Participants of the project
Coordinator: Hungarian Ice Hockey Federation – HIHF
The Hungarian Ice Hockey Federation (HIHF) founded in 1927, is the organization running the sport of ice hockey in Hungary. HIHF operates the men, women, senior and youth leagues all over Hungary, as well as the national teams in the following age groups: Men’s Senior, U25, U20, U19, U18, U17, U16, U15, U14, U13, Women’s Senior, Women’s U25, U18, U16, and U14. The HIHF has organized 25 tournaments over the past 3 years, always with the greatest satisfaction of the participating teams. HIHF employs more than 50 colleagues and has 100 member associations. In 2018, revenues were approximately 3.758 million HUF, and expenses were 3.605 million HUF.
Furthermore, HIHF also manages the Hungarian National Development Program which helps players regardless of gender to improve themselves as players and as individuals. Their hockey skills and work ethics are improved as their coaches teach them about tactics, nutrition, media relations, sport psychology, how to handle pressure and ultimately develop them to be able to set goals for themselves, and work towards their dreams.
To be able to provide these opportunities for female players alike, HIHF in cooperation with other nations and organizations, wants to help young girls participate in high-level competitions.
Women’s hockey in Hungary has gone through a major breakthrough in the past couple of years, and its senior and U18 national teams are catching up to some of the greatest hockey nations in the world. The reason for that has been the major improvements with regards to women’s hockey leagues in the country, which serves as an example about the importance of more playtime opportunities for women. The major challenge remains the lack of equal opportunities for younger girls, leading to a limited number of players eligible to participate later on, which gives the motivation to HIHF to organize the U16 CUP series.
Project and financial coordination will be conducted by HIHF, which will engage highly qualified project staff in order to reduce the overall workload.
HIHF as project coordinator has allocated project management to EWIHC project which will include proper planning, organization, coordination, and control of all activities to ensure the implementation of the grant as planned.
Decision making will be ensured through consensus by participation of all project partners in decision-making, through the effective use of communication with brainstorming and nominal group technique.
HIHF has a vast experience in the coordination, management, preparation, implementation, monitoring and internal evaluation of different sport projects; in-depth knowledge of global trends and developments in world of sport; comprehensive know-how in dealing with sport issue; well-founded knowledge about the women’s ice hockey in the EU; long record of strategic development, capacity and institution building; wide-ranging experience of working in an international and intercultural context and the ability to use all this experience and expertise for the successful implementation of measures for our target group.
Since 2015, HIHF has participated in EU funded projects in sport, in the capacity of a partner and as the coordinating institution in Hungary.
Partners:
Austrian Ice Hockey Federation - AIHF
The Austrian Ice Hockey Federation (Österreichischer Eishockeyverband) was founded in 1912 and is one of the oldest members of the IIHF. Priorities of AIHF is to promote hockey for kids, youngsters and professionals, men and women alike. AIHF organizes all national teams’ programs and education for coaches on different levels. In addition, AIHF organizes youth leagues for different ages.
Recently, AIHF is working towards the improvement of school-sport cooperation, in collaboration with ENZ-O, (short for Eishockey Nachwuchszentrum Ost) which is an independent regional project with the mission to encourage children to start playing hockey at a young age, and to create an optimal setting for children to excel in their studies as well as in ice hockey. ENZ-O provides children with the opportunity to participate in hockey practice, starting in nursery school, and partners up with primary and secondary schools to integrate sports into school schedule and enrich the development of children’s individual and sport intellect.
AIHF also cooperates with Para-Ice Hockey (formerly known as Ice-Sledge Hockey), the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA), the Austrian Olympic Committee, the international EBEL League, Austrian regional federations and with every ice hockey club in Austria.
Finally, the Women’s Ice Hockey department of AIHF, located in Graz and employing 2 part time workers, is responsible for decisions regarding women’s hockey in Austria and for all female national teams (senior, U18, U16, U14) as well as for the female hockey leagues (Austrian Championships, EWHL, EWHL Supercup, DEBL, DEBL2), development projects and the whole administration.
Since 2015, AIHF has participated in two EU funded projects in sport, in the capacity of a partner and as the coordinating institution in Austria.
Czech Ice Hockey Association - CIHA
The Czech Ice Hockey Association is a national governing body of ice hockey in the Czech Republic and one of the founding member associations of the International Ice Hockey Federation, founded in 1908. CIHA centrally organizes numerous senior leagues including one women’s league, and is in charge of all their national teams. Through its regional associations, CIHA is also the organizer of junior and youth competitions. CIHA associates around 110 000 registered players, 85 000 of them are men, but there are only around 2 600 registered women players.
Danish Ice Hockey Association - DIHA
The Danish Ice Hockey Association, founded on November 27, 1949, and member of the Danish National Olympic Committee (NOC), runs all ice hockey activities in Denmark. DIHA operates the National Teams of all age groups (Senior, U20, U18, U17, U16, U15, U14, Senior Women and U18 Women). DIHA is represented on all IIHF World Championship Tournaments on both male and female side. DIHA surprised the „hockey-world” as Denmark hosted the biggest IIHF tournament WC-TOP-Division for men. Many records were broken here in a small hockey country, and more than 525,000 spectators came to experience the 64 games in May 2018. DIHA has also hosted and organized a lot of smaller IIHF international tournaments during the past years and always with the greatest satisfaction of the participating teams.
DIHA wants to give the same opportunities to female players and wants to help young girls in cooperation with other nations and organizations participate in high-level competitions. DIHA has in 2019 launched a new and financially large project towards women in ice hockey. This project is supported by the Danish NOC.
French Ice Hockey Federation - FIHF
The French Ice Hockey Federation (Federation Francaise de Hockey sur Glace) is an organization which runs the ice hockey sport in France, founded in 2006 after separation with the French Ice Sports Federation (Fédération Française des Sports de Glace). France has been a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation since 1908 and was a founding member of the IIHF. FIHF operates the leagues (men and women, senior and youth) all over the country, as well as the French Ice Hockey National Teams in all age groups (Senior, U20, U18, U16 for Men and Women). The organization has 22.000 members, and 15 full time employees. Development of women’s hockey is a priority of the team of President Tardif, for the next 4 years. The French National Development Program aims to help players improve no matter if they are male or female. The coaches improve their hockey skills and teach the players to become better on and off the ice. FIHF wants to give the same opportunities for female players as it does for males and wants to help young girls in cooperation with other nations to participate in competitions that will give them equal opportunities.
Finnish Ice Hockey Association – FIHA
The Finnish Ice Hockey Association is the governing body of ice hockey in Finland, formed on January 20, 1929. Finland joined the International Ice Hockey Federation in 1928. From the late 1980s, Finland has enjoyed a period of success on the international stage; and currently its men's national team is ranked 2nd in the world, while its women's national team is 4th. FIHA has heavily invested in youth development to produce world class ice hockey players, men and women alike, and strives to provide equal opportunities for girls in the sport.
German Ice Hockey Federation - GIHF
The German Ice Hockey Federation (Deutscher Eishockey-Bund - DEB) is the governing body for the sport of ice hockey in Germany. It was founded in 1963, but, its predecessor, the German Ice Skating Federation looks back to a very long tradition and was founded already in 1888. GIHF operates the national championships in the men’s senior, U20, U17, U15 and in the women's senior categories. Other national championships are being organized by the regional federations. It also operates all programs of the men's senior, U20, U19, U18, U17, U16 and women's senior, U18 and U16 National Teams, including participation in the international championships, run by the IIHF in the different age categories. In addition, GIHF is also responsible for the coaches' and referees’ education in Germany. The organization runs up to 15 different clinics for coaches and up to 10 clinics for referees per year with a total number of approximately 350 coaches and 200 referees participating.
GIHF has 100 full members at present, all clubs and regional associations affiliated with the top three senior men's leagues in Germany as well as the top women’s hockey league, the top U20 and U17 leagues. GIHF employs 21 people working full-time.
Together with the German National Olympic Committee and leading sports body (DOSB), GIHF also runs a campaign called „We are Ice Hockey”, which aims at recruiting more kids for the sports of ice hockey and it should also help to integrate kids from foreign families (refugees) into their clubs. GIHF strongly supports all initiatives (on national and international level) to develop female hockey worldwide. GIHF offers a number of different programs for female hockey players of all age categories, such as U15, U16 and U18 development camps and hockey schools.
Norwegian Ice Hockey Association - NIHA
The Norwegian Ice Hockey Association (Norges Ishockeyforbund) is the governing body of all ice hockey, sledge hockey and in-line hockey in Norway. Norway has been a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation since 1935. While most women’s hockey is local, there is a national competition at two levels: an Elite division and a first division with an end-of-season national championship. NIHA is working towards popularizing the sport of ice hockey for both men and women.
Slovak Ice Hockey Federation - SIHF
The Slovak Ice Hockey Federation is responsible for governing ice hockey in Slovakia. It manages the development of ice hockey players (both male and female), the education of referees, coaches, sports administrators, and the development of clubs. It regulates male and female competitions on different levels for the 102 ice hockey clubs and 10713 players registered as of 2018.
Spanish Ice Sports Federation - SISF
The Spanish Ice Sports Federation (Federación Española de Deportes de Hielo) is an organization responsible for all ice sports in Spain, including ice hockey. Part of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE), it deals with all federations conducting sports for the Winter Olympics. SISF is a member of the IIHF since 1923. It is also a member of the International Skating Union (ISU), World Curling Federation (WCF), International Luge Federation (FIL) and International Bobsleigh and Tobogganing Federation (FIBT). The president of this federation is Frank González. Although historically ice hockey is not a big sport in Spain, the federation aims to popularize it and continue to grow its youth program for both girls and boys.
Associate Partners:
International Ice Hockey Federation – IIHF
The world governing body of ice hockey, IIHF, founded on May 15, 1908 in Paris, France, is the governing body of international ice hockey and inline hockey. IIHF features 76 member associations, each of which is the national governing body of the sport in its nation. Besides controlling the international rulebook, processing international player transfers, and dictating officiating guidelines, IIHF runs numerous development programs designed to bring hockey to a broader population. IIHF also presides over ice hockey in the Olympic Games, and over the IIHF World Championships at all levels, men, women, juniors U20, juniors U18 and women U18. Each season, IIHF in collaboration with its local organizing committees, runs around 25 different World Championships in the five different categories.
Besides the world championships, IIHF also runs a set of European club competitions and a World Championship in inline hockey. In 2008, IIHF was celebrating its 100-year anniversary, honoring it with a host of ambitious new projects, including naming the Century All Star Team, the 100 Top Stories of the Century, charity events, children's development programs, and the launch of the Victoria Cup.
The IIHF fully supports the general idea of the project and will help to disseminate the results of the project.
Japan Ice Hockey Federation – JIHF
Ice Hockey in Japan is governed by the Japan Ice Hockey Federation. Japan has been a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation since 1930, as the first Asian nation to join the IIHF. As an organization that oversees and represents the hockey world in Japan, they support the promotion of hockey, and thus contribute to the healthy development of people's mind and body. By promoting hockey and making sports more accessible, they create an environment where people can be happy, courageous, hopeful and excited. They always establish friendship with the promoting the spirit of fair play and contribute to the international community. Finally, their women’s team has made their debut in 1987.
Korea Ice Hockey Association – KIHA
Korea Ice Hockey Association is the governing body of ice hockey in Korea. KIHA runs national team programs, educational activities and hosts domestic and international tournaments. KIHA has 15 affiliated associations such as regional and leagues. They have over 3500 registered players and 10 full time employees in the office.
Women’s hockey in Korea has gained some recognition after the latest Olympic games, and while they currently have 300 registered female players, this number keeps increasing. They have one professional women’s team, three women’s club teams, and one women’s summer league. KIHA also organizes national team programs for Women’s Senior, U18, U14 girls' teams.
Polish Ice Hockey Federation – PIHF
The Polish Ice Hockey Federation is the governing body that oversees ice hockey in Poland. Founded in Warsaw on February 22, 1925 by representatives of the 4 Polish hockey clubs, they soon joined the IIHF in 1926. Poland men’s national team made their international debut in 1926, while the women and junior teams made their debuts in 2011 and 1976.
Russian Ice Hockey Federation – RIHF
The ice hockey federation of Russia is an all-Russian public association created for the development and promotion of professional, amateur and youth ice hockey in the Russian Federation, increasing its role in the comprehensive and harmonious development of personality, encouraging the nation to lead a healthy way of life, supporting sport veterans. RIHF is a member of IIHF since 1952 and represents the interests of Russian hockey in international hockey organizations.
RIHF operates the leagues (men and women, senior and youth) all over the country. The organization has 227 employees, 7 branch offices and executes its activity in 70 entities of the country. The RIHF operates the National Team programs in different age groups for men (Senior, U25, U20, U18, U17, U16) and women (Senior, U23, U18, U16).
At the moment Russian IHF has 110 624 registered hockey players in the country and only 2 650 of them are female. Every season the RIHF arranges and participates in about 30 training camps and international tournaments for female hockey, but the number of high-level competitions for younger age of U16 is still very low and needed to be supported and involve cooperation with other countries.
Swiss Ice Hockey Federation – SIHF
The Swiss Ice Hockey Federation operates Ice Hockey National Teams in Switzerland in all age groups (Senior, U20, U18, U17, U16, U15, U14, Senior Women, U18 Women, U16 Women, U16 Women). As a sports organization, they represent the interests of Swiss ice hockey internationally and in all regions of Switzerland. They aim along with their members, to develop and promote the sport of ice hockey in their country. They organize and execute national game operations in accordance with the international and national regulations and coordinate development programs for hockey players of all ages and gender to improve them as players and as persons.
The Swiss Ice Hockey Federation strives to provide similar opportunities for women’s players and have recently started their U16 and U14 Women’s programs. The have also been employing a professional coach with their Senior Women’s team for the past two years, to provide the best opportunity for those women to improve and reach their maximum potential.
Brock University, Centre for Sport Capacity
The Centre for Sport Capacity is a hub for sport management research, student experiential learning, and practical support to sport organizations mostly in Canada, where ice hockey is the national sport. As a collaborative of faculty, students, colleagues from other institutions, and experts from the sport community, the Centre works to both understand and expand the capacity of sport organizations. Knowledge mobilization is a key role of the Centre, putting research-based evidence to work, and finding practical solutions to the challenges facing sport leaders, and therefore their expertise is an integral part of the U16 European Cup project.
Corvinus University of Budapest
Corvinus University of Budapest defines itself as a research university oriented towards education, where the scientific performance of the academic staff measures up to the international standard and the students can obtain a competitive degree having a standard and knowledge content identical to similar-profile universities and acknowledged on the European Union's labor market and on a global scale.
The university admitting more than 11,000 students offers educational programs in business administration, economics, and social sciences, and most of these disciplines assure a leading position for the university in Hungarian higher education. At the same time, its key ambition is to display the institution's uniqueness and to exploit the synergies resulting from professional diversity and from studying multiple disciplines.
Corvinus University, which functions as a real 'universitas', accepts students at three faculties and offer courses leading to degrees at the bachelor, master and doctoral level in countless specializations taught in Hungarian, English, French or German, qualifying them in a wide variety of fields.
Erste Bank Hungary Zrt.
Erste Bank Hungary has been a member of Erste Group since 1997, which was established as the first Austrian savings bank in 1819. Since 1997, the international Erste Group has developed into one of the largest financial services providers in Eastern Europe, currently represented in 7 countries. As a dynamically developing corporate business, they can offer insight into a wide range of corporate management solutions, which is why the Head of Corporate Division at Erste Bank contributes to the project by incorporating their expertise about marketing and business management.
Hungarian Olympic Committee - HOC
The Hungarian Olympic Committee, founded in 1895, is the second oldest public organization in Hungary and the sixth National Olympic Committee founded in the world. Its Executive Board is assisted by 5 permanent commissions (auditing, sports sciences, sports medicine, fair play, and athletes) and 4 working commissions (legacy, women and sport, sport and environment, and media). Director Zoltan Molnar heads the administration and operative work. Directors supervise the sports and marketing related issues respectively. The HOC administration maintains a daily connection with the sports associations, including the Hungarian Ice Hockey Federation.
The Hungarian Olympic Committee is committed to assist future, present and former Olympic athletes with academic career pursued in institutions of higher education at their choice and secure their return to the society upon retiring from active competitive sport. Consequently, the Hungarian Olympic Committee launched a program titled Olympic Career Path to help Olympians educate themselves.
Beside the organization and coordination of the Olympic preparation and participation, the HOC Executive Board is remarkably active in boosting the popularity of the Olympic ideals. The campaign called "Fair Play is the Only Way" has now reached nation-wide dimensions. The service named "Doping Doctor" is a 24-hour telephone assistance that has been available with professional aid, support and information. Finally, HOC actively works toward proving gender equality in Hungarian sports.
Hungarian Anti-Doping Group - HUNADO
The Hungarian Anti-Doping Group is a firm whose main goal is to reinforce the prohibition of impermissible enhancement of performance, based on the existing legal and regulatory frameworks, thus implement and maintain the “spirit of sports”, their purity and equal opportunities. The leading principle of their activities is that “doping is fundamentally opposed to sports”, and their motto is “Clean play is the only way.” HUNADO conducts non-profit business, investing all their revenues in anti-doping activities of different scopes, consisting of partly doping control itself, from the assignment and organization of taking urine and/or blood samples on location to their safe transport to the laboratory. Another field of their activities is providing information and prevention, through which the necessary information, doping regulations, warnings, actual prohibited lists are forwarded to athletes and the experts who assist them.