The 41^st General Assembly of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) decided in Rome on Saturday, 8 December 2012, that the first European Games will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan in June 2015.

Former EHF President Tor Lian was member of a working group, producing a feasibility study for the European Games. The Professional Handball Board (PHB) was informed about the ongoing negotiations.

EHF President Jean Brihault gave a remarkable on the issue (you find the full version on the www.eurohandball.com):

eurohandball.com: What role has the EHF played in the development of the European Games?

Jean Brihault: The EOC has said from the start that it wanted handball to be part of the project, and following a meeting with the leadership of the project in Lausanne, the EHF Secretary General, Michael Wiederer, and I made it clear that the EHF is interested in this new project.

We have also put forward the idea that we include not only indoor handball but also beach handball in the Games. I am pleased to say that this has been positively received by the EOC.

At this stage, based on the agreement of the EHF Executive and the Professional Handball Board (made up of representatives of the national federations, professional leagues, clubs and players) we have signed a letter of intent to say handball is interested in continuing to work with the EOC towards the inclusion of the sport in the Games.

The future inclusion of handball in the Games is as yet by no means certain. We have underlined the fact that that certain criteria and standards need to be met if the sport is to join the programme of the Games.

…
eurohandball.com: What does the European Games mean for the international calendar in the future?

Jean Brihault: Naturally the international calendar is an important consideration, and it is clear – and the message from our various stakeholders is also clear – that a European Games cannot add to the workload of players in the future.

Assuming a first event is a success, we will have to look at how the European Games will fit into handball’s calendar of events.

eurohandball.com: What does the European Games mean for European handball?
…….

We are still in negotiation with the EOC, but I can imagine the event in 2015 being played initially with eight men’s and eight women’s teams in indoor handball and eight men’s and eight women’s teams in beach handball. From the start both the men’s and women’s competitions event must be organised on an equal footing.

On 19^th November 2012 the Professional Handball Board (PHB) discussed the latest developments in the VELUX EHF Championsleague (CL). The FORUM CLUB HANDBALL representatives demanded a joint approach of EHF, National Federations, Leagues and Clubs to work on the improvement of the product CL and the increase of the number of spectators in the arenas. TV ratings have to be improved. The EHF Executive Committee was requested to design individual solutions for the various markets.

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 25^th/26^th 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.”

The 11^th 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

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.

On 22.3.2011 for the first time a working group with EHF, IHF, Club, League, Federation representatives and insurance specialists met in Vienna in order to discuss insurance questions. It was a common understanding that during all National Team matches the player salaries have to be insured in favor of the clubs. The working group has the task to find solutions. GB

On 29.5.2010 European Handball Federation (EHF) and FORUM CLUB HANDBALL (FCH) signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ (MoU) – a milestone in the history of the relation between clubs and federations. Now work started to fill the document with content. As one major point a small working group began to develop a program for the education of club managers in Europe. Further details will be submitted. GB

The ‘Emerging Nations’ wish to play once in two years against the Top Nations as part of the qualification system for European Championships. An according proposal was made on the 28^th Feb 2011 to the EHF Presidents Conference, taking place on 29^th May 2011 in Cologne. The letter is signed by Luxembourg President Camille Gira and supported from Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, England, Estonia, Faroes, Finland, Georgia, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Scotland, Great Britain.

‘This would mean two more matches for the Top Nations within two years only’, confirmed Luxembourg Secretary General Arsene Welter. GB