During the last weekend the newly elected leadership of EHF and FCH met in Achenkirch/Austria to speak about the future of European Handball. The content of the meeting will be reported to the next FCH General Assembly, taking place in Barcelona on 25th/26th January 2013. GB
Denish top team AG Kobenhavn declared bankrupt on 31st July 2012. With the financial support of sponsor Jesper Nielsen AG Kobenhavn became one of the top handball clubs in Europe during the last years, selecting Denish and International top players. Now Nielsen announced that ‘Owners have decided to close the company behind the club’.
This decision might mean that many handball stars are without contract at the beginning of the season. Normally all top clubs have finalized their team rooster in august.
This decision might have consequences for the upcoming VELUX EHF Championsleague (CL) and even the Wild Card Tournament.
Last year Bosnian Sarajevo had financial problems and many players left at the beginning of the season.
Beside Kobenhavn Spanish Reale Ademar Leon faces serious financial problems at the beginning of the season. Leon became third in the previous ASOBAL league and qualified for the upcoming CL season. But almost all top players left the team.
The European Handball Federation Secretary General M. Wiederer acted: ‘We must work on a solution to the general situation in particular concerning the ownership and finances of clubs, especially Champions League club in order to preserve the product. The solution will be a joint effort between the EHF and EHF Marketing.”
FIFA faces a dispute over the release of three players for the London Olympics. French clubs Lorient and Le Mans have each refused to release a player for the Gabon squad, and the west African team have also failed to secure the release of a third player from a Gabon club.
FIFA lost a case in the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2008 which ruled that clubs were not obliged to release players and the governing body are now monitoring the situation with Gabon.
A FIFA spokesman said: “The National federation are trying to come to an agreement with the clubs. We are aware of the situation and we are maintaining a watching brief.”
(Press Association 24/07/2012, by Martyn Ziegler)
The 11th 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
FIFA.com, 25.5.2012
FIFA’s new Club protection programme (CPP) which is now set for implementation was part of the 62nd FIFA Congress agenda.
The Club protection programme constitutes an important measure after years of consultations with all members of the international football family on the issue of compensation of clubs for injuries to players while on duty in all ‘A’ international matches listed in FIFA’s international match calendar. This topic is a matter of fundamental importance for FIFA bringing now a sustainable solution on a long term debate between FIFA, the clubs and the Member Associations.
FIFA’s Club protection programme on behalf of the Member Associations will be applicable on a world-wide level in form of a player insurance for all matches listed in the international match calendar for the period 1 September 2012 until 31 December 2014 (the Club protection programme will also include the Olympic Football Tournament in London 2012).
The amount insured is the player’s annual fixed salary with a maximum of a daily amount of about $27,000 (€20,548) paid by the insurance for a maximum period of 365 days making a total amount of $9.7m (€7.5m) per player. The overall estimated cost of this programme is around $75m.
Through the Club protection programme FIFA achieves a global harmonised solution on the insurance of players’ question to the benefit of Confederations, Member Associations, players and clubs. With this program FIFA marks an important step for the benefit of the entire football family in a spirit of dialogue and solidarity.
The 8th General Assembly took place in Cologne/Germany on the fringes of the VELUX EHF Championsleague Final4.
In the first part FCH Board members reported to 40 member clubs about the activities in the various EHF/M bodies.
Volker Zerbe summarized the financial situation.
The board and the General Manager were granted discharge.
In the second part the elections took part.
The following persons were elected as
– Board Members:
Nation 1 (GER): Dierk Schmaeschke, Flensburg
Nation 2 (ESP): Joan Marin, Madrid
Nations 3-6 (FRA, RUS, HUN, SLO): Tomaz Jersic, Celje
Nations 7-12 (DEN, SUI, ROU, CRO, POR, MAK): Soren Colding, Copenhagen/DEN
Nations 13-49 (SWE, BIH, SRB, POL, NOR, AUT …): Bertus Servaas, Kielce/POL
– President
Tomaz Jersic, Celje, SLO
– Vice-President
Joan Marin, Madrid, ESP
Dierk Schmäschke, Flensburg, GER
– Vice-President Finances
Dierk Schmäschke, Flensburg, GER
– Deputy Board Member
Nation 1 (GER): Sabine Holdorf-Schust, Kiel
Nation 2 (ESP): Xavi O’Callaghan, Barcelona
Nations 3-6 (FRA, RUS, HUN, SLO): Robert Molines, Montpellier
Nations 7-12 (DEN, SUI, ROU, CRO, POR, MAK): Peter Leutwyler, Kadetten/SUI
Nations 13-49 (SWE, BIH, SRB, POL, NOR, AUT …): Karl Löfmark, Lund/SWE
– FCH representative ‘Professional Handball Board’ (PHB)
Joan Marin, Madrid, ESP
Gerd Butzeck, FCH General Manager
– FCH representative ‘Men’s Club Marketing Board’ (MCMB)
Nation 1 (GER): Christoph Wendt, Hamburg
Nation 2 (ESP): Xavi O’Callaghan, Barcelona
Nations 3-6 (FRA, RUS, HUN, SLO): Tomaz Jersic, Celje, SLO
Nations 7-12 (DEN, SUI, ROU, CRO, POR, MAK): Jens Boesen, Kolding, DEN
Nations 13-49 (SWE, BIH, SRB, POL, NOR, AUT …): Radek Wasiak, Kielce, POL
– Comptroller
Gerd Hofele, Göppingen, GER
In the third part the 8th General Assembly after discussion unanimously advised the FCH Board to take all necessary measures to resolve existing issues with IHF.
The 9th General Assembly of FCH will take place on occasion of the Semifinals of the next World Championship in Barcelona/Spain on 26th/27th January 2013. GB
FIFA.COM News: The FIFA Congress will also be asked to approve the new worldwide player insurance project which was approved by the Executive Committee in March. Starting in August 2012, this major new undertaking will see FIFA insure all players involved in all international “A” matches listed in the international match calendar. The provisional budget for this project amounts to USD100 million. FIFA is also working on an insurance solution for the Olympic Games.
39 Clubs from 19 countries registered for the 8th General Assembly of FORUM CLUB HANDBALL, taking place in Cologne on 27th May 2012 on occasion of the EHF VELUX CHAMPIONSLEAGUE FINAL4 event. In the first part of the meeting the club representatives will listen to the reports. In the second part the assembly will elect a new board and representatives for the various bodies in EHF and EHFM. After a break the assembly will discuss the relation between clubs, EHF and IHF. The relation between clubs and EHF is based on a Memorandum of Understanding, an according agreement with IHF is missing. In March 2012 IHF refused one more time to base the relation on a contractual basis. 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.