presidents / Extraordinary Congress.

EHF EURO 2016 Qualification

The EHF Executive was informed that the matches between Russia and Ukraine on 10/11 June 2015 were carried out successfully in Minsk and thanked the leadership of the Handball Federation of Belarus for their support in organising the matches in a neutral venue.

EHF EURO 2016

The EHF Executive approved a document detailing task distribution for the upcoming EHF EURO in Poland in January 2016. It also confirmed the organisation of a workshop on the weekend 28/30 August for top referees and delegates nominated for EHF EURO 2016.

Next meeting

At the conclusion of the meeting, the EHF President, Jean Brihault thanked the President of the Polish Handball Federation, Andrzej Kraśnicki, for the invitation and the kind hospitality of the federation.

He also praised the EHF EURO 2016 Organising Committee for the professional organisation of the Final Tournament Draw Event.

The EHF Executive Committee will meet in Trondheim, Norway 17-19 September 2015.