EHF Info on Club Team matters

EHF Info on Club Team matters

The EHF is keeping the clubs, leagues and leading federations informed on matters which are of direct interest to their activities and business. Read all the information from the regular clubs' newsletter No. 7.

• The 2008 EHF Congress took place at the end of September in Vienna, Austria. This officially marked the start of the new electoral term of office, which will run until 2012. The period from 23 – 25 October 2008 saw a series of initial meetings at the EHF Headquarters, with the Executive and all technical bodies getting together to define the internal working structure for the next four years.

There has been an alignment in the EHF structure in accordance with the decisions of the past two congresses (Lillehammer and Vienna), the Competitions Commission has been boosted to include the Chairmen of the Men’s Club Committee, the Women’s Club Committee and National Team Committee: Joan Marin, Gunnar Prokop and Morten Stig Christiansen, who were all nominated by their respective group of stakeholders.

• As already reported, the next meeting of central interest to you is the Competitions Commission’s Committees, including Men’s Club, Women’s Club and National Team Committee. These will take place from 17 – 19 November 2008.

• One of the results of the Congress was the establishment of a EURO Calendar Task Force. They will meet on 5th December 2008 in Skopje/MKD. Input from all partners is currently being collected and initial talks with the top handball nations and the IHF took place at the adidas Headquarters, in Herzogenaurach, on 16 October 2008, and will also form the basis for this meeting.

• A matter which will be of high-interest to all the clubs and leagues is a new addition to the EHF workforce at the Headquarters in Vienna. The EHF Executive has approved the move to create a professional position dealing with the coordination of club matters.

It has been identified that the establishment of this position has become necessary to ensure and guarantee the correct coordination of all matters relating to club handball, in particular competition, technical, communication and media questions. This underlines the importance of this key area of EHF activity and will primarily be a coordinative position.

The Club Handball Coordinator will be the first port of call for all club questions and will be your contact person at the EHF Headquarters. The principle priority will be to act as your service partner, bridging the gap between the EHF Office, the leagues and the clubs. Emphasis will be placed on an open and pro-active communication policy and 100% penetrative information strategy.

Vladimir Rancik has been appointed to this position and will start as of 1st January 2009. Rancik is seen to have the necessary knowledge and experience to fulfil this job profile – he has a varied and rich handball background, starting his career as a handball player, going on to be a top referee on the world stage and being active as an EHF Delegate. Professionally, he has a degree and business background. He is also multi-lingual which will help with any possible communications difficulties.

Tor Lian, EHF President, welcomes the move, “the clubs and leagues are an absolute key element in European handball and we wish and strive to strengthen the communication and partnership, bringing them closer to us so that we can continue our work together. We believe that Vladimir Rancik is the right person for this important job. His brief is to serve the clubs and be their contact person, irrelevant of the actual subject – he is the first port of call and will coordinate activities. We are looking forward to having him onboard.”

• In an initial step, the EHF is currently active in the preparations to establish discussions on the future structure of the EHF Champions League. The members of the EHF Club Board will play a decisive role in these discussions, which will serve to model and optimise the EHF Champions League for its next stage of development. The next meeting of the Men’s Club Board is 24 – 25.11.2008.