The 32nd FCH General Assembly took place on the fringes of the EHF Truckscout24 Champions League F4 event in Hyatt Regency hotel, Cologne, on 15.6.25.

FCH Office holders were elected as follows:

FCH President: Xavier O’Callaghan/FC Barcelona

FCH Vice-President (Finances): Dierk Schmäschke/Flensburg

FCH Vice-President: Peter Leutwyler/Kadetten

Vice-President Non-Europe: Shkumbin Mustafa/New York City, USA

FCH Board member:

Nation ranked 1st: GER/two seats

Dierk Schmäschke/Flensburg

Teo Storm/Kiel

Nation ranked 2^nd: ESP/two seats

Xavier O’Callaghan/FC Barcelona

Gurutz Aguinagalda Akizu/Bidasoa

Nations ranked 3 – 9 (POL, FRA, DEN, HUN, POR, CRO, ROM) /four seats

Thierry Omeyer/Paris

Jan Larsen/Aalborg

Janos Szabo/Veszprem

Vedran Supukovic/Zagreb

Nations ranked 10 – 18 (MKD, SLO, NOR, UKR, BLR, SWE, SUI, ISL, RUS): two seats

Peter Leutwyler/Kadetten

Jonathan Stenbäcken/Savehof

Nations ranked 19 – 30 (GRE, SRB, SVK, AUT, FIN, BIH, TUR, MNE, ISR, CZE, ITA, LUX): one seat

Stathis Papachartofilis/AEK

Nations ranked 30-50 (CYP, EST, KOS, NED, BEL, FAR, LAT, LTU, AZE, BUL, ALB, AND, ARM, GBR, GEO, IRL, LIE, MDA, MLT, MON …): one seat

No candidate

The FCH Board appointed Stan Belinski/Manchester for this position

Non European member clubs:

Shkumbin ‘Bini’ Mustafa/New York City, USA

FCH Comptroller:

Gerd Hofele/Goeppingen

EHFM Advisory Board:

Janos Szabo/Veszprem (speaker)

Xavier O’Callaghan/Barcelona

due to office: Gregor Planteu/FCH

EHFM Men’s Club Board:

Janos Szabo/Veszprem (speaker)

Thorsten Storm/Kiel

Peter Leutwyler/Schaffhausen

due to office: Gregor Planteu/FCH

Deputies EHFM Men’s Club Board:

Pavel Papaj/Kielce

Kalle Björkmann/Elverum

EHFM Book keeping inspection: 

Eike Korsen/Hannover

EHF Professional Handball Board:

Xavier O’Callaghan/Barcelona

Gregor Planteu/FCH

EHF Competitions Commission:

Gael Pelletier/Nantes

FCH Working Group Development:

Stathis Papachartofilis/AEK Athens – chairperson

Arvis Juzups/Tenax Dobele – member

Pascal Winkler/Sydney University – member

Diaraye Diallo/Olympia London – member

FCH IHF Representative:

Peter Leutwyler/Kadetten

FCH Project Asia/Japan:

Thierry Omeyer/Paris

FCH Project Africa/Egypt:

Janos Szabo/Veszprem

Project China:

Vedran Supukovic/Zagreb

FCH Project USA:

Xavier O’Callaghan/Barcelona

FCH Project Australia:

Stathis Papachartofilis/Athens

FCH Representative in the EHF/M FCH Evaluation Group:

Appointed by the Board: Gerd Butzeck

Cologne, 15.6.2025 Gerd Butzeck/Election Supervisor

Ordinary elections took place during the 22nd General Assembly of Women Forum Club Handball 2014 eV.

Office holders were elected as follows:

FCH President: Zsolt Ákos Jeney (no club)

FCH Vice-President: Deja Ivanovic/Ljubljana

FCH Vice-President (Finances): Stefan Albrechtson/Savehof

FCH Board member:

No club: Zsolt Ákos Jeney

Nation ranked 1st: NOR/two seats

Larvik/Brede Czsiszar

Storhamar/Kamilla Sundmoen

Nation ranked 2^nd: HUN/two seats

Debrecen/Zsolt Abrok

Györ/Tamas Szabo

Nations ranked 3-9: DEN, FRA, ROU, GER, RUS, SLO, CRO/four seats

DEN Esbjerg/Thomas Hylle

FRA Brest/Nicolas Roue

ROU Valcea/Alexander Nitisor

Ljubljana/Deja Ivanovic

Nations ranked 10-18 POL, MNE, SWE, TUR, CZE, ESP, SRB, SUI, ISL: two seats

MNE Buducnost/Srdjan Markoc   

SWE Savehof/Stefan Albrechtson

Board members Nations ranked 19-30 GRE, AUT, SVK, POR, MKD, NED, UKR, FAR, ISR, ITA, BLR, BIH: one seat

AUT Hypo/Gerhard Haidvogel

Board members Nations ranked 31-50: one seat

No one elected (vacancy, to be filled during the next GA)

FCH Development program chair: Zsoka Horvath/Dunajska Streda

         FCH Development Group members:

         Sara Prumbaum/Dortmund

Vlatka Mihoci/Podravka

Andrea Ongaro/Dublin

FCH Comptroller: Rupert Thiele/Dortmund

EHF Competitions Commission member: Tomas Szabo/Györ

EHF Women Handball Board member: Deja Ivanovic/Ljubljana + Kamilla Sundmoen/Storhamar

EHF/M FCH Evaluation group: Gerhard Haidvogel/Hypo

EHFM Women Club Board member:

         Zsolt Ákos Jeney/chairperson

         Nicolas Roue/Brest

         Stefan Albrechtson/Savehof

EHFM Advisory Board: Zsolt Ákos Jeney

due to office: Gerd Butzeck/FCH

EHFM comptroller: Jens Genge/Herrentrup-Blomberg

Budapest, 1.6.2025 Gerd Butzeck/Election Supervisor

The German Handball Federation (DHB) announced the candidacy of Gerd Butzeck for the position as IHF President on 5th April 2025.

The IHF elections will take place in Cairo/Egypt on 20th December 2025. Butzeck will be temporarily suspended from his duties as Managing Director FCH and for the period from 20th Sept till 20th December 2025.

FCH announced the call for nomination today. The period for nomination of FCH Board members closes on 18th May 2025. For details go to WOMEN FORUM CLUB HANDBALL and then WOMEN Next General Assembly.

During the last ordinary FCH Board meeting, taking place in Spain 7th/8th October 2024, the FCH Boards (men and women) decided to put the support for US Team Handball on hold.

FCH does not agree to the circumstances, surrounding the resignation of the USTH Managing Director Martin Branick and the decision to appoint Michael King as his successor.

FCH informed the International Handball Federation accordingly.

On 7./8th October the boards of Men’s Forum and Women’s Forum met fot the annual Board meeting in Spain. The cooperation with agency partner INFRONT was discussed.

The club representatives decided to prepare properly for the upcoming EHF Competition Conferences in spring 2025.

On the fringes of the meeting Gregor Planteu was selected as successor of FCH Managing Director Gerd Butzeck. Planteu is scheduled to start working in July 2025.

The European Handball Agents Association (EHAA) and FCH signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the beginning of the 30th General Assembly of FCH, celebrated in Cologne on the fringes of the EHF TRUCKSCOUT24 Champions League F4 on 9th June 2024.

The MoU underlines that the IHF Regulations on transfers have to be applied. In particular FCH member clubs shall operate with licensed agents only. The agents agreed to charge their clients which are usually the players (but may also be the clubs).

On the picture from left to the right: Women FCH President Zolt Ákos Jeney, Men FCH President Xavier O’Callaghan, EHAA President Marko Boskovic, EHAA Chairman of the Board Andrej Golic, FCH Managing Director Gerd Butzeck.

For the first time ever Forum Club Handball will celebrate a General Assembly with participants from 5 continents. The fist non-European club to enter FCH was ‘The worlds Handball club New York City’ (America), followed by Detroit, Zeekstar Tokyo (Asia), CalHeats San Francisco, University Sydney (Australia). For the first time ever an African Club will join the meeting: Famous SC Zamalek from Egypt will be confirmed as new member during the meeting on 9th June in Cologne.

The first ever Australian team becomes member of Forum Club Handball. The multiple participant of the IHF Super Globe SYDNEY UNI HANDBALL signed the membership documents and was accepted by the FCH Board.

Accordingly at the moment FCH has members from America, Asia, Australia and Europe. Further expansion to Africa is to be expected.

Forum Club Handball is an organization, representing the interests of European Top Handball clubs vis-a-vis European Handball Federation EHF, International Handball Federation IHF, European Union and others.

FCH is registered as an NPO (registered club, eingetragener Verein) in Cologne/Germany. Potentially the office can be everywhere in Europe.

The Managing Director of Forum Club Handball organizes the meetings and is the first contact person for member clubs, EHF and IHF. The ideal candidate should have a strong Handball background/network, good knowledge of English and Microsoft Office.

The new FCH Managing Director has to coordinate and balance the interests of the various stakeholders in Handball. He will be appointed in October 2024 and start working in June 2025.

Short-form applications with CV shall be addressed to office@forumclubhandball.com until 1st of May 2024.