Michael Wiederer: “It’s easy to change the system, but what does it bring?”

Wiederer started the keynote with a clear message that European handball needs more top clubs on a certain level, stating that “it should be a motivation for the clubs to invest into the next generations”, as it is clearly visible that the younger generations are very ambitious.

He continued the session with a look back to how the competitions developed, saying: “Yes, it’s about the marketing potential, yes, it’s about the sporting results, but it’s also important to understand where we are.”

Wiederer presented facts and figures about the top-tier competition, highlighting that clubs from only six countries have won the EHF Champions League since its establishment.

Looking at the numbers presented, how many nations have been represented on the winners’ podium, and how many of them have been represented at the EHF FINAL4 tournaments, he drew a parallel to other sports, where the distribution of chances for mid-ranked clubs to win the title is bigger.

In Wiederer’s opinion, this raises a question.

“What do we want? Do we want to work on a better distribution, not only in participation, but also in chances for winning the titles for more clubs, more nations? Or we cannot manage this because we don’t have the system for it?” he asked.

To provide the basis for answering those questions, he further explained the expansion and the development of the playing system since the introduction of the club competitions in 1993, concluding with the current structure and a clear invitation for a discussion about the future playing systems.

“Any changes to the system have to be market-neutral. This neutrality cannot be only defined with a sheer number of matches, but it is as well defined by production costs, by various other factors and it has to be seen also in respect to the international playing calendar,” said Wiederer before presenting different proposals for the new playing systems, focusing on the top-tier, but targeting also the second and third-tier competitions.

Six different ideas, five of them featuring the expansion to 24 teams in the EHF Champions League, coming either from the Forum Club Handball, national federations or the EHF itself, have been presented to the group, whose task was to discuss the competition structure in breakout sessions and look at what handball has at the moment, what does it want and what is it able to have in the future.

“It’s easy to change the system, but what does it bring? If the environment for the top-level competition is not created, then the system is for nothing. What we have to create, in whichever system we will have in the future, is the environment of the system, and in this respect, product development, criteria, and conditions are important. So, the whole package can’t simply be seen only from the corner of the competition system, that’s only the part of it.

“It is an ongoing discussion; it’s not a conclusion — we simply need to have a starting point,” concluded Wiederer in his keynote.

Photos © Uros Hocevar/kolektiff