At its meeting in Herning on Saturday the body confirmed that a “Players’ Board” shall be introduced as new stakeholder representation within the EHF’s structures, starting summer this year.
The new board shall be composed of two male and two female players as well as a fifth member, either male or female. Nominations shall come from the national federations. The players themselves will eventually vote for their representatives, who shall have participated in at least one EHF EURO.
Furthermore, it is foreseen that the EHF will submit a motion to the next EHF Congress for the chairperson of the new Players’ Board to receive a seat in the Executive Committee.
Players will also be present in the Professional Handball Board (PHB) and the Women’s Handball Board (WHB), with one seat each. Cooperation with the European Handball Players’ Union (EHPU) is also set to continue, with the EHPU being represented in the WHB and the PHB with one representative each, provided that a Memorandum of Understanding with the EHF will be reached.
Events: Men’s EHF EURO 2026 and beyond
With the meeting of the EXEC taking place on the eve of the final day of the Men’s EHF EURO 2026, a first information exchange on the championship took place with the full analysis of the tournament to follow ahead of the next EXEC meeting in April.
The current status of the preparations for the Women’s EHF EURO 2026 was discussed; the final four rounds of Qualifiers are to be played in March and April, and the final tournament draw is scheduled for 16 April in Katowice, Poland.
For the Women’s EHF EURO 2030, the French and the Belgian Handball Federations (possibly with the integration of a third organiser) have submitted a letter of intent, including a detailed bid book, underlining their interest to host the championship. The bid will be further analysed and discussed together with the federations as well as with the EHF’s media and marketing partner over the next months. This process is expected to be concluded by April.
Separate steps regarding the match schedule for the Women's EHF EURO 2026 had already taken in 2025, also based on input received from the competitions conferences, with the coordination for the championships in 2028 and 2030 ongoing.
The EXEC also awarded the Men’s 18 EHF Championships and Men’s 20 EHF Championships for summer this year.
The under 18 events will be played in North Macedonia (3 to 9 August 2026) and Georgia (2 to 9 August). The under 20 tournaments will both be organised by the Kosovo Handball Federation in Prishtina (12 to 19 July). The Men’s 20 EHF EURO in Romania and the Men’s 18 EHF EURO in Serbia had already been awarded at an earlier occasion.
Furthermore, the bid timeline for the EHF EUROs in 2034 was confirmed. The awarding is set to take place at the EHF Extraordinary Congress in September 2027.
Officiating in the future
The EXEC approved a motion received from the EHF Competitions Department, implementing a new timeline for the new officiating structure within the EHF with the goal to further professionalise the work environment of referees and delegates.
In a first step, the Member Federations were asked to register nominations for a new Technical Refereeing Committee and 21 applications were received.
The new officiating is set to be implemented as of 1 July 2026. A formal presentation and approval shall take place at the EXEC meeting in April.
As part of the motion, it was confirmed that the current Technical Refereeing Committee members will remain in their functions until 30 June.
European handball calendar
The members of EXEC discussed in detail the schedule of the upcoming season and the corresponding European handball calendar. It was acknowledged that the calendar for the 2027/28 season is a sensitive topic, as it is planned that revamped competition systems for the EHF Champions League Women and the EHF European League Women will be introduced for the season start.
At the same time, the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games start earlier (12 July) than the 2024 edition. The season will therefore finish with the EHF FINAL4 on 10 and 11 June to ensure a one-month break ahead of the Olympics.
Beyond the 2027/28 season, the EHF has already started working on the implementation of the calendars up to 2030 and initiated the corresponding coordination with the stakeholders and the International Handball Federation. Next steps will be taken in the meeting sessions of the Committees and Boards in March.
International Handball Federation
The election results of the IHF Congress in December and their implications to the work of the European Handball Federation were discussed by the Executive Committee.
It is foreseen to further define the role of the European Handball Federation as a continental federation and part of the IHF structures and thus to delineate concrete steps, i.e., a Memorandum of Coordination, to enhance the cooperation and the further development in the best interest of the sport of handball.
Following the IOC's recommendation to international federations for the return of youth teams from Belarus and Russia to international competititons, the EXEC discussed various consequences regarding the practical implementation and for different nations involved.
A further analysis of the technical modalities will follow and after a formal decision regarding position of the International Handball Federation, the EXEC in its next meeting in April will decide about the further procedure.
Reports and finances
As part of the regular meeting agenda, the EXEC was presented with several reports. Among others, these included the report of the EHF’s Legal Management, the European Anti-Doping Unit and the Sustainability Board.
The first draft of the final accounting for 2025 was presented and will now be handed over to the external auditors and the EHF Comptrollers for review. The updated budget for 2026 was also presented.
For EHF Marketing, implications from the exit agreement with Infront for the club competitions were discussed. On the national team level, the close cooperation with Infront as media and marketing partner for the EHF EUROs continues.
Furthermore, an outlook was given for the second half of the 2025/26 season, including the final club competition events — the EHF Finals Women (to be awarded), 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 17 April in Katowice, Poland.
