The Croatian federation pays 10,000 euros for a flag at the medal ceremony

The EHF Court of Appeal rejected the appeal of the Croatian Handball Federation and upheld a fine of 10,000 euros, of which 2,500 is suspended for two years. The reason: during the medal ceremony at EHF EURO 2026, player Matej Mandic unfurled a flag not provided for in the Federation's protocol. The court also partly upheld the EHF's own appeal, imposing an additional fine of 2,500 euros on Mandic himself. An appeal to the Court of Arbitration for European Handball is possible within 21 days. That the Balkans and symbols do not separate easily is known to everyone from this region - what is new is that there is now a price list.

New EHF European League format: five phases and 14 clubs dropping down from the Champions League

The 2026/27 season brings a system that will change how the value of a single match is calculated. The EHF European League now has five phases - group stage, play-off, last 16, quarter-finals and the Finals. Twelve teams eliminated from the Champions League enter the play-off, and two more come in at the last 16. The group stage stays at eight groups of four, with only the top two going through - for the other 16, the European season ends there. It starts on 29 and 30 September, and the first round includes Flensburg-Handewitt against Granollers, a repeat of the 2022/23 quarter-final when the Spanish side knocked the German club out. The group stage finishes on 1 December. More phases mean more matches, and more matches mean more television slots - who profits from that is not a question the EHF puts in its announcement.

Germany beat Slovenia 30:19 for gold at the M18 EHF EURO

The final began the way nobody expected - Slovenia, the only unbeaten team in the tournament, turned the score to 8:5 and forced the German coach into a time-out in the 15th minute. Then came a 12:3 run for Germany and it was all over before half-time (17:11). After the break the Germans scored three more in three minutes and the gap reached nine (20:11). Slovenia went twelve full minutes without a goal. When Gadza made it 25:15 in the 41st minute, the celebration could begin - a fourth gold in the history of German juniors. Vincent Facijejev finished with 8 goals from 11 attempts, and the tournament MVP was Slovenian right back Jaka Podvrsic, who scored five in the final too.

A full hall in August: Pelister beat Partizan 35:31 on Cervar's debut

Eurofarm Pelister played their first official match of the season and immediately sent a message - 35:31 against Partizan in the opening round of the Regional League, and on Lino Cervar's debut on the Bitola bench. Captain Filip Kuzmanovski scored 15 goals, a figure that carries the match on its own. But the data point worth more than the result is the stands: the "Boro Churlevski" hall was almost full, in August, when a good share of the fans are still on holiday. The current Macedonian runners-up begin the season with a coach whose CV rarely turns up in our league. It remains to be seen whether the institutions around the club will match that crowd.

WHC Kumanovo excluded from the Super League - Despina from Prilep take the place

The former Macedonian women's champions will not be part of the Women's Super Handball League in the 2026/2027 season. The Handball Federation of Macedonia announced that, under article 23 of the competition regulations, WHC Kumanovo is excluded from the competition. The club, which in the past won both league and cup titles on the domestic scene, had been facing financial problems for some time and they have now come to a head. The vacated place is already filled - it goes to Despina from Prilep. Titles are not kept in a display cabinet but in a budget, and in domestic women's handball the second has always been more fragile than the first.