The EHF EURO referees like you have never seen them before

14 pairs of referees have been named by the European Handball Federation on a preliminary basis for the Men's EHF EURO 2018 in Croatia.

Following the 2017 Referee / Delegate Seminar which took place in Vienna from 1 to 3 September, 12 of them will eventually receive the nomination for the final tournament.

However, before this decision is made, we asked them to have some fun in front of the camera and come up with some signature poses. Have a look at the photos below to see how creative some pairs were. 

These two are ready for the EHF EURO 2018. Matija Gubica and Boris Milosevic from Croatia.

Always in a good mood! Gjorgji Nachevski and Slave Nikolov from FYR Macedonia.

And creative enough for a second pose.

 Pensive. Zigmars Sondors and Renars Licis from Latvia.

Really?

Serious all the way through. Lars Geipel and Marcus Helbig from Germany.

Looking for each other. Duarte Santos and Ricardo Fonseca from Portugal.

Still looking.

Has anyone ever tried to replace Bud Spencer and Terence Hill?

Arthur Brunner and Morad Salah from Switzerland would put their hands up.

Second career choice: Acting? Good job, guys!

On a more serious note the seminar included a physical fitness assessment test for the referees but also paid attention to their mental skills and methods with an emphasis on 'emotions and performance', body language and 'stress performance'.

A further emphasis was on on-court officiating with particular reference to the new IHF Rules of the Game valid as of 1 July 2016. 

The list of external lecturers included psychologist Johann Ingi Gunnarsson. The Icelandic, who has worked with the referees already in the lead-up and during the EHF EUROs in 2012, 2014 and 2016, took over the mental preparation.

Also present was EHF Lecturer and Master Coach Marko Sibila who analysed the participating teams and their style of play ahead of the EHF EURO. For more information also refer to the seminar info brochure.

The pairs nominated are

• Andrei Gousko and Siarhei Repkin (Belarus)
• Matija Gubica and Boris Milosevic (Croatia)
• Vaclav Horacek and Jiri Novotny (Czech Republic)
• Martin Gjeding and Mads Hansen (Denmark)
• Oscar Raluy and Angel Sabroso (Spain)
• Stevann Pichon and Laurent Reveret (France)
• Lars Geipel and Marcus Helbig (Germany)
• Zigmars Sondors and Renars Licis (Latvia)
• Vaidas Mazeika and Mindaugas Gatelis (Lithuania)
• Gjorgji Nachevski and Slave Nikolov (FYR Macedonia)
• Duarte Santos and Ricardo Fonseca (Portugal)
• Sorin-Laurentiu Dinu and Constantin Din (Romania)
• Evgeny Zotin and Nikolay Volodkov (Russia)
• Arthur Brunner and Morad Salah (Switzerland)

The Men's EHF EURO 2018 takes place from 12 to 28 January in Croatia.

The tournament will be played in Split, Porec, Zagreb and Varazdin. For the main round the competition moves to Zagreb and Varazdin before the finals will be played in Arena Zagreb on the final weekend.

All photos: (c) Uros Hocevar