St. Wolfgang prepares for the start of Congress

The 13th Ordinary EHF Congress begins on Thursday, 17 November and will continue through to Friday afternoon.

Complete coverage, include a live blog, will be available on the 25YearsEHF.eurohandball.com website and EHF social media channels from Thursday at 9:00 hrs.

The programme is set out below (all timings are approximate and subject to change ):

Thursday, 17 November 2016

09:00 – 12:00 hrs – Congress Part I (Reports)
14:00 – 17:00 hrs – Congress Part II (Elections)

Friday, 18 November 2016

09:00 – 12:30 hrs – Congress Part III (Motions/Finances)
14:00 – 17:00 hrs* – Congress Part IV (Awarding of Congress, EHF Awards, Closing Address from the EHF President

* Afternoon session if required, otherwise items will also be dealt with during the morning session. 

All change at the top

The European Handball Federation will enter a new era with the Congress in St. Wolfgang as many familiar faces step down or retire from the sport.

In the EHF Exectutive Committee (EXEC) alone, eight of 11 positions will see new people taking up positions.

For the position of the EHF President, EHF Secretary General Michael Wiederer is the only candidate to succeed Jean Brihault who has been in office since 2012.

There are two candidates for the Vice President’s position, Predrag Boskovic from Montenegro and Anrijs Brencans from Latvia.

The Dane Henrik La Cour is the only candidate for the treasurer’s position. Bozidar Djurkovic from Serbia and Ernö Kelecsenyi, who has been nominated by the Slovakian Handball Federation, are in the running for the chairman’s role in the Competitions Commission.

Jerzy Eliasz is the sole candidate for the Methods Commission and Sinisa Ostoic challenges the current chairman Ole R. Jørstad in the Beach Handball Commission.

For the three member positions within the EXEC, there are 10 candidates.

The list has been reduced with the withdrawal of Damir Poljak (CRO), Sergey Shishkarev (RUS) and given the fact that Henrik La Cour (DEN) is the only candidate for the treasurer’s position.

The complete list of candidates can be downloaded>>

Motions to Congress

Five motions will be presented to Congress for their consideration. These include three from the EHF, one from the Austrian Handball Federation and one from the Norwegian Handball Federation.

Motion 1 - the EHF proposes that the principle of gender representation agreed at the EHF Congress in Monaco for the Executive Committee and technical commissions also be extended to the federation’s legal bodies.

Motion 2 - deals with changes to the nomination procedures to the EHF Court of Arbitration (ECA). The proposed changes would allow recognised stakeholders (clubs, leagues and players) to nominate arbitrators and, in a second part to the motion, enable the Professional Handball Board to propose one of the three members oft he EHF Court of Arbitration Council (ECC).

Motion 3 - the final motion from the EHFproposes a change to ensure a comprehensive representation of all interests within Europe – specifically all regions and performance levels – with the EHF Executive given the remit to nominate two further members in case regions/performance levels are not represented.

Motion 4 – from the Austrian Handball Federation asks Congress to approve an increase in the age limits for election. The proposal would increase the age limit for election to the Executive Committee from 68 to 72.

Motion 5 – put forward by the Norwegian Handball Federation, the motion aims to promote gender equality in handball. It proposes that any EHF body consisting of two to four members should have both genders represented and that in any body of more than five members both genders must be represented by a minimum of two persons. 

Next Congress in Warsaw or Edinburgh

Two nations, Poland and Scotland/Great Britain have submitted applications to organise the next EHF Congress, which would take place 21/22 June 2018.