The ordinary October Board meeting of Men’s and Women’s Forum took place in Spain on 4^th and 5^th Oct 2021. Only one of the 25 Board members was not able to attend the meeting. The newly elected Presidents Xavier O’Callaghan (men) and Tamas Szabo (women) welcomed EHF President M. Wiederer as guest. He was accompanied by EHFM Managing Director David Szlezak and Nina Kernmayer.

For the first time ever a Non-European Board member participated in the meeting: Shkumbin ‘Bini’ Mustafa, the President of New York City Handball Club. Also for the first time ever two English representatives were present: Theo Bougouin/London GD (men) and Diaraye Diallo/Olympia London (women).

Further new office holders in the Men’s Forum: Jennifer Kettemann/Rhein-Neckar-Lion (EHFM Finance inspection), Thierry Omeyer/PSG (Board member), Julien Deljarry /Montpellier (Board member), Jan Larsen/Aalborg (Board member), Vedran Supukovic/Zagreb (Board member) and Igor Levshin/Moscow (Deputy Men’s Club Board).

Further new office holders in the Women’s Forum: Alexander Savinow/Moscow (Board member), Alexandru Nitisor/Valcea (Board member), Emil Berggren/Savehof (Board member and WCB member), Jens Genge/Blomberg-Herrentrup (FCH Comptroller) and Radmila Petrovic/Buducnost (WHB member).

The Men’s and the Women’s Forum discussed the situation in the various European Cups. Whilst the media situation is improving, the marketing situation is not satisfying.

Men’s and Women’s Forum prolonged their cooperation until 30^th June 2026. The contract of FCH Managing Director Gerd Butzeck was extended till the same date. Nina Kernmayer was appointed to represent the interests of both organizations in the daily business of EHF Marketing GmbH

The Board was entitled to negotiate a prolongation of the ‘Partnership Agreement’ with the International Handball Federation until 2026.

At the end of the Women’s Forum meeting President Tamas Szabo resigned from his position due to administrative mistakes during the elections.

IHF-President Hassan Moustafa met with the FCH Presidents Xavier O’Callaghan/FC Barcelona (Men) and Zsolt Akos Jeney/Ferencvaros Budapest (Women) in autumn 2016.

During the meeting the parties agreed to sign an agreement about future cooperation. In the meantime a first draft was produced by the Managing Directors of IHF and FCH. The result will be presented to the General Assemblies of FCH in Budapest (May) and Cologne (June). If the club representatives confirm the content of the agreement, the signing could take place during the next IHF Congress in November 2017.

The working group on Social Media activities decided to inform and involve all clubs all over Europe in regional meetings as follows:

21.3.17 Copenhagen/Hilton (Andersen+Molgaard): DEN, SWE, NOR, FIN, ISL 

23.3.17 Budapest (Andersen+Hähner): HUN, ROM, CZE, SVK, CRO, SRB, MKD, MNE, SLO, TUR  

4.4.17  Düsseldorf/Maritim Airport Hotel (Andersen+Butzeck): GER, NED, POL, AUT, SUI 

6.4.17 Barcelona (Andersen+Cloo): FRA, ESP, POR, ITA 

20.4.17  Moscow/Blu Radisson Airport Sheremetevo (Andersen+Butzeck): BLR, UKR, RUS 

The invitation for the clubs will be delivered mid of February.

Women Forum Club Handball member clubs met on the fringes of the final weekend of the EHF EURO 2016 in Gothenborg. Beside the regular business the clubs decided to start an initiative on unification of the Social Media activities of all European Top clubs. A working group, consisting out of Kay-Sven Hähner/Leipzig, Per-Christian Andersen/Larvik, Jacob Molgaard/Midtjylland, Rene Cloo/Dahlfsen and Philip Poterjakhin will meet in Düsseldorf on 12^th January 2017 to work on the issue.

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

Today the President of one of the leading Women handball Clubs in Europe, Ernö Kelecsenyi, resigned from his leading position in Györi Audi ETO KC. Under the direction of Ernö Kelecsenyi the club had its most successful period: the club won the EHF Championsleague twice and the Hungarian Championship thrice. The resignation does not affect his position as President of Women Forum Club Handball.

Scandal on the fringes of the Women World Championship in Denmark 2015: The well-known and highly qualified female German official Jutta Ehrmann-Wolf complained in various interviews about the fact that she was not  nominated for the tournament due to her sexual orientation. Jutta Ehrmann-Wolf is married to a women. According to her statement she received this clear and unambiguous message from a Council member of the International Handball Federation (IHF); the family situation is not accepted by the President of the IHF, Dr. Hassan Moustafa.

The same holds true for Spanish  Carmen Manchado, also a well-known and highly qualified delegate.

According to the official IHF version, both delegates are not nominated ‘due to technical reasons’.

According to the understanding of Women FCH this behavior of the IHF is directed against Olympic values and principles. Today all international federations face a lack of female officials. Usually they try to include as many of them as possible in women competitions. Without any doubt the decision of the IHF is directed against the attempts to achieve gender equality in sports.

The Board of Women Forum Club Handball has decided to take position against this type of discrimination and expressed full support to Mrs. Jutta Ehrmann-Wolf/GER and Mrs. Carmen Manchado/ESP.

On behalf of Women Forum Club Handball, President E. Kelescenyi/HUN filed a complaint to the President of the International Olympic Committee:  “We strongly believe in the Olympic idea and in Dr. Thomas Bach as a person. We believe that he will take appropriate measures to exclude similar discrimination in the future!”

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.

25 Clubs from 16 different countries met on the fringes of the EHF Euro 2014 in Budapest/Hungary. Under the leadership of Ernö Kelecsenyi/Györ they listened to the reports of the WFCH representatives in the various EHF and EHFM bodies. Two Club representatives were elected as deputy board members: Thomas Hylle from Team Esbjerg/DEN and Torbjorn Balstad from Byasen/NOR. In the second part of the meeting, the Club representatives welcomed as guest the 1. Vice-President of the International Handball Federation (IHF) Miguel Roca. The IHF representative underlined the importance of the Clubs for the World Federation and mentioned that IHF tried to implement Clubs as stakeholders in the statutes – but failed to reach the needed 2/3 majority. The Clubs expressed the wish to base the relation between Clubs and IHF on a Memorandum of Understanding. Roca promised to inform the IHF President about the wish of the Women Clubs.

For the first time the boards of Men and Women FCH met during the annual board meeting in Spain. During a common dinner Men and Women Club representatives shared experiences. Women FCH President Ernö Kelecsenyi/Györ welcomed the participants and highlighted the good cooperation with the male partners, which led to the foundation of Women FCH and a first Memorandum of Understanding with EHF. The Women FCH board discussed the reports of the EHF Women Handball Board and the EHFM Women Club Board. A discussion on Women FCH targets was started and will be continued during the next General Assembly in Budapest (20.12.14). In the second part of the meeting Biljana Crvenkoska, Managing Director of the Women Professional Handball League (WPHL) presented her project which shall be started in season 15/16. The participants welcomed the idea in order to strengthen handball in countries with only few professional teams.