The 10th anniversary of FCH was celebrated on the fringes of the ordinary board meetings of the Men’s and the Women’s Forum Club Handball in Spain on 6^th November 2016.

FCH President Xavier O’Callaghan welcomed the guests, among them from the International Handball Federation President Dr. Hassan Moustafa, from the European Handball Federation President Jean Brihault and Secretary General Michael Wiederer, from the European Professional Handball Leagues Association President Frank Bohmann, from Euroleague Basketball Elisendra Salrach, from Women’s FCH President Zsolt Akos Jeney and the former FCH Presidents Tomaz Jersic and Joan Marin.

During a reception the guests were interviewed and described their relation to Forum Club Handball. In the following dinner Xavier O’Callaghan highlighted the situation in 2006 which lead to the foundation of the FCH predecessor Group Club Handball. Jean Brihault emphasized the unity of the handball family: There is no ‘you’ and ‘we’, there is only an ‘us’. Hassan Moustafa stressed in his speech the importance of the clubs for the handball system and showed his willingness to communicate with the clubs on a regular basis.  

In 2006 Group/Forum Club Handball was founded by 14 European Top Clubs. The 10^th anniversary will be celebrated during the Board meeting in Spain on 6^th November 2016.

Among others, the President of the International Handball Federation (IHF) Dr. Hassan Moustafa, the President of the European Handball Federation (EHF) Jean Brihault, the Secretary General of the EHF Michael Wiederer, the President of the European Professional Handball Leagues Association (EPHLA) Frank Bohmann and the President of the European Professional Handball Players Union (EHPU) Marcus Romminger confirmed their participation.

The 15th General Assembly of Forum Club Handball took place on the fringes of this years VELUX FINAL4 in Cologne. 35 clubs from 21 countries were present, among them the 4 VELUX FINAL4 participants from Kielce, Veszprem, Paris and Kiel, but also Athens, Celje, Dublin, Flensburg, Granollers, Hasselt, Kristianstad, London, Minsk, Skopje, Zaparozhe and Zagreb to mention some of them.

As the current FCH-President, Joan Marin, took over the position of the Managing Director in Spanish ASOBAL, he did not stand for re-election.

The newly elected FCH-Board reads as follows:

President: Xavier O’Callaghan (FC Barcelona/ESP)

Vice-President + Treasurer: Dierk Schmäschke (Flensburg/GER)

Vice-President: Bert Servaas (Kielce/POL)

Board member: Peter Leutwyler (Schaffhausen/SUI)

Board member: Karl Lofmark (Lund/SWE)

Deputy Board members:

Thorsten Storm (Kiel/GER)

Pep Blanchart (Granollers/ESP)

Robert Molines (Montpellier/FRA)

Gregor Planteu (Celje/SLO)

Magnus Clarke (Dublin/IRL)

FCH representatives:

EHF Competition Commission: Radek Wasiak (Kielce/POL)

EHF Professional Handball Board:

Xavier O’Callaghan (FCH President)

Gerd Butzeck (FCH Managing Director)

EHF Club Licensing Working Group

Joan Marin (FCH Honorary member)

EHFM Men’s Club Board:

Thorsten Storm (FCH Dep Board member)

Lasse Boesen (Kolding-Copenhagen/DEN)

EHFM Advisory Board

Gerd Butzeck (FCH Managing Director)

EHFM Financial Inspection

Peter Leutwyler (FCH Board member)

FCH Comptroller

Gerd Hofele (Göppingen/GER)

The meeting minutes will be delivered to the FCH Member clubs in June 2016. GB

The upcoming 15^th General Assembly will see elections for the FCH Board and offices. Candidates for the FCH Board have to be nominated 2 weeks prior to the meeting at the latest.

Candidates were nominated from the FCH member clubs as follows:

1. Election of the FCH Board member Nation ranked 1 GER

Candidate: Dierk Schmäschke/Flensburg

2. Election of the FCH Deputy Board member Nation ranked 1

Candidate: Thorsten Storm/Kiel

3. Election of the FCH Board member Nation ranked 2 ESP

Candidate: Xavi O’Callaghan/FC Barcelona

4. Election of the FCH Deputy Board member Nation ranked 2

Candidate: Pep Blanchard/Granollers

5. Election of the FCH Board member Nation ranked 3-6

(HUN, FRA, DEN, POL)

Candidate: DEN Jens Boesen/Kolding-Copenhagen

Candidate: POL Bertus Servaas/Kielce

6. Election of the FCH Deputy Board member Nation ranked 3-6

Candidate: FRA Robert Molines/Montpelier

7. Election of the FCH Board member Nation ranked 7-12

(SLO, MKD, ROU, SWE, CRO, RUS)

Candidate: SLO Gregor Planteu/Celje

Candidate: SWE Karl Lofmark/Lund

Candidate: SWE Nikolas Larsson/Kristianstad

8. Election of the FCH Dep Board member Nation ranked 7-12

9. Election of the FCH Board member Nation ranked 13-49

(POR, BLR, SUI, UKR, NOR, SRB, SVK, TUR, LUX, …)

Candidate: Peter Leutwyler (SUI)

Candidate: Magnus Clarke (IRL)

10. Election of the FCH Dep Board member Nation ranked 13-49

Candidate: Radu Miclaus (ENG)

Candidate: Nemanja Protic (SRB)

A candidate, being NOT elected as Board member, will become candidate Deputy Board member.

Gerd Butzeck/Election Supervisor

During the 5th General Assembly of Women Forum Club Handball the ordinary elections took place. As the outgoing President Ernö Kelecsenyi left his club Györi Audi ETO KC two months ago, he did not stand for re-election. The General Assembly expressed its thanks to Ernö Kelecsenyi who set up the structure of the Organisation.

The following persons were elected:

Board Member Nation ranked 1 (DEN): Thomas Hylle/Team Esbjerg/unanimous

Deputy Board Member Nation ranked 1 (DEN): Lars Gantzel/FC Midtjylland/unanimous

Board Member Nation ranked 2 (HUN): Zsolt Akos Jeney/Ferencvaros Budapest/unanimous

Deputy Board Member Nation ranked 2 (HUN): Lazlo Radványi/unanimous

2 Board Members Nations ranked 3-8 (RUS, NOR, GER, FRA, ROU, MNE):

Kay-Sven Hähner/HC Leipzig – GER

Per Christian Andersen/Larvik HK – NOR

2 Deputy Board members Nations ranked 3-8 (RUS, NOR, GER, FRA, ROU, MNE):

Stanislav Kulinchenko/HC Kuban – RUS

Bojana Popovic/ZRK Buducnost – MNE

Election Board Member Nations ranked 9-50 (AUT, MKD, SWE, SLO, CRO, ESP, …):

Gordana Naceva/Vardar Skopje – MKD

Election Deputy Board Member Nations ranked 9-50 (AUT, MKD, SWE, SLO, CRO, …):

Deja Ivanovic/RK Krim Mercator – SLO

The newly elected Board proposed candidates for the various WFCH offices as follows:

WFCH President: Zsolt Akos Jeney – Ferencvaros Budapest/HUN

2 WFCH Vice-Presidents: Kay-Sven Hähner/GER and Gordana Naceva/MKD

WFCH-Treasurer and EHFM finances inspection: Kay-Sven Hähner/GER

WFCH Comptroller: Jutta Ehrmann/GER

WHB-representative: Deja Invanovic/SLO

WCB-representatives:

Gordana Naceva/MKD, Kay-Sven Hähner/GER, Zsolt Akos Jeney/HUN, Thomas Hylle/DEN, Per Christian Andersen/NOR

All nominations were approved unanimously. GB

During the common board Meeting in Spain, the presidents of Men’s Forum Club Handball Joan Marin and Women’s Forum Club Handball Ernö Kelecsenyi prolonged the cooperation of the two organisations until June 2018.

With the support of FCH, 17 Bundesliga-Clubs won the 1^st instance of the court case against German Handball Federation (DHB) and International Handball Federation (IHF) and lost the 2^nd instance at the high court OLG Düsseldorf.

After the positive decision of the 1^st instance, the Council of the IHF changed 4 points of the ‘Regulations for International Transfers’ in favor of the clubs:

• The overall release period was limited to 60 days per year (plus Olympic Games).
• The overall period for Championships (including preparation period) was limited to 29 days.
• The IHF obliged itself to play compensation to the clubs for the release of players to the World Championships.
• The IHF obliged itself to provide an insurance of player salaries in favor of the clubs.

These changes are positive for the clubs, but:

• The amount of compensation, paid to the clubs, is not negotiated or even defined.
• The insurance services are limited to 3 months, which is not sufficient in case of severe injury.
• All regulations can be changed in the next Council meeting without any influence of the clubs.

IHF always has the possibility to change the regulations again, once the trial is over.

The court of the 2^nd instance (the Oberlandesgericht Düsseldorf) decided that

• The case is not admissible due to a lack of legal interest.

• IHF has changed the regulations effectively.
• The statutes of IHF are not a violation of European competition law.
• The regulations of the IHF are not harming the competitiveness of the clubs.
• The behavior of the IHF is not an abuse of dominant position.
• The case is not of general importance.
• An appeal against the decision is not permitted.

Anyhow it is possible to appeal to the 3^rd instance against the decision of the 2nd instance that an appeal is not permitted. In case of a positive decision, the 3^rd instance will deal with the case immediately.

The board of FCH will deal with the case during the next ordinary board meeting on 19/20^th October and decide whether to proceed with the Trial or not. GB

Vienna, 4 February 2014. The EHF and the German Sport University Cologne have announced a cooperation that will see the introduction of a tailor‐made education course for European Handball managers from the beginning of the 2015/16 season.

With the ever‐growing demands on Europe’s top clubs both in sporting and economic terms, the EHF has recognised the need for professional clubs, federations and leagues to develop not only an effective structure and solid financial basis but also professional staff with the requisite Expertise and knowledge. Initially the new ‘European Handball Manager Programme’ will be open to a maximum of 20 participants. Alongside modules covering financial management, participants will also study aspects such as sports law, psychology and communication.

The programme will be offered in German and English in alternating years in order to ensure that handball managers from all European handball nations have the opportunity to take part. The initiative’s progress has been supported by the EHF’s Professional Handball Board, and Forum Club Handball, the organisation representing professional handball top clubs within Europe.

EHF President, Jean Brihault, praised the new development: “Modern handball is about much more than simply playing the game. Our top clubs, federations and leagues have become businesses and as such require professional staff with the skills and knowledge to run them. The German Sport University Cologne is one of Europe’s top sports universities and I am confident that the new programme will offer a valuable educational experience to those handball Managers taking part.”

Responsibility for the academic content of the course rests with the German Sport University Cologne. An advisory board made up additionally of the EHF, Forum Club Handball and two external academics will further support and advise on the further development of the programme. The EHF and the German Sport University Cologne plan to sign a cooperation agreement in the coming weeks when they will also release further details on both the course programme and registration programme. Details will be published on the EHF website: eurohandball.com and on FCH website: forumclubhandball.com. Please contact Office@forumclubhandball.com

Die Europäische Handball Föderation (EHF) und die Deutsche Sporthochschule Köln wollen zukünftig stärker zusammenarbeiten. Ziel der Kooperation ist die Einführung eines maßgeschneiderten Aus- und Weiterbildungsangebots für europäische Handballmanager/innen.

In den letzten Jahren sind nicht nur die sportlichen sondern vor allem die wirtschaftlichen Anforderungen an die professionellen Handballvereine, -verbände sowie -ligaorganisationen enorm gestiegen. Ohne eine solide wirtschaftliche Basis, adäquate Strukturen und hervorragend ausgebildete handelnde Personen auch im Management ist die Zukunft des professionellen Handballs gefährdet.

Während für Handballtrainer teilweise seit mehreren Jahrzehnten entsprechende Mindestqualifikationskriterien festgelegt sind und die nationalen Handballverbände eigene Qualifizierungs- und Weiterbildungsprogramme für die Trainerinnen und Trainer im Handballhochleistungssport erfolgreich etabliert haben, fehlt etwas Vergleichbares auf nationaler wie internationaler Ebene für die wirtschaftliche Führung von Handballvereinen und in weiterer Folge auch für Verbände. Daher wollen EHF und die Kölner Sportuniversität kooperieren und die europäischen Handballmanagerinnen und -manager in einem maßgeschneiderten Programm aus- und weiterbilden. Eine entsprechende Absichtserklärung haben beide Organisationen bereits unterzeichnet. Forum Club Handball, die europäische Vereinigung der Spitzenhandballclubs, begrüßt die Zusammenarbeit beider Organisationen und unterstützt die Initiative ausdrücklich.

Mit Beginn der Saison 2015/16 soll das Zertifikatsstudium erstmalig mit maximal 20 Teilnehmer/innen starten und neben ökonomischen Inhalten auch sportrechtliche, psychologische und kommunikative Aspekte umfassen. Es ist geplant, den Studiengang von Jahr zu Jahr alternierend in deutscher und englischer Sprache anzubieten, um das Programm allen europäischen Handballnationen zugänglich zu machen. Die inhaltliche Verantwortung für das Zertifikatsstudium liegt bei der Deutschen Sporthochschule Köln. Ein wissenschaftlicher Beirat, in dem neben der Hochschule auch EHF, Forum Club Handball und zwei externe renommierte Wissenschaftler/innen vertreten sind, fungiert beratend und unterstützend. In Kürze wollen die Europäische Handball Föderation und Deutsche Sporthochschule einen Kooperationsvertrag unterzeichnen sowie weitere Details zum Zertifikatsstudium bekanntgeben. Kontakt: Office@forumclubhandball.com

On invitation of Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Chairman of the European Club Association, the Forum Club Handball (FCH) President Joan Marin attended the Championsleague match of FC Bayern München and ZSKA Moscow. He was accompanied by FCH Vice-President Dierk Schmäschke/Flensburg, FCH Managing Director Gerd Butzeck and the lawyers Prof. Duvinage and Christian Heesch.

Rummenigge, accompanied by his legal advisor M. Gerlinger, and Marin exchanged views on the relations between Football/Handball clubs and FIFA/IHF.