The EHF Master Plan will also be integrated into the charter. Similar to the RINCK Convention, a responsible and suitable person will be named within each national federation, and the submission of an annual report is mandatory to show the federation’s progress against the charter’s goals. The signatory federations will be evaluated and can be granted beneficiary but also penalising actions. The topic of the defining criteria for the evaluation is discussed.
“We are not talking only about developing countries, but also big handball nations such as Germany, France or Sweden, which also have different approaches to get more people involved in handball, mainly when we talk about the Circle of Handball Life, to have all age groups integrated in this grassroots concept. Every federation has their own strategy, and they will find the tools and concept,” says Sequeira.
The whole grassroots idea focuses on building handball communities by federations, to increase in the number of athletes, coaches, referees, workforce, fans. Players’ physical and mental health, the increase for social and community connection, social inclusion, and a healthy lifestyle are all part of the new EHF Grassroots Charter.
“The charter was not only created to get more players involved, but also to extend the number of referees and coaches, the number of event staff and event organizers and all those, who help the clubs in different non-competition ways. And of course, scientific studies have proved that those who are involved in handball are going to major events such as EHF EUROs or the EHF FINAL4 tournaments as a fan, they spend more money on tickets and merchandise, they are willing to pay more for TV or streaming platforms to watch handball. And this money then returns to handball again,” says Sequeira.