The President of the European Handball Federation (EHF) Jean Brihault, accompanied by the Secretary General and the Chairwoman of the Women’s Handball Board plans to attend the foundation assembly of WOMEN FORUM CLUB HANDBALL. The EHF-President will address the club representatives on behalf of the EHF. The according confirmation of EHF Secretary General M. Wiederer has been given today.

Herewith we invite all FCH member clubs to the 12^th General Assembly of Forum Club Handball (FCH), taking place

on 1^st June 2014 from 9.30 till 14 hours at

Art’otel Cologne, Holzmarkt 4, 50676 Köln/Germany, Tel +49 221 801030

http://www.artotels.com/cologne-hotel-de-50676/gercoart

This invitation is addressed to all FCH Members which are the:

• Top 24 Championsleague teams
• Top 32 EHF Cup teams
• Top 16 Challenge Cup teams
• All National Champions 2013
• All teams, leading in the National Championship on 1^st April 2014

The arrival of the participants is scheduled Saturday, 31^st May 2014 in the morning. In the afternoon all club representatives will attend the Semi-Finals of the VELUX EHF Championsleague Final4 event.

The 12^th General Assembly will take place on Sunday, 1^st June 2014 from 9.30 – 14.00 hours in the hotel. All participants are invited to attend the Finals of the VELUX EHF Championsleague season 2013/14.  After the Meeting the participants will have the possibility to watch the finals of the VELUX EHF Championsleague Final4.

Meeting Agenda:

1. Opening/Welcome of Guests
2. Role Call
3. Approval of the Minutes of the 11^th FCH General Assembly
4. Reports 2012 – 2014

• FCH President Jersic, incl. Men’s Club Marketing Board (MCMB)
• FCH Vice-President Marin, incl. EHF Executive Committee
• FCH Vice-President Schmaeschke, incl. IHF Matters
• FCH General Manager Butzeck, incl. ‘Professional Handball Board’ (PHB) Matters
• FCH President Jersic – New ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ (MoU)
• Comptroller Gerd Hofele, Finances
• Discussion

5. Discharge Finances

6. Discharge Board/Office holders

7. Nomination of the Election Supervisor

8. Elections

9. Cooperation with WFCH/Decision

10. Budget 2014-2016

11. Miscellaneous

12. Closing

All FCH members are requested to forward proposals for FCH board member candidates. A detailed information on the election procedure will follow here.

We kindly ask you to register for the meeting via e-mail to office@forumclubhandball.com until 5^th May 2014, 12:00 hours am. For more detailed information please go to ‘Next General Assembly’.

IHF extended the World Championship in Qatar. The National Teams of 24 countries will spend two more days in the Mid East. Instead of 17th January 2015 the Championship will now start on 15th of January 2015. This means for the Clubs that they have to release their players 768 days (= 24 Teams x 16 Players x 2 days) more to the IHF competition. As usual this change was not agreed with the Clubs.

Due to heavy workload and easter Holidays the German Court Landgericht Dortmund will not announce a decision on 23rd April, but  only on 14th May 2014.

The European women teams have been benefiting from the work of FCH in many aspects, such as compensation for release of Players to a European-/World Championship or insurance services. A ‘Women’s Club Board’ had been established inside EHF. The chairman of this board, Kay-Sven Hähner from Leipzig/Germany, met with women club representatives from Denmark, Hungary, Montenegro and Norway in order to discuss the question:

How can we improve the situation of Women’s Club Handball in Europe?

The mentioned club representatives came to the conclusion that the foundation of a ‘Women Forum Club Handball’ (WFCH) might be a solution.

The foundation assembly of Women’s FCH will take place on the fringes of the EHF Final4 at

HILTON BUDAPEST CITY, t: +36 1 288 5539;  f: +36 1 288 5552; Váci út 1-3; Budapest  1062, Hungary; www.hilton.com;

in Budapest on 4^th May 2014.

The schedule will be as follows:

Sat 3.5.14

Arrival of the women’s club representatives in the morning

12 – 13h Registration and distribution of the tickets

Visit of the Semi-Finals (15:00h + 17:30h) of the EHF Final4

Dinner

Sun 4.5.14

9:30 – 12:30h Foundation Assembly of Women Forum Club Handball

Visit of the Finals (14:30h + 17:00h) of the EHF Final4

Departure after the Finals

This invitation is addressed to one board member per club of the

• top 16 teams of the women EHF-Championsleague
• top 16 teams of the women EHF-Cup
• top 16 teams of the women Cup-Winners-Cup
• top 16 teams of the wome Challenge Cup
• all leaders in the women National Championships of all EHF member federations on 1^st April 2014

Women’s FCH will cover the costs for the hotel room (single or double) for one night (3./4.5.14), dinner on Saturday evening and one ticket per club for the EHF Final4 (all matches). The organisation of the meeting will be handled by FCH. Please register by mail to office@forumclubhandball.com until 14^th April 2014. Registration to the meeting is possible until 2nd May 2014.

During todays draws of the EHF-Cup- and VELUX EHF CL-Quarterfinals the presidents of the European Handball Federation (EHF) Jean Brihault and Forum Club Handball (FCH) Tomaz Jersic prolonged the current MoU (signed in May 2010) until June 2018. The new MoU had been discussed for more than one year during the FCH General Assemblies and in various meetings with the EHF Leadership. ‘We had tough but correct negotiations with FCH’, underlined Jean Brihault. The modified MoU foresees increased fees for release of players to the European Championships and, for the first time, a FCH representation in the EHFM Advisory Board, the decision taking body in the structure of EHFM. ‘This will be the most important for the clubs’, underlined Tomaz Jersic after signing the document. ‘In the future the clubs will sit at the table when the decisions will be taken!’ All details of the MoU will be presented to the FCH General Assembly in Cologne on 1^st June 2014.