The groups in the preliminary round were completed today, and the main round starts tomorrow. The format used by the EHF makes for a combination of excitement and anticlimax. They start out with 16 teams and one of the two purposes of the group play is ‘simply’ to reduce the field down to 12. Moreover, at any given point in time, Europe tends to have about 10-12 really strong teams, so the weeding out of the more marginal teams, such as the Slovaks, does not often create much excitement. But this time we had thrillers at the end. And then the fact that the teams which advance bring with them the points from the games that they have played against each other, this means that every game means a lot even when teams already know they will advance.

For instance, yesterday, Denmark-Poland was a really important game, even though both teams were already through. Based on the form showed in recent time, the Danes may have been favorites against a Polish team that seemed to have stagnated in recent time and were missing key players. And Denmark seemed to have the upper hand, but in the end they basically gave the game away. So now they are still in the main round, but in practice virtually without chances of being one of the two teams out of the six in their main round group who will go to the semifinals. What is worse is the impression that, in the games they lost, the Danes really seemed to be lacking in mental strength and fighting spirit. They looked intimidated in the game against Serbia. By contrast, the Serbs are through with the maximum four points and seem to be a great shape.

In the parallel group, one could write the same thing about the Swedes as about the Danes. They lost a point against the Macedonians, after having grumbled about the impact of the fanatic crowd. And then they seemed to be strangely optimistic prior to the final game against Germany, despite the fact that the Germans really had been ‘boxed’ in with a desperate need to win. A loss for Germany might have meant elimination yet again in a major Championship, while the win against Sweden means that they instead are through with full points just like the Serbs. The listless Swedish performance, both on the court and in terms of coaching, obviously was the cause of a major frustration in handball Sweden. And the Czechs had to pack their bags, despite the strong start with a win against Germany.

In today’s matches in Group D, we had a ‘triangle drama’ between Norway, Iceland and Slovenia. The latter two played each other, and somewhat surprisingly, after mediocre play earlier, Slovenia came through. In fact, they almost went as far as to knock out Iceland, leading 34-30 just before the end. But two late goals by Iceland rescued their advancement, although they, just like Sweden and Denmark, will move on with zero points. Norway did not manage to surprise Croatia and, although they almost ‘got in through the back-door’, in the end they had to accept elimination. What now has caused some controversy is that Slovenia seemed to ‘give away’ the last two goals for Iceland, with the reasoning that the 34-32 and the elimination of Norway instead of Iceland now gives Slovenia the advantage of bringing two points to the main round. A smart way of taking advantage of the regulations or unsportsmanlike?

Finally, in Group C we had what is undoubtedly the biggest surprise. Even after France lost against Spain, most observers had seen them as a medal contender. But that has now become almost impossible after today’s surprising defeat against Hungary. Sure, Hungary is unpredictable and had already staged a great comeback against Spain, but in the game today we saw a French team that was really ‘helpless’ and resorted to individual efforts rather than their usual team play. Karabatic was just a shadow of his usual self. So while France is still in the tournament, they are not bringing any points to the main round. And next they will have to face Slovenia and especially Croatia, who both will have great crowd support. It should be noted that the Russians joined their Nordic neighbors in the ‘meltdown’; they are out!

Most of us will now start speculating about which teams will go through to the semifinals, but as far as Teamhandballnews is concerned, I will leave that task for John Ryan…

Suddenly, media in Germany report about a unanimous conclusion by the Bundesliga clubs that they are no longer willing to put up with the chaotic match calendar and the resulting financial impact that comes from having 8 of 18 teams participating in Champions League or other EHF competitions. As these EHF games mostly take place during the weekends, it means that every week several Bundesliga games have to be played during the middle of the week.

The Bundesliga clubs now insist that, starting with the 2012-13 season, Bundesliga games shall be played during the weekend and that the EHF therefore would have to schedule its games for midweek. This would then be the same system as is followed by the UEFA and the major national leagues in football. Clearly, the Bundesliga clubs are in a special situation, in part because so many of them are involved with EHF events and the disruption therefore is so great. In other countries, there are typically only one or two clubs involved. Moreover, these clubs, relatively speaking, tend to find their involvement in the Champions League as quite important, both from a financial and a sporting standpoint.

Also, looked at from an EHF vantage point, the EHF could probably survive just fine if one or two member federations were to stay away voluntarily with their clubs from EHF competitions. But what would Champions League and the other Cups be without the German teams? So the EHF obviously cannot take the strong statement and the implied threat lightly. Some kind of accommodation will need to be found, either through exceptions or through a complete change in the EHF approach to scheduling.

It may seem a bit strange that the issue is coming up in the strong and unilateral way as now has happened. After all, in very recent time, the EHF has gone out of its way to integrate not just federations but also leagues and clubs in the decision-making and management of both its competitions systems and its general development activities. One might think that this would make it possible to work out solutions to major issues more quietly and systematically within those structures. But perhaps the loud and strong Bundesliga reactions to some extent are a matter of tactics in advance of upcoming discussions…

A few weeks ago, I commented on the ‘dispute’ between the EHF and AG Copenhagen, regarding the team’s strong desire to play its matches in the upcoming Champions League season in special, sleeveless shirts.   EHF requires all the participating teams to wear a standardized advertising, precisely in the spot that does not exist on a sleeveless shirt.  I commented that the global playing rules do not prescribe that player shirts must have sleeves, but that the EHF of course is entitled to have its specific requirements as a condition for participation.  So I noted that “unless some kind of compromise solution can be found, it seems that AG has no choice”.

 Lo and behold, a simple compromise has now been reached between the EHF and AG.  A statement along the following lines can today be found on the EHF web page:   The EHF Head of Competitions, Markus Glaser, informed that ‘following positive and constructive discussions, the new shirt design retains the unique look of the AG vest, with the addition of an attached white undershirt with the sleeves showing the competition’s official logo.’

Soren Colding, CEO of AG was reported as expressing great satisfaction with the solution, which will also be ‘keeping the players cool and dry when they play’.   I can only add that it is indeed nice when cooler heads prevail and that the EHF and its clubs can keep their powder dry for more important battles… Let us now just see what fantastic results these shirts will help AG achieve in the Champions League.  Perhaps it means they will have something special ‘up their sleeves’!

The European Handball Federation recently announced the introduction of a new internal legal system effective July 1.  Having seen reasons to criticize both procedural aspects and the results of the decision-making in some cases in recent years, I now congratulate the EHF to this necessary and important action.   When questions are raised about the adherence to correct procedures and about apparent mismatches between the nature of an illegal action and the severity of the punishment, then the entire system may lose its credibility.

The EHF legal system will now have a lower level with the name ‘EHF Court of Handball’ (replacing the misleading concept of Arbitration Tribunal).  This Court will deal primarily with competition-related cases (while the EHF Office will serve as first instance for administrative and transfer matters).  The exception regarding competition matters involves those events which are played in a tournament form, and where therefore decisions typically need to be taken from one day to the next, by the Disciplinary Commissions or Delegates responsible at the site.

An ‘EHF Court of Appeal’ constitutes the second level, for all matters (except during a European Championship tournament where a Jury plays that role).  In addition, there is an arbitration mechanism, ‘on top of’ or outside the two bodies just mentioned.  It is external to the EHF and completely independent, even though it has been established by the EHF Congress.   Very specific rules apply for the dispute resolution of this body, and in a sense it is, for EHF issues, an entity somewhat similar in nature to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).  Perhaps it will serve the purpose of avoiding that matters escalate to the formidable level of CAS…

An important component of the new legal system is the introduction of new Legal Regulations, a List of Penalties and a Catalog of Administrative Sanctions.   My review of these documents suggests that the EHF now has in place a very solid basis for handling especially the often very sensitive and highly publicized issues involved in the EHF competitions.  There are reasons to believe that a more effective and speedy resolution can be reached, without worries about major inconsistencies.  The structure for penalties seems generally appropriate, with scope for quite substantial action in terms of both suspensions and financial repercussions in serious cases.

Of course, as the prescribed penalties for each type of situation are normally expressed either as a very broad range or in the form of a minimum, the key will be the early precedents when the new system is beginning to be applied.  A tendency to be very soft and regularly choose the lowest punishments possible would send a very undesirable signal.  The provisions will not in themselves serve as a deterrent; they require that the decision-makers have some courage.

The German Handball Bundesliga (HBL) has just come out with a somewhat surprising new regulation at the start of the new season.  In recent years, there has been an unfortunate tendency in the direction of increasingly frequent and ‘uninhibited’ criticism against referees, on the part of coaches and players in a very public manner.  This has contributed to a negative atmosphere, not just in the individual case but more generally in the co-existence between teams and referees.  It has also tended to have an effect on how spectators and the general public understand what is permissible in terms of similar actions.

Accordingly, the HBL is now, quite appropriately, finding it necessary to focus on new regulations for this kind of situations.  Clearly, the intention is to avoid the spontaneous and public negative reactions, for instance in a press conference, right after the game.  Team representatives should have a chance to calm down and perhaps review video recordings and be more certain of the facts before speaking up.  So it is now forbidden for players, team officials and club representatives to express themselves in public regarding referees or other match officials in any way whatsoever within 48 hours of a game.

As has been noted in the media, perhaps one needs to introduce some further clarifications or at least make sure that new regulation is applied with some common sense.   An excessively literal or bureaucratic application might backfire.  It would hardly seem to be punishable if a coach or player spontaneously praises a referee when meeting right after the game.   And the definition of what is meant by public expressions is not really very clear.   Similarly, if someone comments on a game of another team that they witnessed, should this be covered etc?   So the intention is laudable, and personally I am certainly in favor of offering more protection for the referees, but the success may depend on the details of the interpretation of this new idea.