WOMEN FORUM CLUB HANDBALL
Women Forum Club Handball 2014 eV (FCH) is a Non-Profit-Organization (NPO), representing the interests of their members vis-à-vis European Handball Federation (EHF), International Handball Federation (IHF), European Commission (EC) and others.
In order to organize the work of FCH, European Handball Top women clubs agreed upon the following
- Rules of Procedure (RoP) – Version 25.1.2021
1.0 Introduction
The RoP regulate the work of the various agents of FCH.
1.1 The General Assembly (GA)
1.2 The FCH Board
1.3 The FCH Executive Board
1.4 The Committee Members
1.5 The Vice-President Finances and the Comptroller
1.6 The FCH Managing Director
1.1 The FCH General Assembly (GA)
The FCH General Assembly is the highest body of FCH. The GA meets at least once per year.
The GA decides upon the guidelines of the policy of European Top Women Clubs.
The following clubs are eligible to become members of FCH:
- The EHF DELO Champions League clubs
- The EHF European League Clubs
- The Top 16 EHF Cup Clubs
+ all National Champions
1.2 The FCH Board
The GA will elect a Board. The Board will consist out of 12 people.
The Board leads the policy of European Top Handball clubs according to the guidelines, determined by the GA.
1.3 The FCH Executive Board
The President and the two Vice-Presidents are the political representatives of FCH.
1.4 Committee Members
FCH will elect club representatives into the bodies of EHF, IHF and other organizations.
The GA may elect FCH representatives for special tasks.
The GA may advise the FCH Board to determine FCH representatives for special tasks.
1.5 The Vice-President Finances and the Comptroller
The GA elects one Vice-President to be in charge of finances. The Vice-President Finances sets up the budget for the NPO and controls the financial transactions of the Managing Director throughout the financial period.
The Comptroller shall inspect whether or not the utilisation of the budget corresponds to the provisions of the statutes and whether or not the accounting for the NPO has been done properly.
The Comptroller reports to the GA at the end of each election period.
1.6 The FCH Managing Director
The Managing Director shall execute the FCH Board resolutions and represent FCH as advised by the GA/Board.
The Managing Director shall not be a club member.
The Managing Director has the responsibility to convoke and organize the GA according to the ‘Rules of Procedure’/’Election Regulations’ and produce the meeting minutes.
The FCH elections will be organized according to the provisions of the following
- ‘Election Regulations’.
2.0 Introduction
This ‘Election Regulations’ have been set up by WOMEN FORUM CLUB HANDBALL 2014 eV (FCH) to govern the conduct of elections.
The Election Regulations may not be altered from the time nominations open until the result of the election is officially declared.
2.0 Introduction
2.1 The Election Supervisor
2.2 Rules for nomination of FCH office holders
2.3 Eligibility to vote
2.4 Voting rights
2.5 Election Period
2.6 Call for nominations/Notice of election
2.7 Submission of nominations Board members
2.8 Submission of nominations Committee members
2.9 Election procedure
2.10 Secret voting/Ballot papers
2.11 Counting the votes
2.12 Formality of ballot papers
2.15 Disputes
2.14 Destruction of ballot papers
2.13 Declaring the results
2.1 The Election Supervisor
The Election Supervisor must be appointed by the outgoing Board to oversee the conduct of the election.
The Election Supervisor must be confirmed by the GA.
The GA has the right to nominate any other natural person as Election Supervisor.
The Election Supervisor must not be a candidate at the election. The Election Supervisor may, in writing delegate any powers or responsibilities to any person or organisation other than a candidate.
The FCH Managing Director acts as Election Supervisor as long as nothing else is decided.
2.2 Rules for nomination of FCH office holders
All active member clubs (see 2.3) may nominate a natural person for election. The candidate must be a Board member or CEO of the club.
All candidates for an office in FCH – except the Board members – may be nominated during the GA.
Board members have to be nominated according to point 2.7 of this Election Order.
Every active member club may propose one candidate as Board member of FCH.
The GA will elect FCH Board members according to the ‘EHF Club Competitions Ranking 21/22’ as follows (current status (Aug 2020) in brackets):
The clubs from the nation ranked 1st (HUN) will have two Board members.
The clubs from the nation ranked 2nd (RUS) will have two Board members.
The clubs from the nations ranked 3 – 9 (DEN, ROU, FRA, NOR, MNE, GER, CRO) will have four Board members.
The clubs from the nation ranked 10 – 18 (SWE, SLO, CZE, POL, TUR, MKD, ESP, BLR, SRB) will have two Board members.
The clubs from the nation ranked 19 – 30 (AUT, ITA, GRE, SUI, SVK, NED, AZE, UKR, CYP, FIN, ISL, ISR, KOS) will have one Board member.
The clubs from the ‘EHF Club Competitions Ranking 21/22’ ranked 31-50 will have one Board member.
Candidates have to confirm their willingness to become elected. Every candidate has the right to present himself to the GA. The time for this presentation may be limited by the Election Supervisor.
Candidates need a sufficient knowledge of English language.
Candidates do not have to be present to become elected.
2.3 Eligibility to vote
Active members will be eligible to vote if
- the club representative is physically present and
- the representative present is nominated by the club via e-mail to (office@forumclubhandball.com) latest the day before the meeting and
- the club has stated that the club representative is a member of the club Board.
- the club has paid all FCH fees (if there are any)
- the club is not under suspension
The Election Supervisor must prepare a list of members eligible to vote at the election.
Active members of FCH are:
- The EHF DELO Champions League clubs 20/21
- The EHF DELO Champions League clubs 19/20
- The EHF European League Clubs 20/21
- The EHF Cup Clubs 19/20
- Top 16 EHF European Cup Clubs 20/21
- Top 16 Challenge Cup Clubs 19/20
+ all National Champions of seasons 19/20 and 20/21
Passive members are the clubs which fulfilled the criteria listed above in the past and do not fulfill them at the date of the General Assembly.
2.4 Voting rights
The active members (see 2.3) of FCH have different numbers of voting rights according to their sportive success as follows (taking in account the better result of current and previous season):
3 votes:
DELO Champions League clubs in season 20/21
DELO Champions League clubs in season 19/20
2 votes:
Top 16 EHF European League Clubs in season 20/21
Top 16 EHF Cup Clubs in season 19/20
1 vote:
EHF European League Clubs in season 20/21 which did not qualify for the Last 16 of the competition and
EHF Cup Clubs in season 19/20 which did not qualify for the Last 16 of the competition and
1 vote:
Top 16 EHF European Cup Clubs in season 20/21 and
Top 16 EHF Challenge Cup Clubs in season 19/20
1 vote:
The National Champion of seasons 2019/20 and 2020/21 of all EHF member federations.
It is not possible to delegate the vote to a third person (or club).
Passive members have no voting rights.
2.5 Election Period
The election period usually (see: Casual vacancies) will be four years. The election period finishes with the last FCH meeting of the season 24/25.
Further elections will take place every four years at the end of the season 24/25, 28/29 and so on.
All retiring office holders are eligible for re-election.
2.6 Call for nominations/Notice of election
The Election Supervisor must notify members of the election of the Board members and call for nominations at least 4 weeks before election.
Nominations close 2 weeks before the election.
The call for nominations must state:
- which positions are vacant
- the eligibility criteria for members wishing to stand for election
- details of how nominations may be lodged
- the date and time for the opening and closing of nominations and
- details of how and when polling is to be conducted
The notice of election and call for nominations must be communicated to eligible members by displaying the notice on the FCH website.
2.7 Submission of nominations of Board members
Nominations to the post of a Board member must:
- be submitted to the elections supervisor two weeks prior to the GA at the latest;
- be submitted by e-mail to nomination@forumclubhandball.com
- submitted by the club president or the club manager and contain the statement that the proposed candidate is Board member of the club;
- indicate the position of the candidate in the club
- contain the consent of the candidate
- be submitted during the period when nominations may be lodged.
If the Election Supervisor decides that a nomination submitted during the nominations period is not valid, the Election Supervisor must make a reasonable attempt to contact the candidate as soon as practicable and inform him/her that the nomination is not valid; and if the nomination may be corrected to make it valid, inform the candidate that he/she may remedy the nomination and resubmit it to the Election Supervisor prior to the close of nominations.
Nominations may be withdrawn any time up until the close of nominations.
Nominations should be made public after the close of nomination. The nominated candidates should be published on the FCH website.
If the number of candidates nominated for any position is less than the number required to be elected, any unfilled position is to be considered a casual vacancy and must be filled during the next GA.
If the number of candidates nominated is greater than the number required to be elected, the Election Supervisor must conduct an election.
All nominations, valid and invalid, must be kept by the Election Supervisor in a secure place until the poll is declared.
2.8 Submission of nominations Committee members
All candidates for an office in FCH – except the FCH Board members (see 2.7) – or IHF, EHF or EHFM may be nominated during the GA.
Any active member club is eligible to nominate Committee members.
2.9 Election
An election can be executed if the GA has been convoked according to FCH statutes and at least 25 votes are present.
The elections are organized in the following order:
- Election Supervisor (1)
- Tellers (3)
- FCH Board members (12)
- FCH President (1)
- FCH Vice-Presidents (2)
- FCH Vice-President Finances (1)
- Committee members:
- EHFM Advisory Board (0)
- EHFM Women Club Board (5)
- EHF Women Handball Board (1)
- EHF Competitions Commission (1)
- EHFM Comptroller (1)
- FCH Comptroller (1)
- (Auditor – if necessary)
The President and the two Vice-Presidents have to be Board members.
The Women Club Board members will elect a Chairperson. The Chairperson needs to be approved by the FCH Board.
The chairperson will be the Women FCH representative in the EHFM Advisory Board.
The Election Supervisor may change the order of elections for good reason.
The Election Supervisor must ensure that procedures are in place to:
- limit each eligible voter to voting no more than once and
- ensure that the way in which any voter marks his/her ballot paper is not revealed, either when that member votes or at any later stage
The Election Supervisor may decide that a voting is executed by show of hands.
The Election Supervisor must decide that a voting is executed as a secret voting, if requested by at least 10% of the eligible votes.
2.10 Secret voting/Ballot papers
The Election Supervisor must arrange for preparation of the ballot papers.
The ballot paper must be initialled by the election supervisor.
2.11 Counting the votes
The Election Supervisor must ensure that the ballot boxes are opened in front of the tellers.
The Election Supervisor must, as soon as practicable after the close of polling, arrange for the counting of votes to commence.
The votes are to be counted in accordance with the number of voting rights.
No candidate may attend the counting of votes for the election he or she is contesting or for any other election conducted at the same time.
The Election Supervisor may admit other members of FCH to attend the counting of votes at his/her discretion.
The Election Supervisor must determine whether or not each vote is valid in accordance with these regulations.
Votes may be recounted at the discretion of the Election Supervisor.
The process of counting votes to elect one person is as follows:
Sort all ballot papers for each candidate informal and count the total number of votes in each category.
Calculate the absolute majority, by adding the total of all formal votes, divide by two, add one and disregard any remainder, as shown in this formula:
| Number of votes | +1 |
| 2 |
If any candidate has received an absolute majority, that candidate is elected.
If no candidate has received an absolute majority, the candidate who has received the fewest number of votes is excluded.
Where at any time it becomes necessary to exclude a candidate, and two or more candidates standing lowest on the poll have the same number of votes, exclude that candidate who had fewer votes at the last count at which they were unequal. If there are no counts at which those candidates had unequal votes, then the Election Supervisor should determine by lot the candidate to be excluded.
The process of excluding candidates continues until one candidate has received an absolute majority.
If no candidate has received an absolute majority, the election process will be repeated during the next FCH GA.
The according position will be vacant in the meantime. In case of necessity the Board may appoint a preliminary representative.
The process of counting votes to elect more than one person is as follows:
Every member fills out a ballot paper with the requested number of candidates. Every candidate receives votes according to paragraph ‘Number of Votes’.
The candidates with the majority of votes are elected.
In case of equal number of votes a second ballot is executed among the concerned candidates. In case of equal number of votes in the second ballot, a third ballot is executed among the concerned candidates. In case of equal number of votes in the third ballot, then the Election Supervisor should determine by lot the candidate to be excluded.
2.12 Formality of ballot papers
A ballot paper is informal if:
- it is not authenticated by the initials of the Election Supervisor or by a security device authorised by the Election Supervisor; or
- it has no vote/name indicated on it.
A vote will be counted if the voting intention of the elector is clear.
2.13 Declaring the results
At the conclusion of the election the Election Supervisor must prepare a report that details:
- the results of the election
- the number of votes received by each candidate and
- any other relevant information that may assist FCH
The Election Supervisor shall submit the report to the members during the GA.
2.14 Destruction of ballot papers
Election papers will be destroyed as soon as practicable after the expiration of the dispute period applying after the result of the election was declared.
2.15 Disputes
Any candidate may dispute the results of the election in writing, setting out the details of the dispute, within one week.
Disputes are to be considered by the Election Supervisor of FCH. The Election Supervisor shall consider any application disputing an election result and shall
- declare the election void and order that a fresh election must be held or
- declare that a person who has been declared elected was not elected and declare that a person who has not been elected was elected or
- declare that the original election result is confirmed.
2.15 Casual vacancies
Any casual vacancy is to be filled with a by-election held in accordance with these rules during the next GA. The new representative is elected until the next electoral GA.
Version 25.1.21