It was the EXEC’s last meeting in the current election period, 2021 to 2025, and while it was a regular working session, there was still time for a heartfelt ‘thank you’ from EHF President Michael Wiederer to outgoing members Francisco V. Blazquez Garcia (ESP) and Bente Aksnes (NOR) for their services and commitment over the past four years.
While the majority of EXEC members aims for a second or third consecutive term in office, both Blazquez and Aksnes will not stand for election again.
Beyond the farewells, the meeting was embedded in its regular environment with, among others, the business report of the EHF Secretary General, the latest reports from EHF Marketing including meeting notes of its stakeholder bodies, the legal report, the meeting notes from the August meetings of the Technical Commissions, the event report and the report of the anti-doping unit being available to the EXEC.
Motions and awards
Several motions were tabled to the EXEC by the EHF’s competitions department, relating to the younger age category (YAC) events and the EHF EURO Cup.
With the information at hand the EXEC confirmed that the age category for the Men’s and Women’s European Open will be changed to ‘women’s under-16’ as of 2026 (from previously under-18) and to ‘men’s under-17’ as of 2027 (previously under-19).
It had been the feedback of numerous national federations that the European Open are regarded as the first opportunity to play international matches at younger age category level.
Furthermore, the EXEC confirmed that the European Open with the revised age categories will form the qualification event for the future Women’s under-16 and Men’s under-17 IHF World Championships as well as for upcoming editions of the European Youth Olympic Festival.
Additional decisions by the Executive Committee related to the takeover of audio-visual rights by the EHF for the YAC EHF EURO qualification tournaments (except for the rights on the home market for an organiser) and to a further definition of the bidding documents for the Women’s EHF EURO Cup 2026 Finals.
The final tournament of the Women’s EHF EURO Cup is scheduled to take place during the national team week in September next year (21 to 27 September 2026).
The final event will be played in a final-four format and it shall be awarded after the last round of the Women’s EHF EURO Cup has been played in April 2026.
On the event side, two awardings took place. Following an expression of interest by the Erice Handball Club, the Italian Federation and the Trapani Municipality, it was confirmed that the next three editions of the European Beach Handball Tour (ebt) Finals will take place in Trapani, Italy. The 2026 edition is scheduled from 18-21 June, the 2027 event from 3 to 6 June.
The second awarding: The 2026 EHF European Masters Handball Championships for men and women will be played in Setubal, Portugal from 18 to 21 June.
Launch of ‘Her Playground’
EHF Secretary Geneal Martin Hausleitner gave a detailed report on the launch of ‘Her Playground’ on Instagram and Facebook.
‘Her Playground’ aims at increasing the visibility of women’s handball and women around the game. The platforms are giving a voice to women in handball by building a community whose aim is to educate, inform, empower and inspire the sports collective, foster professional growth and give a lasting visibility.
The core mission of the platforms is to highlight the activities undertaken by the EHF, its national federations and clubs participating in European competitions, but also other sports with their best practices, educating about professional and working conditions around Europe, inspiring young athletes and women by showcasing examples of top-level athletes and role models, motivating them to stay involved with the sport and facilitating knowledge exchange among female athletes.
The launch of ‘Her Playground’ underlines the ambitions and efforts of the European Handball Federation to further strengthen the position of women’s handball.
Summer events, ‘Respect Your Talent’ and season start
The Executive Committee looked back at the YAC events played over the summer acknowledging the successful organisation of the YAC EHF EUROs and corresponding Championships.
It also applauded surprising successes of teams such as Slovakia at the Women’s 17 EHF EURO as well as the overall performance of European teams, including podium finishes of Denmark, Portugal and – their first medal ever – the Faroe Islands at the IHF Men’s U21 World Championship in Poland, respectively of Germany, Spain and Denmark at the IHF Men’s U19 World Championship.
The ’Respect Your Talent’ (RYT) programme again formed an integral part at the YAC events with four events dedicated to all players who had received a ‘Player of the Match’ award.
The sessions featured high-profile ambassadors including Katrine Lunde, Ana Gros, Anna Vyakhireva, Andrea Lekic, Barbara Arenhart, Anja Althaus, Katarina Bulatovic and Carmen Martin.
The next RYT camp for the under-17 girls of the 2025 generation will take place from 27 to 30 November in Vienna.
Looking at the start of the new season, the EXEC noted the latest numbers delivered from the EHF’s Technical Refereeing Committee.
With 131 active referee pairs (109 male and 22 female pairs), numbers remain stable. Reductions caused by retirement or voluntary withdrawals were compensated with new intakes from candidate courses.
Furthermore, 22 pairs participated in the Young Referee Programme with events being organised in North Macedonia, Portugal and Germany.
However, it was stressed by the EXEC that additional measures have to be taken to strengthen the top-level referees at the tip of the pyramid.
Competitions in the future
Next steps related to the suggestions for new competition systems on club and national team level, namely for the EHF Champions League, the EHF EURO and the IHF World Championship Qualification Europe, were discussed.
Possible adaptations of the existing playing systems were first presented to the stakeholder groups of European handball at the men’s and women’s Competition Conferences in April and May – and in a second step also to European media representatives.
The process will continue through to autumn. Further elaborations of bespoke playing systems are expected to be tabled at the stakeholder meetings and the meeting of the EHF EXEC in Vienna on 20 and 21 October.
Inside the EHF: Master Plan and Grassroots Charter
The Executive Committee received an update on the EHF Master Plan. Different development projects with 23 federations are currently ongoing, five additional ones – with the federations of Armenia, Estonia, Finland, Ireland and Kosovo – will be signed on the fringes of the Congress.
With closed, ongoing and future projects taken into account, the EHF has committed itself to support development and grassroots project in European handball with more than €4.5 million until 2028.
Strongly linked to the Master Plan, the Executive Committee took note that almost 20 federations will be among the first to sign the Christensen Grassroots Charter.
The charter’s purpose is to develop grassroots activities by supporting, monitoring, measuring and rewarding EHF member federations who commit to grassroots handball.
Following his passing in November 2024, the Charter was named the “Christensen Grassroots Charter” in honour of then Danish Handball Federation President Morten Stig Christensen, who was a driving force behind grassroots handball development.
Congress update and next meetings
The meeting of the EXEC finished with an outlook to the 17th Ordinary EHF Congress as well as to the Congress of the International Handball Federation scheduled to be held from 19 to 22 December.
The registration process for the IHF Congress and the deadline for the national federations to register its participants until 21 September was noted, and so was the overlap with the EHF Congress.
Further information on topics related to personnel will be provided together with the results of the elections at the EHF Congress on Friday.
The – then newly elected – EHF Executive Committee will come together for a very first session on Saturday 20 September, the day after the elections and as soon as EHF Congress 2025 will be officially closed.
Its first official session is scheduled for 21 October 2025 in Vienna at the European Handball House.
