18.09.2020, 03:30
EHF Executive Committee gathers in Vienna

NEWS: On the fringes of the 12th Secretaries General Conference and the European Handball Convention, the members of the EHF Executive Committee convened in Vienna

The Executive Committee gathered in Vienna on Friday for its September meeting, the first one including physical presence of its members since the January meeting in Stockholm at the Men’s EHF EURO 2020.

The meeting took place on the fringes of the 12^th Secretaries General Conference and the European Handball Convention which saw numerous representatives of the EHF’s Member Federations convening in the Austrian capital, marking another important step in the EHF’s “Back in the Game” approach.

The EXEC was presented with a number of reports including those of the Secretary General, the Legal Management, the Finance Delegation, the Marketing Advisory and Club Boards and the EHF’s Technical Commissions, and a number of key decisions were reached.

Finances

The updated 2020 budget in the light of the support measures for the federations was presented in a detailed form. The process will continue taking into consideration the adaptations for the oragnisation of the Women’s EHF EURO 2020 in Norway and Denmark.

Women’s EHF EURO 2020

Regarding the Women’s EHF EURO 2020 which is set to take place from 3 to 20 December in Norway and Denmark, the Executive Committee confirmed the adapted venue concept with two preliminary and one main round in Denmark (unchanged in Frederikshavn and Herning) and a one-venue concept in Norway (two preliminary, one main round and the final weekend in Trondheim.)

According to the support measure concept, funds are made available for the participants, the releasing clubs and the organisers.

It was underlined in the process that the motions are necessary and requested solely to meet the needs of the particular circumstances due to the Covid-19 pandemic. They are exclusively valid for the Women’s EHF EURO 2020 and no permanent integration into the EHF EURO Regulations shall take place.

With this information at hand, the EXEC approved the following:

• To comply with the testing regime, all team players and officials must arrive in their hotel in the respective EHF EURO venue two days prior to the first match day – at 17:00 hrs at the latest.
• The limited right of the National Federations to replace the players on the official squad list has been lifted in case the replacement is due to a Covid-19 consequence. The requested replacement(s) are subject to the approval of the EHF Tournament Management.
• In the light of the current health situation and given that it is not possible to anticipate all the implications that the exceptional situation due to Covid-19 may have, all necessary decisions regarding the implementation and the continuation of the competition and the relating activities have been assigned to the Tournament Management.
• Furthermore, and taking into consideration that a sportive decision on court is always preferable, the EXEC decided to keep the 5/6 placement match as part of the playing schedule, as the match may be decisive for the direct qualification to the Women’s World Championship 2021 in Spain.

Bidding process for the EHF EUROs in 2026 and 2028

The Executive Committee took note of the ongoing preparations of the awarding process for the EHF EUROs in 2026 and 2028 and were presented with several amendments to the bidding documents, suggested by the EHF EURO Delegation, to further professionalise and improve the staging of the EHF’s flagship national team events.

In detail, the investment strategy and the financial pillars, the event conditions (e.g. venue system, minimum spectator capacities, event merchandise, venue dressing and event entertainment) and the conditions for the participating teams were discussed.

The conditions for the players shall be improved to match the evolution of the rest of the event standards. For example, it is suggested that the arrival day will be two (instead of one day) days prior to the commencement of the first match day of each respective group. Also, single rooms for the players shall be made available upon request of the participating federation.

It was also underlined that sustainability and a ‘green event approach’ should be at the core of each future bid.

New Anti-Doping Regulations

As part of the report from the legal management, the EXEC was presented with a revised version of the EHF Regulations for Anti-Doping. The revised version incorporates changes based on the new World Anti-Doping Code which will come into force on 1 January 2021. The EXEC approved the new EHF Regulations for Anti-Doping which will subsequently be published.

Beach Handball EURO 2021

The National Federation of Bulgaria with Varna as host city and the National Federation of Italy with Pescara had submitted respective bids to host the YAC 19 and the Senior Beach Handball EURO 2021.

Outlining that Bulgaria is an experienced organiser of different indoor handball events and that the organising committee showed great efforts to get involved in the organisation of beach handball event for the first time, the Executive Committee awarded the right to host the event to Bulgaria.

The YAC 19 event is scheduled to take place from 8 to 11 July 2021; the Beach Handball EURO 2021 is set for 13 to 18 July 2021.

Additional beach handball motions

Following a motion of the Beach Handball Commission, the EXEC approved the age limits of beach handball referees and delegates.

The age limits are as follows

• Beach handball referees: latest entry age 35 years / exit 50 years
• Beach handball delegates: latest entry age 45 years / exit 68 years

The EXEC also confirmed the eligibility of teams for the ebt Finals 2021. Due to restrictions following the pandemic, only 13 ebt tournaments were played this season (compared to 64 in 18/19). Therefore, the ebt Finals 2021 will be played following the ranking of 18/19 and the first two best-ranked female and male teams of the current season will be included, with overall 16 + 16 teams to be invited to the tournament.

The EXEC took note of activities such as the “Beach Handball Forum”, a new online meeting format, held in May for the first time, to discuss different topics regarding the future development of beach handball among experts all around Europe. The next forum discussion will take place in October.

The launch of the new beach handball website, as part of the EHF’s Home of Handball approach, alongside the new brand identity is scheduled for 25 September.

From the Methods Commission

A SMART programme with Israel (focus on youth handball and recruitment of young players) as well as a the first SMART programme with Russia (focus on basic handball and beach handball) were confirmed by the EXEC.

Approval was also given to organise the postponed European Wheelchair Handball Championship in 2021. They will be followed by European Championships in all even years as originally planned. à continuing the cooperation with the IHF to have joint European/world tournament.

The EHF will support the organisation of the European Handball Grassroot Online Summit which will take place from 27 to 29 October. The aim of the summit is to deliver expertise from grassroot specialists to the basis of handball. Main topics are children’s handball, wheelchair handball and school handball

In November 2020, a hackathon will be organised based on KINEXON data of the EHF EURO 2020 and in cooperation with the “Fraunhofer Center for International Management and Knowledge Economy”

Women’s 19 EHF Championship 2021

The EXEC confirmed a change of venue for the Women’s 19 EHF Championship 2021 in Italy which will now be held in Pescara and Chieti and not in Lignano Sabbiadoro as originally envisaged.

Ordinary EHF Congress in 2021

Towards the end of the meeting, the EHF Executive Committee was informed about the ongoing preparations for the next Ordinary EHF Congress which is set to take place on 23 and 24 April in Luxembourg.  The timetable for document delivery, the registration of nominations as well as motions to the Congress were laid down. The Info 1 document, the online registration link and the electoral forms will be sent to the federations on 23 October.

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