The 11^th Ordinary Congress of the EHF took place in Monte Carlo on 22/23.6.12.

Jean Brihault/France was elected President and Arne Elovsson as Vice-President. A ‘Women’s Handball Board’ was introduced, underlining the importance of women in Handball. Poland (men) and Sweden (women) were awarded with the European Championship in 2016.

In 2004 the EHF congress elected 28 officials, 4 years later 38 and in 2012 a record number of 49 officials! The exact results you find on the EHF webpage.

Interesting detail: Germany and Spain did not succeed to place their candidates in the government of European Handball, the EHF Executive Committee.

German Reiner Witte (Vice-President of the German Federation, President of the German League, President of the European Professional Handball League Association and PHB member) failed twice, first trying to become Vice-President, later to become ordinary Executive Committee member.

Spanish Jesus Guerrero also failed twice, first trying to become member of the Executive Committee, later to become chairman of the important Competitions Commission.

Surprisingly Pedrag Boskovic from Montenegro became Executive Committee member, with the record number of 19 votes! Helgo Magnusdottir from Island became the first lady in this important body.

Slovenian Leopold Kalin, the brother of IHF Competition Commission chairman Leon Kalin, was elected as chairman of the EHF Competition Commission. He won the election against Spanish Jesus Guerrero.

Makedonian Dragan Nachevski became successor of Hungarian Sandor Andorka as chief of European refereeing. In the second ballot he defeated Jiri Konecny from Chekia.

Congratulations to all elected officials! GB

149 candidates want to become elected into the  51 positions offered during the upcoming EHF Congress in Monte Carlo/Monaco. The Election Congress will take place in Hotel Le Meridien Beach Plaza on 22nd and 23rd June 2012. According to the motions tabled the number of 51 offices shall be enlarged. It is intended to promote one gender representative to every EHF Body. The federations shall be forced to send at least one male and one female delegate to EHF Congresses.

Jean Brihault will be elected President.

Four candidates would like to become Vice-President: Per Bertelsen/DEN, Reiner Witte/GER, Ulrich Rubeli/SUI, Arne Elovsson/SWE. Bertelsen, Rubeli and Elovsson are President of their National Federations, Witte is Vice-President of the Federation, President of the League, President of the European Professional Handball Leagues Association and Professional Handball Board member.

15 candidates would like to take one of the three Executive Committee seats without function. These are: van Dorpe/BEL, Cacic/CRO, Bertelsen/DEN, Guerrero/ESP, Witte/GER, Chaatziioannou/GRE, Borsos/HUN, Magnusdottir/ISL, Klein/ISR, Bencans/LAT, Boskovic/MNE, Sojkin/POL, Rubeli/SUI, Marjanovic/SRB, Lavrov/RUS.

Leopold Kalin/SLO and Jesus Guerrero/ESP intend to become chairman of the important Competitions Commission (CC).

7 candidates would like to become ‘Member Refereeing’ of the CC: Konecny/CZE, Nachevski/MKD, Jorstad/NOR, Baum/POL, Goulao/POR, Bürgi/SUI, Fegir/UKR.

Interesting discussions prior to the elections are to be expected. GB

The football Championsleague final produced a record TV-audience in Germany, but not in Europe. In England, Italy, Spain and France the TV audiences were smaller than last year.

The handball EHF Velux Championsleague Final4 will be transmitted live and delayed in more than 100 countries, among them:

Albania (Eurosport 2), Algeria (Dubai Sports 1/2), Angola (Setanta Africa, SPORT.TV Africa), Armenia (NTV Plus, Eurosport 2), Australia (Eurosport Asia-Pacific), Austria (Sport+, Eurosport 2), Azerbaijan (NTV Plus, Eurosport 2), B, hrain (Dubai Sports 1/2), Belarus (NTV Plus, Eurosport 2), Belgium (Eurosport 2), Benin (Setanta Africa), Bosnia Herzegovina (Arena Sport, Eurosport 2), Brunei (Eurosport Asia-Pacific), Bulgaria (Eurosport 2), Burkina Faso (Setanta Africa), Cameroon (Setanta Africa), Cape Verde (SPORT.TV Africa), Costa Rica (TDN), Croatia (HRT 2, Eurosport 2), Cyprus (Cyprusport, Eurosport 2), Czech Republic (DigiSport, Eurosport 2), Denmark (DR 1, TV2 Sport, Eurosport 2), Djibouti (Dubai Sports 1/2), Dominican Republic (TDN), Egypt (Dubai Sports 1/2), El Salvador (TDN), Eritrea (Dubai Sports 1/2), Estonia (Eurosport 2), Fiji (Eurosport Asia-Pacific), Finland (Eurosport 2), France (Sport+, Eurosport 2), FYR Macedonia (Sitel 3, Eurosport 2), Gabon (Setanta Africa), Georgia (GMG Sport 1, NTV Plus, Eurosport 2), Germany (Eurosport Germany, Eurosport 2), Ghana (Setanta Africa), Greece (Eurosport 2), Guatemala (TDN), Honduras (TDN), Hong Kong (Eurosport Asia-Pacific), Hungary (DigiSport 1, 2, Eurosport 2), Iceland (RUV, SportTV, Eurosport 2), India (Ten Sports), Indonesia (Telkom Vision, Eurosport Asia-Pacific), Iran (Dubai Sports 1/2), Iraq (Dubai Sports 1/2), Ireland (Setanta Sports, Eurosport 2), Israel (Sport 5), Italy (Sport Italia 2, Eurosport 2), Japan (EX Sports), Jordan (Dubai Sports 1/2), Kazakhstan (NTV Plus, Eurosport 2), Kenya (Setanta Africa), Korea (Eurosport Asia-Pacific), Kosovo (Eurosport 2), Kuwait (Dubai Sports 1/2), Kyrgyzstan (NTV Plus), Latvia (Eurosport 2), Lebanon (Dubai Sports 1/2, Eurosport 2), Libya (Dubai Sports 1/2), Lithuania (Eurosport 2), Luxembourg (Eurosport 2), Madagascar (Setanta Africa), Malaysia (Astro, Eurosport Asia-Pacific), Mali (Setanta Africa), Malta (Eurosport 2), Mauritania (Dubai Sports 1/2), Mexico (TDN), Moldova (NTV Plus, Eurosport 2), Montenegro (Arena Sport, Eurosport 2), Morocco (Dubai Sports 1/2), Mozambique (SPORT.TV Africa), Myanmar (Skynet, Eurosport Asia-Pacific), Netherlands (Eurosport 2), Nicaragua (TDN), Nigeria (Setanta Africa), Norway (TV2 Sporten, Eurosport 2), Oman (Dubai Sports 1/2), Palestinian Territories (Dubai Sports 1/2), Panama (TDN), Papua New Guinea (Eurosport Asia-Pacific), Philippines (Solar Entertainment, , urosport Asia-Pacific), Poland (Polsat Sport, Eurosport 2), Portugal (Sport TV 1, 2, 3, Eurosport 2), Qatar (Dubai Sports 1/2), Romania (DigiSport, DigiSport +, Eurosport 2), Russia (NTV Plus, Eurosport 2), Rwanda (Setanta Africa), Saudi Arabia (Dubai Sports 1/2), Serbia (Arena Sport, Eurosport 2), Singapore (StarHub, Eurosport Asia-Pacific), Slovakia (DigiSport, Eurosport 2), Slovenia (RTV 2, Eurosport 2), Somalia (Dubai Sports 1/2), South Africa (Setanta Africa), Spain (TVE Teledeporte, Eurosport 2), Sri Lanka (Eurosport Asia-Pacific), Sudan (Dubai Sports 1/2), Sweden (Viasat Sport, Eurosport 2), Switzerland (SSF, Eurosport 2), Syria (Dubai Sports 1/2), Tajikistan (NTV Plus), Tanzania (Setanta Africa), Thailand (TrueVision), Togo (Setanta Africa), Tonga (Eurosport Asia-Pacific), Tunisia (Dubai Sports 1/2), Turkey (SportsTV, Eurosport 2), Turkmenistan (NTV Plus), UAE (Dubai Sports 1/2), Uganda (Setanta Africa), Ukraine (NTV Plus Sport, Eurosport 2), USA (TDN), Uzbekistan (NTV Plus), Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City TV, Eurosport Asia-Pacific), Yemen (Dubai , ports 1/2), Zambia (Setanta Africa)

The information was provided by EHF Media service.

On 22.3.2011 for the first time a working group with EHF, IHF, Club, League, Federation representatives and insurance specialists met in Vienna in order to discuss insurance questions. It was a common understanding that during all National Team matches the player salaries have to be insured in favor of the clubs. The working group has the task to find solutions. 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

The ‘Emerging Nations’ wish to play once in two years against the Top Nations as part of the qualification system for European Championships. An according proposal was made on the 28^th Feb 2011 to the EHF Presidents Conference, taking place on 29^th May 2011 in Cologne. The letter is signed by Luxembourg President Camille Gira and supported from Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, England, Estonia, Faroes, Finland, Georgia, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Scotland, Great Britain.

‘This would mean two more matches for the Top Nations within two years only’, confirmed Luxembourg Secretary General Arsene Welter. GB

Wednesday 9 March 2011 – Professional Handball Board (Text:EHF)

The Professional Handball Board (PHB) is a common strategic platform for the key stakeholders within European men’s handball. It is made up of representatives of National Federations, Clubs, European Professional Leagues and Players, with two representatives from each stakeholder group making up the Board. The Chairman of the Professional Handball Board also has a seat on the EHF Executive Committee. 
Present at the second meeting of the PHB on Wednesday 9 March were Morten Stig Christensen / DEN and Philippe Bana / FRA representing the National Federations and the Nations Board, Gerd Butzeck / GER and Joan Marin / ESP representing the Clubs through Forum Club Handball and Reiner Witte / GER and Arne Josefsen / DEN representing the Professional Leagues through the European Professional Handball League Association, which held its inaugural meeting at the end of February 2011.

The final group to join the PHB were the Players, represented in an observer status by Marc-Olivier Albertini, a representative of the European Handball Players Union (EHPU). This followed a coordination meeting the day previously between the EHF and EHPU, in which the approval of the Union’s structure and statutes as well as the preparation of a Memorandum of Understanding were discussed.

Representing the EHF Executive Committee were EHF Vice President, Jean Brihault, and Jan Tuik. EHF President, Tor Lian, and EHF Secretary General, Michael Wiederer, were also present in the meeting.

Election of Chairman and Vice-Chairman

The PHB elected a Chairman, Joan Marin / ESP representing the clubs through the Forum Club Handball. Joan Marin will now join the EHF Executive Committee for the coming period. Reiner Witte / GER representing the professional leagues through the European Professional Handball League Association was elected Vice-Chairman of the PHB.

EHF European Championships

The PHB also discussed proposals for changes to the schedule of future EHF European Championships. From the next Men’s EHF EURO in Serbia in 2012 it is proposed that the first two groups would throw off on Sunday, with the next two on Monday. Semi-finals would be played on Friday, Saturday would become a rest day and finals would be played on Sunday. This new match schedule will contribute to a better periodisation of match and rest days for the teams and players.

After clarification with the 2012 organisers, the Serbian Handball Federation, the approval of the optimised schedule will be put to the next meeting of the Executive Committee in Vienna on 8 / 9 April 2011.

In relation to the future of the EHF European Championships and the EURO product, there was an exchange of information about the development of a TV, media and marketing strategy in order to further optimise the product.

Insurance

The PHB discussed the idea of an overall insurance system for national team players and in particular compensation for the salaries of injured players from a fund. The various options will be evaluated in a workshop in order to create a proposal for the next PHB.

European club competitions

The issue of possible future systems for European Cup and EHF Champions League competitions was raised for the first time. It was agreed that this subject together with the question of playing dates and the overall calendar will be examined in detail through a major study by external specialists of the entire competition system and effects of any changes on the handball market.

Education of handball managers

There was unanimous agreement from those present to introduce an education/further education programme for managers in handball. A concept will be developed by a working group in March in order to present a concept to the EHF Executive Committee.

Additional discussions

The PHB further discussed the issues of communication between stakeholders, the information and decision making process within the EHF structure and also external communications to the handball and media world.

Last but not least the meeting was informed of the outcome of the previous Competitions Commission meeting and the proposals that would be presented to the EHF Executive Committee. There was common agreement that the meeting was conducted in a positive atmosphere.

TEXT: EHF

EHF Press Release: see www.eurohandball.com

EPHLA and EHF sign Memorandum of Understanding

The European Handball Leagues are one of the groups of stakeholders which is part of the Professional Handball Board (PHB).

The general assembly of the European Professional Handball Leagues Association (EPHLA) took place in Sant Joan Despí (Barcelona/ESP) on 17 February 2011.

At that occasion the EPHLA presented new statutes, which are in conformity with the requirements of the European Handball Federation (EHF).

The EPHLA consists of the handball leagues of the following seven European countries: Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Spain and Sweden. According to the new statutes also joint members will be allowed.

At the general assembly the EPHLA a new Executive Council with President Reiner Witte (GER) and Vice President Arne Josefsen (DEN) was elected.

On behalf of EHF President Tor Lian, EHF Vice President Jean Brihault and EHF Secretary General Michael Wiederer signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the EPHLA.

This document lays the foundations for the participation of representatives of the leagues as the third concerned party at the next meeting of the PHB on 9 March 2011 in Vienna. The EPHLA will be represented by their Executive Council.

At the occasion of the general assembly of the EPHLA the EHF also started talks with the European Handball Players Union (EHPU), representing professional handball players, in order to provide a mutual basis. (Text: EHF)

Today EPHLA, the association of European Professional Handball Leagues, signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ with the European Handball Federation. Congratulations!
This document serves as a tool to implement the Leagues in structure of European Handball. The leagues will send two representatives to the ‘Professional Handball Board’. 
The assembly elected EPHLA President Reiner Witte/GER and Arne Josefsen/DEN. The following leagues were present: Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Spain, Sweden. GB

The first meeting of the newly established PROFESSIONAL HANDBALL BOARD (PHB) will take place in Vienna (AUT) on 24.11.2010. The representatives of Clubs, National Federations and EHF will define the tasks of the body and a timetable. A chairman – who will represent the PHB inside the EHF Executive Committee – will be elected. 
The club organisation FORUM CLUB HANDBALL (FCH) will be represented by Vice-President Joan Marin/Renovalia Ciudad Real and General Manager Gerd Butzeck. Player and League organisations will join PHB at a later stage. GB