30.09.2014, 07:30 INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK: EHF Secretary General Michael Wiederer analyses the EHF Congress decision to expand the Men's EHF EURO events from 16 to 24 teams from 2020, the economic impact and what this means for the Women’s EHF EURO events |
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Wiederer: "Concept gives smaller nations access to the honey pot"It was a busy weekend for the European Handball Federation and its member federations at the EHF Congress in Dublin on 19/20 September. With a large number of different motions being voted on, some milestones for the future of European handball have been set. eurohandball.com talked to Wiederer in the week following the congress, asking him about his analysis and in particular his opinion on the expansion of the Men’s EHF EURO events from 16 to 24 teams.
eurohandball.com: A good week has passed since the congress. What is the EHF’s analysis of the event in Dublin?
eurohandball.com: What are the milestones that have been put in place at the congress? Another milestone was the expansion of the Men’s EHF EURO events from 16 to 24 teams now already starting in 2020. The motion to expand the tournament received 100 per cent support. I can’t think of any other motion in congress history that achieved this. The feedback we received for the project could not have been more any more positive. As a third milestone the new structure for the younger age category European Championships also received a lot of positive feedback.
eurohandball.com: What does this expansion mean for the Men's EHF EURO events? This means that nations, that now see that they have a realistic chance to qualify, can straight away start preparing their teams. We know of some medium-sized and smaller member federations, who haven’t been part of an EHF EURO to date, that they tell their young generations, their players who are 18 today: ‘This is for you’. So we are expecting some immediate impact when it comes to the development of young players.
eurohandball.com: The Men's EHF EURO 2020 will be hosted by Sweden, Austria and Norway. What does a field of 24 teams mean for the events from 2022 onwards? The option to have three hosts gives us the chance to involve smaller handball nations. For example, Latvia, who have one big arena, can now organise one preliminary round phase with two groups. This same is true for, another example, Luxembourg. We now have the chance to come up with an EHF EURO concept that involves strong markets combined with smaller nations that previously did not have access to the honey pot. eurohandball.com: The number of participating nations so far will only been increased for the Men’s EHF EURO events. What is the plan for the Women’s EHF EURO events? Michael Wiederer: There is no automatic connection between the two. We have to conduct a thorough analysis of women’s handball and based on this we can internally start discussions about the structure of the Women’s EHF EURO events.
eurohandball.com: What about the economic impact of the 'new' Men’s EHF EURO? However, in the talks about 24 participating nations instead of 16 already in 2020 the Swedes did the math and came to the conclusion that it would be worthwhile for them – even though they were the favourites to host a 16-team tournament – to stage one part of the group phase, one part of the main round and the finals. Otherwise they wouldn't have become part of the project. For Austria and Norway it seems to be worthwhile as well, but the fact that Sweden have been the project’s motor, means that we have a living project and not an artificial one. The three nations entered voluntarily, and this makes us think that it makes sense. We think that having 24 teams is economically worthwhile for the organisers as well as for the EHF when it comes to spectators and TV markets.
eurohandball.com: Two motions, one about the age limit for elections, one about gender equality, were withdrawn, but a task force shall be set up to deal with both topics. What does this mean? Austria’s motion regarding the age limit for elections – back in 1991 the EHF started with 65, this was changed to 68 in 1994 and since there hasn’t been any change, while many other sport federations don’t have any age limit – was submitted with this background in mind. However, such a topic needs an exact analysis because a two-third-majority is needed for its approval and you can’t just deal with it in quick fashion. Norway’s motion to improve the situation of gender equality was a symbolic one that was submitted to set the base from which the topic can be worked on further. At the congress both federations withdrew their motions and suggested that a task force for both topics shall be set up and that an extraordinary congress in the ‘gap year’ 2015 can be organised, just dealing with the respective statutes and structure, so that the prerequisites are there for the election congress in 2016. I consider this a positive sign by the submitting nations as well as by congress itself, that it deals with the topic and goes in this direction.
eurohandball.com: A motion that the member federations did not improve was related to an increase of competition fees by 25 per cent. What is the impact of this decision? TEXT: EHF / ts |
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