After the EXEC had rubberstamped a reform of the EHF Champions League und the EHF European League Men in October, with an expansion of the former to 24 teams and a new playing system for both, the future of European club handball formed again a key part of the agenda.
Among other topics, the EXEC confirmed the system for place distribution for both competitions and gave green light for a comprehensive repositioning of European club handball.
On the national team level, the body paved the way for the implementation of a new format for the European qualification to the IHF World Championship as of the event’s 2031 edition.
It awarded the Women’s 19 and Women’s 17 EHF EUROs in 2027 and eventually looked back at some of the EHF’s key activities outside of the handball court which shaped the last quarter of 2025.
Future place distribution in the EHF Champions League and EHF European League
The basis for the place distribution in the EHF Champions League is the federation ranking for the club competitions which for the 2026/27 season includes results from the seasons 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25.
The federations ranked 1 to 10 have one fixed place. For the next season these federations are Germany, Spain, France, Denmark, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Portugal, Croatia and Norway.
An additional 12 places – a maximum of eight for additional requests coming from the top 10 teams and a maximum of four for federations without a fixed place – are available for upgrade requests from the EHF European League, while the EHF reserves the right to award wild cards to the competitions.
The number of teams per federation is limited to three, and for all places fulfilling minimum criteria according to the regulations will be mandatory.
As part of the motion for men's place distribution the EXEC also confirmed that a reform of the playing systems for the women’s club competitions will be dealt with in spring 2026 for an implementation as of the 2027/28 season.
More information: EXEC confirms place distribution for EHFCL and EL in 2026/27
Interview: EHF President Michael Wiederer on the place distribution in 2026/27
EHF and EHF Marketing aim for strategic repositioning of European club handball
Linked to the new systems for the EHF Champions League and the EHF European League, the EHF Executive Committee has given the green light for a strategic repositioning of European club handball to deliver the sport’s full potential over the years to come.
The body confirmed the end of the long-term agreement between EHF Marketing and Infront as of 1 July 2026, with EHF Marketing taking back the responsibility for sales and management of the media rights for the club competitions.
The marketing arm of the European Handball Federation already holds the marketing rights for European club handball and is thus being put in the position to fully coordinate the media distribution, competition development and commercial strategies for club handball.
For the national team competitions, Infront maintains the EHF’s media and marketing partner for the EHF EUROs including the Qualifiers and the EHF Beach Handball EURO.
The production of the EHF EURO events will also be fully handled by Infront Productions.
Initiation of formal tender procedure for next rights cycle
The EXEC took note of the EHF’s plans to initiate a formal tender procedure for the next rights cycle as of 2030. The necessity was underlined to already start setting cornerstones in the sporting and media market, while keeping communication channels open with existing partners prior to the launch.
Following the announcement of the European Handball Games in October, which resulted in early contacts with media and marketing agencies and was met with positive feedback from the international sports ecosystem, the EXEC confirmed the implementation of a new format for the European qualification to the IHF World Championship as of the event’s 2031 edition.
The current play-off format, which includes home and away matches would be replaced by a league system structured across three levels, allowing for higher competitiveness, an increase of the quality of matches and eventually an increase in visibility and therefore also in commercial value.
Regarding the competition structure and corresponding international calendar topics as of 2028, meetings with the stakeholder representatives of the nations, leagues and clubs took place recently – meetings with the players’ representatives are to follow – and a common understanding was reached concerning the further development of the top events of European handball.
With the understanding that international calendar topics have many facets, a process will be initiated to revise the calendar as of the 2028/29 season.
Women’s 19 and Women’s 17 EHF EUROs awarded
With the evaluation of the application documents at hand – three federations had submitted a bid for the Women’s 19 EHF EURO 2027, while four federations had expressed their intent to organise the Women’s 17 EHF EURO – the EXEC awarded the Women’s 19 EHF EURO 2027 to Croatia and the Women’s 17 EHF EURO 2027 to Montenegro.
Motions and elections at the IHF Congress
Looking ahead to the Congress of the International Handball Federation, taking place in Cairo, Egypt from 19 to 22 December (the elections are scheduled for 21 December), the EXEC discussed the event’s agenda with a focus on the elections as well as on the motions to the IHF statutes which were tabled.
These motions were distributed to the national and continental federations as part of the preparatory documents and their contents and potential impacts were evaluated based on external legal expertise by the EHF Executive Committee.
Regarding the elections, with currently three European candidates as well as the incumbent running for IHF presidency, information was provided, and coordination meetings took place.
Further coordination talks with the European federations will take place in Cairo on the days prior to the IHF Congress.
European handball leaves its mark also off the court
The meeting concluded with a look a back at some of the off-court events organised by the European Handball Federation over the past months.
The EXEC took note of the success of the 8th EHF Scientific Conference, dubbed “Empowering the sustainable future of handball – from grassroots to top level play” which took place in Zagreb, Croatia in November with almost 150 members of handball’s scientific community participating. The 9th edition of the EHF Scientific Conference will take place in Podgorica, Montenegro.
Equally successful was the latest edition of the Respect Your Talent Camp, staged at the European Handball House in Vienna at the end of November. 31 players from 24 nations participated – all of them had been part of either the Women’s 17 EHF EURO or the Women’s 17 EHF Championships over the summer. Ambassadors and mentors of this year’s camp were high-profile players including Ana Gros, Carmen Martin, Yvette Broch, Jelena Grubisic and Barbara Arenhart.
The EXEC underlined that it is a key task for the EHF to cooperate with the players and to support in particular young players in their development and therefore to provide bespoke services such as the Respect Your Talent programme to the next generations.
Back on the court, it was noted that staging the EHF Wheelchair EURO in Vilnius, Lithuania at the end of November meant a significant step forward for developing the sport of wheelchair handball. Independently of a potential Paralympic status, it is to be expected that the currently active federations continue to develop, and many new federations join the movement.
Looking ahead to 2026, the EXEC took note of the event and meeting calendar of the coming year with the next meeting scheduled to take place in Herning, Denmark on 31 January at the final weekend of the Men’s EHF EURO 2026.
