In addition to the regular business activities and especially the conclusion of the EHF’s financial year 2025, the April meeting traditionally is the one shaping, in particular, the respective upcoming European club handball season with the EXEC dealing with a plethora of inputs deriving from the February and March meetings of all technical commission and stakeholder bodies: namely, the Competitions, Methods and Beach Handball Commission which met in late February
The European leagues’ boards, the Nations Board, the Professional Handball Board, the Women’s Handball Board, the EHF Marketing Advisory Board, the men’s and women’s club boards as well as the legal commissions of the Court of Handball, the Court of Appeal and the European Handball Court of Arbitration all convened in March.
Club competitions in 2026/27
The regulative framework of the 2026/27 season in European club handball was one of the meeting’s key topics with the EXEC dealing with several motions related to it.
A first motion that was approved by the EXEC was the introduction of a club ranking for men’s and women’s club handball as of next season. The new ranking, which will take into account the respective club’s European results of the past three seasons, is planned to decide about the seeding of a club when it comes to the respective competition draw (EHF European Club excluded). The ranking does not decide about the participation.
The EXEC also approved an updated basic catalogue of criteria that are taken into consideration when evaluating the upgrade requests to the men’s and women’s EHF Champions League. For the 2026/27 season, the existing criteria for venue, TV and spectators as referenced in the regulations remain unchanged. The new club ranking, with points being awarded based on the club’s position in the ranking, will replace the existing criteria “results in past EHF competitions”.
Media, referring to a club’s media work and its digital presence, will be separated from “product management”, with the two standing for themselves in the future. The seventh criterion will be “Highlight event”, giving clubs the possibility to include their plans/visions for a ‘highlight event’ at least at one home game in their request.
Furthermore, the EXEC discussed the topic of prioritisation between upgrade requests to the EHF Champions League Men coming via the national federations, respectively the leagues and the two spots that can be allocated by the EHF through a wildcard.
The following procedure was approved:
The winning team of the EHF Champions League Men 2025/26 is entitled to participate in next season’s EHF Champions League even if the club does not qualify via the domestic league.
The winner of the EHF European League Men 2025/26, even if the club does not qualify via the domestic league, is entitled to participate in next season’s EHF Champions League Men provided that the winner of the EHF Champions League Men 2025/26 is either from a different national federation or is either first or second in the final ranking of its domestic league.
Regardless of any possibility, the maximum number of teams per federation in the EHF Champions League remains at three and all participants have to fulfil the minimum requirements.
A summary of additional motions confirmed by the EHF EXEC will follow in due course.
National team competitions
The EXEC received the final report of the Men’s EHF EURO 2026, summarising the event, which was played from 15 January to 1 February 2026, with all its relevant figures, feedback and data. Record figures for digital reach and the high attendance rate for all matches at the final tournament were highlighted.
The EXEC was also informed on the progress en route to the Women’s EHF EURO 2026 in Poland, Romania, Czechia, Slovakia and Türkiye (3 to 20 December) with Thursday’s draw of the preliminary round groups for the final tournament being the latest milestone.
Looking further ahead, the EXEC took note of the bidding timeline for the EHF EURO events in 2034. By 16 September 2026, federations interested in hosting the championship have to submit a letter of intent to the EHF. 10 February 2027 is the application deadline, and the event will be awarded at the Extraordinary EHF Congress in September 2027.
The EXEC also approved the bidding documents for the next EHF European Wheelchair Handball Championship which is scheduled to take place from 24 to 28 November 2027.
Officiating in the future
The EHF Executive Committee followed up on its January decision to implement a new officiating structure within the EHF with the goal to further professionalise the work environment of referees and delegates.
As part of the new structure which will come into place as of 1 July 2026 the structure of the existing Technical Refereeing Committee will be adapted and consequently enlarged. The new body, named Officiating Expert Committee (OEC), will consist of six members with the following responsibilities.
- Elite referees & evaluation: Oyvind Togstad (NOR)
- Female officiating: Jutta Ehrmann (GER)
- Officiating emerging nations and EHF Young Referees: tbd (in June 2026)
- Rules of the Game and innovation: Boris Milosevic (CRO)
- Delegates assessment and education: Denis Reibel (FRA)
- The sixth position will involve external experts for special tasks on a case-by-case basis
The professional management of the Officiating in European handball will be dealt with as in the past by EHF Office staff in the areas of governance, organisation and nominations, education and administration.
One key focus of the OEC will be the topic of the Rules of the Game, their further development and interpretation in the light of the many individual handball matches and the many competitions that are organised on European and national level.
Representation of players
The Executive Committee followed up on the topic of players’ involvement in the EHF structure after the introduction of a European Handball Players’ Board had been confirmed by the EXEC in January.
The following proposal was confirmed by the EXEC:
- The new board will consist of six members. Two male and two female persons are elected, two persons are nominated by the EXEC. The board will have a four-year mandate, mirroring the EHF election periods.
- The mandate for passive election goes via the National Federations, and the active voting right is given to all players who play, respectively played internationally, meaning at EHF EURO level and the corresponding Qualifiers and the European cup competitions.
- Players are entitled to candidate when they were present in the previous EHF EURO (either the Men’s EHF EURO 2026 or the Women’s EHF EURO 2024) and for the previous, respectively current European Cup seasons (2024/25 & 2025/26).
- The new board’s first meeting is planned for October 2026.
- Board members will be present in the Women’s Handball Board and the Professional Handball Board (one seat each) with a respective second seat going to a representative of the European Handball Players Union.
- The Board elects among them a chairperson who will represent the players in the Executive Committee. This applies from the very moment a respective motion to the EHF Congress is approved.
International Handball Federation
The Executive Committee took note of the minutes of the IHF Council meeting which was held at the beginning of March as well as of the summary of the working meeting between the International Handball Federation and the European Handball Federation at the IHF headquarters in Basel on 13 April.
At this meeting, the EHF and the IHF commonly agreed to coordinate the future development of handball in Europe and worldwide in the best and most efficient way possible.
The EXEC was informed on the ongoing discussion in international sports and corresponding recommendations of the International Olympic Committee on the re-admission of youth athletes and youth teams from Russia and Belarus to international competitions.
The topic was dealt with by the IHF Council in its March session and subsequently the IHF Executive Committee which in return provided a recommendation following a gradual approach which the IHF Council approved.
The IHF approach is as follows:
Russian and Belarusian youth teams (referring to all teams with the age category under-21 or younger) shall have the right to organise and participate in self-arranged friendly matches and friendly tournaments. Therefore, the Russian and Belarusian federations may officially ascertain in which countries no restrictions are applicable and play friendly matches and tournaments.
The EHF EXEC took note of the IHF's approach (which was based on the IOC's recommendations and already communicated by the IHF to its members) and confirmed it for potential matches played within the jurisdictional area of the European Handball Federation.
It was further approved that as of 1 July 2026 it shall be possible to nominate individual officials, such as referees and delegates (who serve as neutral EHF representatives rather than state envoys) provided a neutral designation and if travel, visa procedures, and the legal frameworks of host nations allow for their participation without conflict.
The EXEC also approved the EHF’s nominations of personnel to the IHF’s Technical Commissions which should serve as an additional link between the IHF and its Continental Federations.
The following members of the EHF have been, respectively will be nominated:
EHF Competitions Commission Chairman Bozidar Djurkovic (SRB) to the IHF Commission of Organising and Competition
- EHF Methods Commission Chairman Pedro Sequeira (POR) to the IHF Commission of Coaching and Methods
- EHF Beach Handball Commission Chairwoman Gabriella Horvath (HUN) to the Beach Handball Working Group (upon invitation by the IHF)
- EHF Chief Sports Officer Markus Glaser (SUI) to the IHF Playing Rules and Referees Commission
- EHF Women’s Handball Board Chairwoman Leonor Mallozzi (POR) to the IHF Commission for Development
- For a possible nomination to the IHF Medical Committee the EHF will compose in due course a list of experts specialised in handball and from this list an expert can be nominated.
The meeting closed with an outlook to the final stages of the 2025/26 season, including the final club competition events – the EHF Finals Women in Dijon, the Winamax EHF Finals in Hamburg, the Raiffeisenbank EHF FINAL4 in Budapest and the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 in Cologne – in May and June.
The next meeting of the EHF Executive Committee will take place on 13 June in Cologne at the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4.
