Referees named for Men’s EHF EURO 2020

The EHF has released the names of the 23 referee pairs set to officiate at the Men’s EHF EURO in January 2020.

Thanks to the expansion of the final tournament event from 16 to 24 teams from 2020 more match officials than ever before will be required.

Also, the fact that the event will be played with six preliminary rounds and across three nations - Sweden, Austria and Norway – has meant the need for a new approach to officiating and to the deployment of both referees and delegates.

In a new development and as part of the EHF’s new officiating programme introduced from 1 July 2019, referee nominations have been made by in-house by the federation’s newly-created Referee Operations Unit.

The names of a further 18 delegates for the event will be released in the coming weeks.

New EHF EURO officiating system explained:

Preliminary round in Sweden, Austria and Norway

18 pairs of referees have been nominated for the 36 matches of the preliminary round.

Following the completion of the preliminary round, the number of referees and delegates will be reduced.

11 referee pairs and eight delegates will leave the championship at this stage.

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 (five pairs).

Final weekend in Stockholm, Sweden

Five pairs of referees will be nominated for the final weekend. The remaining seven referee pairs will return home after the main round.

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

Preparations for EHF EURO 2020

There is also a change to the preparation of officials for the event.

The traditional pre-event EHF EURO course, normally taking place in late August ahead of the EURO, has been replaced by new measures to ensure that both referees and delegates are fully prepared.

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.

Referees nominated for the Men’s EHF EURO 2020

Preliminary Round 
* 11 referee pairs leaving the tournament after the completion of the preliminary round

AUT - Brkic Radojko / Jusufhodzic Andrei 
CRO - Jurinovic Dalibor / Mrvica Marko 
DEN - Kirkholm Madsen Jesper / Mortensen Henrik 
ESP - Marin Andreu / Garcia Serradilla Ignacio
FRA - Bonaventura Charlotte / Bonaventura Julie 
GER - Schulze Robert / Tönnies Tobias 
ISL - Eliasson Jonas / Palsson Anton
NOR - Jorum Lars / Kleven Havard
SLO - Lah Bojan / Sok David
SRB - Nikolic Nenad / Stojkovic Dusan
SVK - Badura Michal / Ondogrecula Jaroslav

Preliminary Round and Main Round
* seven referee pairs covering both preliminary and main rounds

CZE - Horacek Vaclav / Novotny Jiri 
LTU - Mazeika Vaidas / Gatelis Mindaugas
MKD - Nikolov Slave / Nachevski Gjorgji
MNE - Pavicevic Ivan / Raznatovic Milos
POR - Santos Duarte / Fonseca Ricardo
SUI - Brunner Arthur / Salah Morad
SWE - Kurtagic Mirza / Wetterwik Mattias

Main Round 
* five additional referee pairs joining the championship from the main round

CRO - Gubica Matija / Milosevic Boris
DEN - Gjeding Martin / Hansen Mads
ESP - Raluy Lopez Oscar / Sabroso Ramirez Angel
FRA - Pichon Stevann / Reveret Laurent 
GER - Geipel Lars / Helbig Marcus 

Final Weekend
* five referee pairs for the final matches to be nominated during the championship, seven remaining referee pairs will leave the championship