Opening day of EHF Congress begins

The 13th Ordinary EHF Congress has opened in the Austrian town of St. Wolfgang in Austria.

Coinciding with the federation’s 25th anniversary celebrations, the event signals the start of a new era with elections to be held for all politcal positions for the next four year period.

Almost 90 representatives of  the national federations and many more guests will be present in the congress hall in Scalaria to play their part in the two-day event.

The Congress was opened by the EHF President, Jean Brihault, who said that the event was an opportunity to reflect on the past but also to look to the future with a new team to be elected.

He went on to thank all those involved in the sport during his term in office for their dedicated hard work and friendship.

The floor was also passed to EHF partners for their opening words to Congress.

Dr. Hassan Moustafa, IHF President; Stephan Herth, Executive Director Summer Sports at Infront Sports & Media and Adam Roczek, President of the European University Sports Association all addressed delegates.

Looking to Congress business, it was confirmed that 49 member nations and two associated member nations were present.

The only absent nation was Bosnia Herzegovia. 49 nations are therefore eligible to vote and once again, there is an electronic voting system in place at the Congress.

The morning session concluded with extensive reports from Jean Brihault in his role as EHF President, the EHF Secretary General, Michael Wiederer; Leopold Kalin, Chairman of the Competitions Commission; Jerzy Eliasz, Chairman of the Methods Commission; Ole Jorstad, Chairman of the Beach Handball Commission; Rui Coehlo, President EHF Court of Handball; Markus Plazer, President of the EHF Court of Appeal and Jörgen Holmqvist, President of the EHF Court of Arbitration Council.

The EHF Treasurer, Ralf Dejaco, together with the federation’s chief finance officer, also gave a report on the 2014/15 finances.

In conclusion to the morning session, Wolfgang Gremmel presented the findings of the Comptrollers with a recommendation that Congress approve the conduct of the EHF Executive Committee. Congress duly voted and agreed to the approval.

The afternoon session on the opening day starts at 14:15 hrs will deal with the elections to the EHF's internal bodies.

Full live coverage of the event can be followed on the live blog of the event's official website at 25YearsEHF.eurohandball.com.