Modern coaching methods, innovative technology and top matches

It is a tradition that the EHF takes use of its flagship national team events as a platform for future top international coaches. Since 2014, the EHF Competence Academy & Network (CAN) organise modules of their Master Coach Courses at EHF EURO events.

For eight days, 35 upcoming Master Coaches from 14 different European countries, among them six-time Women’s EHF Champions League winner Ausra Fridrikas – gathered in Vienna on the fringes of the EHF EURO matches.

For the new Master Coach and Pro Licence holders, this is module one; the next two modules will follow in Hungary in summer and on the fringes of the Women’s EHF EURO 2020 in Denmark, where they will conclude their course with the exam and defending their thesis. As part of the RINCK convention, an overall of 600 lecture hours, including digital-supported self-studies, are needed to finally receive the certificate.

The course in Vienna includes all parts of modern coaching – with a major focus on the analysis of the current EHF EURO 2020 matches at the Wiener Stadthalle.

In groups, the coaches get special tasks like focusing on fast breaks or defence and then present and discuss their work with their fellow students.

The lecturers are well-known in the world of handball: Hungarians Peter Kovacz and Zoltan Marszinka; Serbia’s Milan Petronjevic; Slovenian Marko Sibila; Austria’s Wolfgang Polany; and for the psychological part, Icelander Johann Ingi Gunnarsson.

New topics

New elements and topics have been included in the first module. Spanish scouting expert Antonio Ojeda explained the use of the digital score sheet as part of match analysis, Stefan Walzel of the German Sport University introduced his studies on handball coach profiles and young athletes, and the data experts from EHF partner Kinexon unveiled the secrets of players’ tracking and the use of the iBall.

But the new master coaches have not only attended various theoretical sessions, but have had plenty of practical experience in the sports hall. There, they have focused on areas such as the physical demands of modern handball coaching, defence systems or physical testing during training sessions.

From 2020 on, all teams which take part in EHF competitions – at both club and national level – need to be coached by Pro Licence holders. Currently, more than 1,000 coaches from all over Europe hold this degree.

“The Master Coach diploma itself is not expiring, but the Pro License needs to be renewed at least after four years,” says Helmut Höritsch, who oversees CAN.

The first competition where a Pro Licence holder will be mandatory among the team officials is the Men’s EHF EURO 2020. From the 2020/21 season on, all VELUX EHF and DELO EHF Champions League participants need to have a Pro Licence holder in their coaching staff.

The whole Master Coach system includes national courses, supported by official EHF lecturers based in countries such as Hungary, Serbia, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Russia, Israel, Greece, France and Turkey, Portugal or Slovenia. All applicants need to translate their thesis into English to have a comparable database at the EHF. All documents from the course in Vienna will be published in this database too.

The first Masters Coach/Pro Licence course started on the fringes of the Men’s 2014 EHF EURO in Denmark and concluded at the Women’s EHF EURO 2014 in Hungary and Croatia. Since then, the Master Coach course has been held at all Men’s and Women’s EHF EURO events (Poland and Sweden in 2016, Croatia and France in 2018).