Word from the Sceretary General

The playing court’s schedule started with an unprecedented Men’s EHF EURO hosted in Germany with over one million fans at 65 matches and a record-breaking opening day with 53,586 fans in the stadium in Düsseldorf. Now, as the business year has drawn to an end the competition calendar was closed just as empowering with the Women’s EHF EURO. Together with the second Women’s Handball Conference, a year full of strong signs for the future development of both women’s handball and women in handball in Europe is concluded. This development was complemented by the inauguration of the Women’s European Handball League Board at the EHF FINAL4 Women in Budapest. With this step, the WEHLB has now been formally incorporated into the EHF structure during the 2025 electoral period.

To conclude the holistic development of handball along the “Circle of a handball life” I welcomed participants at the first EHF Grassroots Conference in January in Munich. In line with the motto: “There is something in handball for everyone and grassroots is for everyone”, the EHF is shifting its focus from solely top-level handball to a comprehensive programme for the development of handball throughout an individual's lifetime. According to the EHF Master Plan, we are pleased to extend our support to 23 member federations and prolong existing cooperations. The intense collaborations with our member federations have seen significant growth in the areas of grassroots handball, school activities, and the development of future talents — a fact that we are extremely proud of. To further support young talents in professionalising their handball careers, we have taken additional steps to digitise the process with the launch of the Respect Your Talent App and the so-called "Ambassador Sessions".