Nicola Luca left CSM Bucuresti at the end 2019 and accordingly resigned from his position as Board member Women FCH and Chairman Women Club Board during the 12th General Assembly in Vienna on 19th January 2020. His position in the Board is a temporary vacancy which will be filled during the 13th GA in Budapest in May 2020. At the same time Board member Bozica Palcic/Podravka was replaced Gerhard Haidvogel/Hypo Niederösterreich. Haidvogel will fill the vacancy in the WCB which will be chaired by Tamas Szabo/Györ in the future.
A new record attendance is expected for the 22nd General Assembly of Forum Club Handball, taking place in ClarionSign Hotel in Stockholm on 24th January 2020. 54 clubs from 29 countries registered more than 80 participants. Jointly the club representatives will attend the Semifinals of the EHF EURO 2020.
In the meeting information on the upcoming changes will be provided. As of season 20/21 there will be significant increase of revenues for the participants in the various European Cup competitions.
IHF President Dr. Hassan Moustafa is expected to address the participants with a welcome speech.
During the ordinary Board meetings in October 2019 the boards (men and women) of Forum Club Handball decided to adapt the structure of the organization to the changes which will be implemented with the start of the season 20/21. According motions will be presented to the General Assemblies, taking place in Vienna (Women) and Stockholm (Men) in January 2020.
The term of office for FCH Board members has already been prolonged from 2 to 4 years. Now the FCH Board proposes to adapt the number of Board members to the new EHF Club ranking system. The number of Board members shall be increased from 10 to 12. In order to be more flexible concerning appointment of FCH officers for various tasks, the difference between Board members and Deputy Board members shall be abolished. The according decisions have to be taken by the General Assemblies with a 75% majority.
The 22th General Assembly of Forum Club Handball (men) will take place in Stockholm on 24th and 25th January 2020. Please find more details under MEN FORUM CLUB HANDBALL on this page.
The 12th General Assembly of Women Forum Club Handball will take place in Vienna on 18th and 19th January 2020. Please find more details under WOMEN FORUM CLUB HANDBALL on this page.
FCH Managing Director G. Butzeck scheduled the next ordinary FCH General Assemblies.
Due to the Women World Championship in Japan 2019 the next Women’s General Assembly will take place on the fringes of the Men’s EHF EURO 2020 in Vienna/AUT on 18/19th January 2020.
The Men’s General Assembly will take place one week later in Stockholm/SWE on 24/25th January 2020.
FCH member clubs are requested to save the date. More details are to be found under Next General Assembly on this webpage. The invitations will be delivered to the FCH member clubs 2 months prior to the event at the latest.
FCH works with a voting system which allocates one vote to the Challenge Cup teams, 2 votes to the EHF-Cup teams and three votes to the CL teams. As of season 20/21 the EHF Champions League will work with a new playing system. The number of CL participants will be reduced from 28 to 16 teams. Accordingly the influence from the CL would be reduced from potentially 74 votes to potentially (if all clubs are present) 48 votes. In order to have also in the future a major impact of the CL teams, the number of votes for the CL participants was increased from 3 to 4 as of season 20/21. The decision was taken unanimously with two abstentions.
Financials will be the important topic of the upcoming FCH General Assemblies in Budapest (Women, 12.5.19) and Cologne (Men, 2.6.2019).
According to the new contract between EHF Marketing GmbH and Infront/Dazn, a new distribution system for the European Cup revenues will be set up. The General Assemblies will decide upon the split between men’s and women’s competition and about the split between Champions League, new European Handball League (=former EHF-Cup) and new EHF-Cup (=former Challenge Cup) for the seasons 20/21, 21/22 and 22/23.
Due to the change of the term of office for EHF Office holders, the term of the current office holders of FCH is expected to be prolonged until 2021.
A big number of European Top clubs is expected to participate in the meetings in Budapest and Cologne.
The 20th General Assembly of FORUM CLUB HANDBALL took place on the fringes of the IHF World Championship 2019 in Hamburg on 26th January 2019.
As a guest IHF President Dr. Hassan Moustafa welcomed the representatives from 45 European top clubs from 22 countries. He congratulated Germany for the good organization of the tournament and Denmark/Norway which played the best handball and deserved to be in the final on Sunday. The President put emphasis on the global situation in handball and underlined the important role of China and USA as developing handball markets. He asked the FCH member clubs to support the according IHF activities.
The FCH members clubs welcomed the organization of the World Championship, but criticized the playing schedule. Many times various teams had to play two matches in two days or 3 matches in four days. The IHF President took note of the concerns of the clubs and promised to take care of this question.
EHF Vice-President Predrag Boskovic also welcomed the club representatives. He underlined the good cooperation between clubs and EHF and the developing implementation of club representatives into the various bodies of EHF.
Having listened to the various reports, the participants elected David Barrufet as new Board member FCH from Spain, replacing Xavier O’Callaghan (both FC Barcelona). Gregor Planteu/Celje was elected President, Peter Leutwyler as Vice-President FCH. As a consequence, the list of the various new FCH office holders reads as follows:
FCH President:
Old: Xavier O’Callaghan
New: Gregor Planteu/Celje
FCH Vice-Presidents:
Old: Dierk Schmäschke + Gregor Planteu
New: Dierk Schmäschke/Flensburg + Peter Leutwyler/Kadetten
FCH Board members:
Old: O‘Callaghan, Schmäschke, Planteu, Szabo, Leutwyler
New: David Baruffet/FC Barcelona, Schmäschke, Planteu, Szabo, Leutwyler
FCH Deputy Board members (no changes):
Teo Storm, Pep Blanchart, Robert Molines, Davor Stojanoski, Stathis Papachartofilis
EHF PHB representatives:
Old: O’Callaghan/Butzeck
New: Planteu/Butzeck
EHF Competitions Commission (no changes).
Emeric Paillasson/Saint Raphael Var
EHFM Steering Committee:
New: Gregor Planteu
EHFM Advisory Board members:
Old: O’Callaghan/Butzeck
New: Leutwyler/Butzeck
EHFM Men’s Club Board members
Old: O’Callaghan, Storm, Martini
New: Szabo/Veszprem, Storm/Kiel, Martini/Paris
EHFM Comptroller:
Old: Peter Leutwyler
New: Gerd Hofele/Göppingen
EHFM Working Group development:
Pep Blanchart/Granollers
Karl Lofmark/Lugi Lund
Magnus Clarke/Dublin
Raul Srugo/Maccabi Rishon Le Zion
The newly elected President underlined the importance of the upcoming months, as the split of the revenues as of season 20/21 has to be agreed between men’s and women’s clubs on the one side, and between new Champions League, European Handball League and new EHF-Cup on the other side.
At the end of the General Assembly the participants elected Xavier O’Callaghan as ‘Honorary President FCH’.
FC Barcelona nominated the former International David Barrufet (280 times representing Spain) to replace Xavier O’Callaghan as Board member FCH. O’Callaghan served as FCH Board member from the very beginning of the Organisation. End of last year he was promoted as FC Barcelona representative for USA. Therefore he had to resign from his position as President and Board member FCH.
David Barrufet is a 7-times Champions League winner and one of the most famous Spanish players of all times.