European Handball Federation (EHF) and European Handball Federation Marketing GmbH confirmed their participation in the 7th ordinary assembly of FORUM CLUB HANDBALL eV. Beside EHF and EHFM the European Professional Handball Leagues Association (EPHLA) and the TOYOTA Handball-Bundesliga (HBL) will be present as guests.

The second part of the FCH meeting will deal with the structure of the various European Cups in the future. HBL insists that European Cup matches shall be played on weekdays. This position is supported be EPHLA. The assembly will discuss the merger of EHF Cup and Cup Winners Cup and the future of Regional leagues. GB

All European Top Clubs are here with invited to the 7^th ordinary General Assembly of FORUM CLUB HANDBALL (FCH), taking place on the final weekend of the EHF Euro 2012 in Belgrade/SRB.

This invitation is directed to the

• top 24 clubs of the VELUX EHF Championsleague (CL) season 2011/12
• top 16 clubs of the EHF Cup season 2011/12
• top 16 clubs of the Cup-Winners Cup season 2011/12
• top 16 clubs of the Challenge Cup season 2011/12

and all National champions of season 2010/11.

Date:

The General Assembly will take place on Saturday, 28.1.2012, 10 – 14:30 hours.

Venue:

Hyatt Regency Belgrad, PO Box 067, Milentija Popovica 5, Belgrad, Serbien 11070, Tel.: +381 11 301 1234    Fax: +381 11 311 2234

The program will be as follows:

27.1.2011: Arrival and check-in at the hotel during the day

Visit of the Semi-Final matches (17:45h and 20:15h) of the EHF Euro 2012

Dinner of the FCH representatives

28.1.2011:  10 – 11:30h Part I, 7^th General Assembly

11:30 – 12 hours          break

12 – 14:30 hours          Part II, 7^th General Assembly

14:30 hours Departure

Agenda of the 7^th General Assembly:

Part I

1. Welcome
2. Reports IHF, EHF, Professional Handball Board (PHB), Men’s Club Marketing Board (MCMB)
3. Discussion
4. Motions
5. Various

Part II

1. European Cup in the future

All participants are kindly requested to make proposals for the agenda.

Costs: FCH will cover the costs for one representative per club for hotel (one night, Fr/Sa), one ticket for the Semifinals on Friday
and for the meeting on Saturday.

The participants have to cover their own travel costs.

Deadline for registration:

All clubs are kindly requested to register by e-mail to office@forumclubhandball.com until 23^rd December 2011.

Further information will be provided during the next days. Please do not hesitate to contact the FCH office for any question. GB

Today the 6th FORUM CLUB HANDBALL (FCH), the General Assembly of European Top Handball Clubs, decided to become a legal body. The Non-Profit-Organisation (NPO) will have the status of a German ‘Verein’ (Club). The board was confirmed as elected during the meeting on 29.5.2010. All former decision of FCH were appoved. More details will be published during the next days. GB

Today TOYOTA Handball-Bundesliga and the German Handball Federation (DHB) announced a contract about a long term cooperation until 2016. The contract contains new and interesting elements: for the time the release of players to the national team is limited to 60 days per year (Olympic years 75 days). The German Federation will support the wish of TOYOTA HBL to reduce the number of big tournaments from 5 to 4 within one Olympic cycle (4 years) and to place all European Cup matches on weekdays.

According to the press release TOYOTA HBL will pay an anual fee to the German Federation for various services. The German federation will pay a fee for the release of players to the German National team. The contract expires on 30th June 2016. GB

On 29.6.2011 representatives of ECA, Euroleague Basket and FCH met in order to discuss points of common interest. The participants exchanged information about the challenges in European Football, Basketball and Handball. GB

One year ago, on the weekend of the 2010 VELUX EHF Championsleague Final4, EHF and FCH signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)’, regulating the relation between EHF and Clubs.

In the meantime various club representatives took part in meetings of the Club Marketing Board (CMB), Professional Handball Board (PHB), EHF and IHF Congress. Now European Top Clubs were informed about the results. The CMB is taking care of the economical questions of the European Cups, especially of the CL. The PHB is taking care of political questions, such as playing system or insurance of player salaries.

A common working group of EHF, IHF, club, league and federation representatives is working to find an insurance solution for all National team matches.

 A major topic of the meetings was the European Cup playing systems. EHF Cup and Cup Winners Cup will be merged as of season 12/13.

Important clubs like Chekhov, Ciudad Real and Zagreb want to change the VELUX EHF Championsleague (CL) playing system in order to give more guaranteed matches to the participants. The would appreciate a league system.

Other important clubs like Flensburg, Montpellier or Kolding prefer to stay with the current system. A clear majority for a change of the system was not reached. A standing working group will study the issue and work out concrete proposals for the next meeting.

The lac of spectators in some matches of the CL was not regarded to be the consequence of the playing system. The management of European Top Clubs shall be improved by an educational system for club managers. A pilot project will be organized in autumn 2011.

European Top will gather in Cologne/GER this weekend in order to discuss matters of interest for European Professional Handball.

The FORUM CLUB HANDBALL (FCH) – HEART OF THE GAME board will report about the results of earlier Professional Handball Board (PHB) and Club Marketing Board (CMB) meetings.

For the first time in Handball history a club representative was invited to the IHF Congress in Marrakesh/Marocco. GCH President Marin will report on the Congress.

The major point of the agenda will be the discussion about a future EUROLEAGUE HANDBALL. During the last FCH meeting there was a common understanding on this issue. All club representatives expect the EUROLEAGUE HANDBALL to be reality in 10 years from now. The various stages of development are unclear and will be matter of discussion.

Yesterday European Top Clubs (last 24 CL, last 16 EHF Cup, last 16 Cup Winners Cup and last 8 Challenge Cup + all National Champions) were invited to participate in the 5th FORUM CLUB HANDBALL, taking place on occasion of the EHF VELUX Championsleague Final 4 event on  28th May in Cologne. For more details please click our page ‘Forum Club Handball’ on the left.  GB

On 29.5.2010 European Handball Federation (EHF) and FORUM CLUB HANDBALL (FCH) signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ (MoU) – a milestone in the history of the relation between clubs and federations. Now work started to fill the document with content. As one major point a small working group began to develop a program for the education of club managers in Europe. Further details will be submitted. GB

On 11.3.2011 the President of the International Handball Federation (IHF), Dr. Hassan Moustafa invited Joan Marin (BM Renovalia Ciudad Real) to the upcoming IHF Congress in Marrakesh. Marin is Vice-President of FORUM CLUB HANDBALL (FCH) and President of GROUP CLUB HANDBALL EEIG (GCH).
For the first time during the presidency of Moustafa a leading club representative is officially invited to the assembly of the highest body in world handball. The invitation is one of the outcomes of the first meeting between FCH and IHF which took place in February 2011. GB