On 4th October 2010 the 15th General Assembly of GCH took place in Palma de Mallorca. As guests Peter Vargo + Uli Gutweniger from EHFM and Kay-Sven Haehner/Leipzig + Peter Cassoe/Viborg as representatives of Women Handball were present.
The board informed the club representatives about the latest EHF Congress, EHF Club Marketing Board and EHF Club Committee meetings. Of special interest were the results of the first meeting of FCH President Tomaz Jersic and GCH President Joan Marin with IHF President Hassan Moustafa and various federation representatives (we reported earlier).
In the second part of the meeting the assembly discussed the European Cup system. It is obvious that in many national leagues there is a big gap between one or two leading teams and the majority of the league.
As examples may serve especially Chekhov/Russia and Zagreb/Croatia, but basically Kadetten/Switzerland, Kielce/Poland, Montpellier/France or Veszprem/Hungary have the same problems. These teams are challenged more or less only in the VELUX EHF Championsleague.
In the analyses of the current situation it became clear that some clubs, for example Veszprem and Kielce, would prefer to have as many guaranteed matches in the Championsleague as possible.
The German teams basically agree to increase the number of guaranteed matches, but the total number of matches should not be increased – due to the player workload in Bundesliga.
All clubs agreed that the current system with 4 groups of 6 teams is a big improvement in comparison to the old system with 8 groups of 4 teams.
It is a common understanding that 4 European Cup Competitions is to much. A merger of EHF Cup and Cup Winners Cup could be a solution.
The Challenge Cup – played without teams from Germany and Spain – is highly appreciated and should serve to develop handball in all nations. It should be possible to implement regional leagues in the Challenge Cup in order to reduce costs.
The results of the assembly will be summarized in detail and prepared for the next FORUM CLUB HANDBALL (FCH) meeting, taking place in January in Sweden. GB