EHF Secretaries General Conference

The 14th edition of the EHF Conference for Secretaries General took place in Copenhagen in March.

Organised every two years in spring, the conference offers the opportunity for member federations to receive insights on the latest projects in European handball, discuss new developments, and bring issues from the national level forward.

This year’s conference topics included competitions, grassroots handball, an outlook to future EHF EURO events, coach licensing, the EHF’s sustainability strategy and the latest projects being supported through the EHF’s Master Plan.

Looking back to the Men’s EHF EURO 2024, the EHF shared key numbers related to the event, emphasising digital growth — more than one million spectators across the 65 games, a reach of 764 million on EHF and select third-party channels, and 13.9 million engagements. Discussion also focused on the younger age category events to be held in the summer, namely the Men’s 20 EHF EURO and Men’s 18 EHF EURO, both of which would be the first of their kind played with 24 teams.

The EHF’s Methods Department presented a new approach to the RINCK convention and coach licensing, as well as the possible implementation of a grassroots charter for European handball to foster the sport’s development across all age groups.

EHF Secretary General Martin Hausleitner presented an update to the federation’s sustainability strategy, which was initiated at the 2023 EHF Congress. With a focus on the EHF EURO events in the future, the EHF, together with the respective organisers, will aim to implement sustainable initiatives, mainly related to transportation.

Participants also received first-hand insights from federations participating in the Master Plan. The EHF’s development scheme has been supporting more than a dozen projects since launching in 2021. In Copenhagen, the federations of Germany, Georgia, Croatia and Türkiye presented their projects, ranging from fostering mini and kindergarten handball to the implementation of a grassroots handball coaching licence.

The conference concluded with the draw for Men’s EHF EURO 2026 qualifiers and a corresponding workshop.