Exclusive interview in Handballwoche
Exclusive interview in Handballwoche
The two-page spread touches upon the most important topics in European handball. The EHF representatives openly answered questions related to manipulation cases and the new measures in game officiating, to the competition calendar as well as to the current and upcoming European Cup seasons.
Excerpts from the interview
Handballwoche: The European Cup season is coming to an end. What conclusion did you draw?
Tor Lian: There are various points of views when you discuss this subject. It must be seen as a positive sign that the interest in our sport is continually on the rise. The demand from the TV stations shows an increase all over the world. The negative aspect is, of course, the corruption scandal going on for weeks. That is bad for the EHF, for the clubs involved, for the fans and also for the sport of handball in general.
Handballwoche: There is a demand towards EHF from Germany to clear up the scandal and to close the files.
Tor Lian: Unfortunately, that is not so easy. However, I can assure you that we are working on it with a clear focus. We have seriously looked into the matter and the various EHF bodies discussed it. We have recently adopted a series of measures that is aimed at minimising the risk of manipulation. We worked these measures out together with our new partner company, G-Partner.
Handballwoche: What kind of measures are these?
Tor Lian: We developed a kind of integrity programme. All parties, referees, club managers, the presidents of the various federations and also the federations are included in it. We educate these groups through courses on crisis management. Those concerned will receive clear instructions on what to do in each case.
Handballwoche: By looking at the whole crisis, it seems that the referees play a very important role.
Tor Lian: That is right. The responsibility of the referees is growing and they are ever more in the focus. Accordingly, we will hold a special seminar for our top referees in Vienna at the end of August.
Michael Wiederer: For the first time, the EHF will offer a personalised course for the top referees. This time the technical aspects will not be central, but we wish to prepare them for the upcoming tasks. What’s changed around the game, what they think about these tendencies and how do they react to certain things at times of crisis.
Tor Lian: The entire programme and the series of measures will be presented at the Conference of Presidents in Cyprus.
Handballwoche: What solutions will you propose for the upcoming season?
Tor Lian: For example, we will define a group of top referees officiating only top games. Our technical delegates will prepare a concept for it.
Michael Wiederer: We will also raise the salary of our referees. We hope that this will also minimise the risk of manipulation.
Handballwoche: Let me ask about THW Kiel: the investigation has not yet been closed.
Tor Lian: First of all, I would like to point out how regrettable this situation is. Kiel is one of the best clubs of the last two decades. Nevertheless, we can only publish a statement on this matter once the inquiries will be closed. Important is that we stick to the structures. If it is a case of bribery, the police needs to deal with it. Everything beyond that is the task of the EHF. It must not happen so as it happened recently in Germany, that clubs attack and accuse each other.
Handballwoche: What is the procedure in the Kiel case? Will there be a punishment?
Michael Wiederer: The fact is that the State Prosecutor in Kiel is dealing with the matter at the moment. Up to now we do not know the results of this. Accordingly, it is not appropriate to speculate about a punishment for Kiel. We received a DVD with the documents of the State Prosecutor on Friday and we have just begun to look into them. The Arbitration Tribunal, under the leadership of the Portuguese Rui Coelho, has also met over the weekend. But as we said, the results are yet unknown.
Handballwoche: Another topic, the Competitions Conference took place a year ago in Vienna. The objective was to balance the handball calendar out and to alleviate the burden on the players. Have you met these objectives?
Tor Lian: We have achieved some of our goals. For example, we will not have Olympic Qualification games, which means a lower number of national team games. IHF and EHF agree on this point. There is also agreement in the question of the World and European Championships. We are united in our opinion that no other handball event has the same value as these ones. A reduction in the number of these events would be a mistake. Nevertheless, we want to decrease the number of unimportant games of the national teams. However, we could not yet t ake a big step in this direction.
Handballwoche: There will be only 24 teams competing in the Champions League. In addition, a Final Four will be implemented.
Tor Lian: That’s right. Accordingly, the number of games will be cut for top clubs. But in order to reply your next question, the venue of the Final Four has not yet been decided.
Handballwoche: The possible venues are Cologne and Berlin. Cologne seems to have an advantage there…
Tor Lian (laughing): No, it’s really not yet decided. There are many things to take into consideration. We are negotiating the economic and sporting advantages and disadvantages with the clubs. The definitive decision will be published by the end of the week.
The full text of the interview authored by Olaf Bruchmann is available in the latest edition of Handballwoche under the title “Objective: Report all irregularities”.
