According to the German HANDELSBLATT (article by Erik Eggers) the swiss based Premier Handball League AG wishes to set up a Handball World League as of 2019. According to the information of the newspaper, EHF Marketing GmbH Managing Director Peter Vargo will join the project. Driving force of the project is Wolfgang Gütschow, 53, former manager of the Russian National team and well-kown players agent. We will publish the full article here later this week.
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!”
Today in France 25 Football leagues from all countries met in Paris in order to found the ‘World Association of Leagues’. Observers regard this step to be a threat for FIFA, as this new organisation might have the power to take over the responsibilities of the world governing body.
The age limit was the interesting issue of Extraordinary Congress, held by EHF last weekend in Bukarest. After long discussions the Congress did not change the according statutes. This means that the current president Jean Brihault can not be reelected in 2016! At the end of the congress the first candidate for the succession of Brihault announced his candidacy. It was – EHF Secretary General M. Wiederer!
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.
On 23rd September German weekly sports magazine ‘SportBild’ reported on confidential plans to set up a world league in Handball. According to SportBild the former Manager of TBV Lemgo and SG Flensburg Fynn Holpert is one of the protagonists to run the project. A second person to support the project is Wolfgang Gütschow as the representative of a group of sport investors.
Further details will be announced at a later stage.
With the support of FCH, 17 Bundesliga-Clubs won the 1st instance of the court case against German Handball Federation (DHB) and International Handball Federation (IHF) and lost the 2nd instance at the high court OLG Düsseldorf.
After the positive decision of the 1st instance, the Council of the IHF changed 4 points of the ‘Regulations for International Transfers’ in favor of the clubs:
- The overall release period was limited to 60 days per year (plus Olympic Games).
- The overall period for Championships (including preparation period) was limited to 29 days.
- The IHF obliged itself to play compensation to the clubs for the release of players to the World Championships.
- The IHF obliged itself to provide an insurance of player salaries in favor of the clubs.
These changes are positive for the clubs, but:
- The amount of compensation, paid to the clubs, is not negotiated or even defined.
- The insurance services are limited to 3 months, which is not sufficient in case of severe injury.
- All regulations can be changed in the next Council meeting without any influence of the clubs.
IHF always has the possibility to change the regulations again, once the trial is over.
The court of the 2nd instance (the Oberlandesgericht Düsseldorf) decided that
- The case is not admissible due to a lack of legal interest.
- IHF has changed the regulations effectively.
- The statutes of IHF are not a violation of European competition law.
- The regulations of the IHF are not harming the competitiveness of the clubs.
- The behavior of the IHF is not an abuse of dominant position.
- The case is not of general importance.
- An appeal against the decision is not permitted.
Anyhow it is possible to appeal to the 3rd instance against the decision of the 2nd instance that an appeal is not permitted. In case of a positive decision, the 3rd instance will deal with the case immediately.
The board of FCH will deal with the case during the next ordinary board meeting on 19/20th October and decide whether to proceed with the Trial or not. GB
During the last weekend the EHF-Executive Committee (ExeC) decided upon the participation in the upcoming CL-season/qualification. According to the new playing system, starting next season, EHF split the participation for the season 15/16 in two groups. Group A and B (left half) contain 8 clubs each, group B and C (right half) contain 6 teams each.
Team are allocated according the European Cup system and due to a ‘Catalogue of Criteria’, which is filled out by EHF/M in order to achieve a ranking between the participating teams.
According to the information, given by Markus Glaser during the last FCH-General Assembly, the ‘Catalogue of Criteria’ is a tool to improve the decision taking process. The catalogue is not binding for the Executive Committee.
Before the EHF Executive Committee takes a decision, a proposal is drafted by the EHF Competition department. This proposal is discussed by a ‘Consultation Group’, consisting out of the Chairman of the EHF Competition Commission, the Head of the EHF Competition Department, a EHFM representative and a FCH representative (men’s Clubs only). The ‘Consultation Group’ forwards a final proposal to the ExeC. The ExeC takes the final decision. This may vary from the proposal of the ‘Consultation Group’.
The clubs receive the result of the evaluation of their ‘Catalogue of Criteria’ in order to improve their situation for the future.
FIFA and UEFA prolonged their agreements with the European Club Association (ECA) until 2022. This was announced during the ordinary ECA General Assembly in Stockholm. The Clubs will receive a compensation of 209 Mio USD for the participation in the 2018 and 2002 World Cups. ‘A symbolic figure’, as highlighted FIFA Sec General Jerome Valcke. ‘FIFA wants to show that clubs and federations are of the same importance for FIFA. Every of the 209 member Federation receives 1 mio USD Support from FIFA within 4 years.’ Clubs will be represented in the various bodies of FIFA and UEFA in the future. ECA will delegate 2 representatives into the UEFA Executive Committee. FIFA signed an insurance which covers player salaries in case of injuries during National Team appearances.
The International Handball Federation (IHF) still refuses any type of contact with the European Club Organisatin FORUM CLUB HANDBALL.
On 1. April 2015 the lawyers of 17 Bundesliga-Clubs on the one side and International Handball Federation and the German Handball Federation on the other side met for a hearing at the court of Oberlandesgericht Düsseldorf. In the first instance the court Landgericht Dortmund had decided that the plaintiffs do not have to release their foreign national team players to the respective National teams, as the statutes of the International Handball Federation are not in accordance with European Competition law. The judge Prof Kühnen criticized the decision of the 1st instance partly and raised questions which the parties will have to answer during the next 10 weeks. The next hearing in court is scheduled for 24th June 2015. GB