Bosnia Herzegovina lodge appeal

The Handball Federation of Bosnia Herzegovina lodged an appeal on 20 February 2018 against the first instance decision of the EHF Court of Handball dated 16 February 2018.

The decision came as the result of a protest from the Swiss Handball Federation following their sixth round Group 6 qualification match for the 2019 Men’s World Championship against Bosnia Herzegovina on 13 January 2018.

The protest related to the eligibility to participate by one of the players of the Bosnia Herzegovina team, whose name did not appear on the match report signed by both teams ahead of the match. Bosnia Herzegovina won the game 21:15.

The EHF Court of Handball decided to award the match 10:0 to Switzerland, which also meant that Switzerland and not Bosnia Herzegovina qualified for the next round and meet Norway in the play-offs.

In reaching its decision, the EHF Court of Handball found that responsibility for ensuring the accuracy of the match report, and therefore confirming the list of players eligible to play in the match, lies with the match officials of the respective national federations.

Having signed the match report, the official from Bosnia Herzegovina confirmed its accuracy and the federation was responsible for the fact that an ineligible player took part in the match.

Based on the documents received, the president of the Court of Appeal confirmed the admissibility of the appeal and proceedings have been opened.

The EHF will issue a further statement once the decision of the Court of Appeal is available.