New approach to officiating as EHF EURO expands

With the final tournament draw for the Men’s EHF EURO 2020 scheduled for Friday, 28 June in Vienna, the EHF has released information on its plans for officiating at the event.

The enlargement of the men’s event from 16 to 24 teams from 2020 necessitates the need for more referees and delegates.

Also, the fact that three nations – Sweden, Austria and Norway – will play host to six preliminary rounds means a rethink of how officials will be deployed across the event.

At a meeting of the EURO Delegation on the fringes of the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in Cologne, the new approach was agreed.

Preliminary Round in Sweden, Austria and Norway

18 pairs of referees will be nominated (three pairs for each preliminary round group) and 18 delegates.

Following the completion of the preliminary round, the number of referees and delegates will be reduced: 10 or 12 referee pairs (depending on the final tournament draw, with the number to be defined together with the nominations for the event) and eight delegates will leave the championship.

Main Round in Sweden and Austria

The main round will be played with 12 referee pairs and 10 delegates.

As a replacement for those referees having left the championship, additional referee pairs will join the championship at this stage for the first time (between four and six pairs).

Final Weekend in Stockholm, Sweden

Five pairs of referees will be nominated to the final weekend. The remaining seven referee pairs will return home.

10 delegates (coming from the main round) will be in action in Stockholm in order to cover the five matches over the final weekend.

Preparing Europe’s officiating elite

Alongside the new approach to the deployment of referees and delegates at the event, there will also be a change to the preparation of officials as part of the EHF’s new ‘European Handball Officiating’ programme, which will be introduced from 1 July 2019.

The pre-event EHF EURO course, normally taking place in late August ahead of the EURO, will be replaced by new measures to ensure that both referees and delegates are full prepared for the event.

These will include e-learning units and selected video training tutorials, which be made available on EHF platforms.

Guidance from mental and physical trainers will be available as well as individual feedback on performance in matches ahead of the EHF EURO, with the objective of facilitating a tailor-made training programme for each of the nominated referee pairs.

All delegates and referees nominated for the Men’s EHF EURO 2020, including those referee pairs only nominated from the main round onwards, will take part in a preparation course for referees and delegates, taking place in Vienna in the days leading up to the start of the championship in January 2020.