European clubs to discuss new governance
The Alliance of European Hockey Clubs (E.H.C.) will hold their second Annual General Meeting on 14 June 2017 at the Hotel Viennahouse Diplomat in Prague, Czech Republic.
Apart from protocol issues like election of the board, the main agenda point will be the E.H.C. Board’s objective to have clubs included as permanent stakeholders in the International Ice Hockey Federation’s (IIHF) governance structure.
“This process of international sport federations’ reform is strongly recommended and supported by authorities like the EU Parliament, the IOC and the Swiss Civil Code and the IIHF has informed the E.H.C. Alliance that their internal reform process in this direction is underway and has been so for some time,” said E.H.C. President Marc Lüthi.
“The E.H.C. Board will inform the member clubs about this process and ask for their mandate to continue working towards the inclusion of clubs as stakeholders in the IIHF,” said Lüthi.
“Ice hockey is somewhat behind major team sports like football and handball, who have had club representation within their respective governing bodies for some time. UEFA just recently completed their change of statutes whereby football’s club association ECA is now a permanent member in UEFA with voting rights in UEFA’s Executive Committee.”
“This is a process which reflects the professional clubs’ status as recruiters, developers and employers of players. The clubs are the very base and daily engine of any team sport. Without players, there can be no events,” concludes Lüthi.
Read about UEFA’s reform process and ECA’s inclusion as full UEFA members here.
On Tuesday 13 June, the E.H.C. Alliance will hold its first Fenix Outdoor European Hockey Awards at the same Hotel Viennahouse Diplomat in Prague. The three awards are (all nominees in alphabetical order):
Fjällräven Young Player of the Year
Nominated: Joel Eriksson Ek (Färjestad, SWE), Kirill Kaprizov (Salavat Yulayev Ufa, RUS), Dominik Kubalik (HC Plzen), Oskar Lindblom (Brynäs, SWE), Ilya Sorokin (CSKA Moscow, RUS)
Globetrotter Coach of the Year
Nominated: Pavel Gross (Wolfsburg, GER), Kari Jalonen (SC Bern, SUI), Filip Pesan (Liberec, CZE), Roger Rönnberg (Frölunda, SWE), Jussi Tapola (Tappara, FIN)
Hanwag Club of the Year
Nominated: Cardiff Devils (EIHL, GBR), Frölunda Indians (SHL, SWE), SC Bern (NLA, SUI), Tappara Tampere (Liiga, FIN), Vienna Capitals (EBEL, AUT)
Media which is interested in covering the E.H.C. Alliance General Meeting and/or the Awards Ceremony in Prague must contact Managing Director Szymon Szemberg (see below). E.H.C. Alliance board members including President Marc Lüthi and club representatives will be present and available for interviews after approximately 13.00 on Wednesday 14 June at the Hotel Viennahouse Diplomat. For interviews following the General Meeting, media are kindly asked to wait outside of the meeting room, Prague C & D.
About the Alliance of European Hockey Clubs: The alliance was formally founded on 13 June 2016 at the E.H.C.´s first Annual General Meeting in Berlin, by some 70 clubs from 13 European countries. Ice Hockey thus became the third major European team sport, after football’s European Club Association (ECA) and Forum Club Handball (FCH), to found a club alliance with the mandate to look after and promote the interests of the professional hockey clubs and represent them internationally. The E.H.C. currently has 80 member clubs from 13 European countries.
About Fenix Outdoor Group: www.fenixoutdoor.se is an international group of eight outdoor brands; Fjällräven, Tierra, Primus, Brunton and Hanwag (development and production of outdoor gear and apparel) while Naturkompaniet (SWE), Partioaitta (FIN) and Globetrotter (GER) make up Fenix’ retail division. The company is listed on the Nasdaq OMX, Stockholm, Mid Cap. Fenix Outdoor was founded in 1967, with Fjällräven founded in 1960 by Åke Nordin in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. The iconic popularity of the Kånken rucksack has reached global proportions.
