EHF to stage Competitions Conferences in April and May
MEDIA RELEASE: ‘European Handball Future’ – the sport’s most important stakeholders gather in Vienna to discuss and start building a strong foundation for the years to come.
The European Handball Federation has summoned representatives of its major stakeholders to Vienna for two Competitions Conferences – for men’s handball on 9 and 10 April, for women’s handball 12 and 13 May. Those are the firs conferences of their kind since 2008.
Dubbed ‘European Handball Future’, the conferences aim to table ideas and foster discussions which will eventually build the framework for a successful and sustainable future of European handball.
“If we want to define our future, we must start somewhere, and it’s logical to begin this process with our competition systems,” says EHF President Michael Wiederer.
“European handball can look back at remarkable developments over the past decades. The EHF EURO has been developed into a top product on the sports market; the EHF FINAL4s for men and women are regularly sold out. A plethora of young players is entering the senior teams and many of them have already played numerous matches in our top youth competitions. Also, on the technical level the advancements have been huge.
“However, by no means handball is in a position to sit back and relax. If we were to do so, we would be overtaken immediately: by our competitors, by social developments. Or we would be significantly threatened by the current challenges worldwide and their economic consequences,” adds Wiederer.
Spread over four sessions and spanning over two days, each Competition Conference touches on the sport in its entirety: from national team to club competitions, from grassroots and possible new formats to top competitions – and always with the international calendar in mind.
“We need to preserve our DNA in order to further develop our sport. While doing so, we have to take the economic and the international calendar context into account. The clubs’, the national teams’, the leagues’ perspective, all have to be considered,” says Wiederer.
“With these two conferences, we provide the basic information and a room for discussion, but much more than that, we listen and collect input. Then, in a next step, the inputs will be evaluated, and the feasibility will be checked. In the end, the conferences are strategic means to shape the future of European handball,” concludes Wiederer.
photo © Jozo Cabraja/kolektiff
