On 19 January, the Board of Directors Meeting took place in Copenhagen, Denmark. Read the memo here:
Allocation of the 2021 European Mixed Team Championships
The 2021 European Mixed Team Championships has been allocated, and the host will be announced in February 2020. The qualification for the event will take place in five or six different locations in December 2020.
Better and more streaming to the European badminton fans
Badminton Europe is constantly exploring various options of how to increase quality and access to live pictures from badminton around Europe. Badminton Europe is in contact with potential production partners around production of streaming, live scoring and also an instant review system.
Structure for Technical Officials area
A Technical Officials Committee has been established, with Sven Serré (BEC Director and European BWF TOC representative) as Chair, joined by the Chairs of Major Events, Renna Unt, and Chair of Circuits, Martin Kranitz, as members.
The Committee will deal with everyday matters around Technical Officials – an area which has been falling under the Major Events Commission up until now. However, as the area is constantly growing, and due to the importance of the field, it was decided to establish its own committee which shall be reporting directly to the Board of Directors.
Vacant position at the Badminton Europe office
Badminton Europe is currently looking for a Development Officer to support the activities in the development department.
It is the intention to advertise for a Finance & Administration Officer towards summer 2020.
TV- and data rights
Badminton Europe is finalizing its important negotiations around its TV-rights for European Championships and data rights for the European Championships and Elite Circuits. It is expected that an announcement is made shortly.
“World Class” – Europe Stands Together
The Board of Directors agreed to work on a concept which focuses on Top level world class players and talented junior players. The goal is to facilitate cooperation between the top nations on highest European level, between the most talented junior players and amongst top level coaches.
The BEC BASIS program
The Member Support Commission will continue with its BASIS program in 2020. The first activities will be in connection with the Shadow Program, which will be held in France and Ukraine. Here BEC staff will be joined by members of the organizing committee from coming European Championships, for them to gain valuable experience before their own event. Several Representative Visits, where Member Associations can request a visit from a BEC employee to give information in a particular field, are in the planning process for 2020 – but Member Associations are still encouraged to reach out to the BEC office in case they would like to take part.
In addition to the above, the Volunteer program will also continue in 2020 and in connection with the 2020 BEC RSL Summer School, the Slovenian Badminton Federation will host the Memberships Exchange Programme around ´How to host European Championships with limited funding´ and ´What is needed to host the BEC Summer School´. More information about this networking session is soon to be distributed.
The National Umpire Education Programme will be expanded via a second Level in 2020 after three successful editions of Level 1 from 2018 & 2019.
New thoughts around the BEC Major Events
An Entertainment Working Group has been established with the goal of making BEC Events, and European badminton in general, more entertaining for spectators, players, TV-audience and other stakeholders. A first outcome of these consideration has resulted in focusing on a centre court concept, with more attention given to the local players and the biggest stars, which will have its debut in the 2020 European Championships in Kyiv, Ukraine. In addition to this it was suggested, and approved, to have a slightly smaller number of qualified players for the European Championships, so that less matches will be played, in order for the centre court concept to be enhanced and developed further. This regulation change will take effect from 2021 onwards.
At the Board meeting in Copenhagen it was decided to amend the indicative rights fee overview for hosting European Championships, so that the indicative fees for European Junior Championships, European U17 Championships and European Club Championships are now at zero €.
It was also decided to increase the number of teams eligible to play at the European Club Championships, so that each Member Association can now enter an additional team. Furthermore, it was decided that each participating team can nominate 1 male and 1 female player who did not play for the team in the season leading up the European Club Championships.
AirBadminton in Europe
Much focus will be on the introduction and implementation of AirBadminton in the coming years. Badminton Europe will be working closely together with BWF and its Member Associations around this project.
BWF launched AirBadminton in 2019 with Badminton Nederland as one of the pilots, and Badminton Europe will look into how to create opportunities for people of all ages and ability to play badminton on hard, grass and sand surface in parks, gardens, streets, playgrounds and beaches around Europe.
European Para Badminton Championships 2022
The Board of Directors is positive towards taking ownership of the European Para Badminton Championships from 2022 onwards provided appropriate agreement can be made with BWF. In 2020 the European Para Badminton Championships will be hosted by Badminton Ireland in cooperation with BWF.
No “Badminton for Women Award” in 2020
As no nominations for this award was received within the nomination deadline, it was decided that no “Badminton for Women Award” shall be given at the BEC Congress in Bucharest, Romania.
Photos from BEC Major Events and BEC Circuit
Badminton Europe is currently exploring options for how Member Associations can get access to more quality pictures from the BEC Major Events and BEC Circuit tournaments. BEC will reach out to Circuit Tournament organisers in advance of their tournament to explore possibilities to accessing photos to share via the BEC photo platform.
Badminton Europe apps
The Badminton Live App version 2 will be launched in spring 2020, and BEC is also developing a new Manager app, which is expected to be launched in summer 2020.
Strategic Plan 2021-2024
The BEC Board of Directors is working on the development of 2021-2024 Strategic Plan – a plan which is due to be approved in April 2021. The development of a new Strategic Plan is part of the 2020 Members’ Forum in Bucharest, and here Member Associations will have the option of working actively with the first version and to provide first comments and input.
Selected MAs are invited to the BEC Strategic Planning Day, conducted by Brian Agerbak and Jimmy Andersen. This one-day session will take place on Thursday, 2nd April 2020 in Bucharest.
EUSA visit in Liévin
Two representatives from the EUSA Ljubljana office will visit the 2020 European Men’s & Women’s Team Championships in Liévin, France, to observe the venues and to receive inspiration regarding organising events on a higher level ahead of the European Universities Games in Belgrade in summer 2020.
Next Board duties
BEC Congress in Bucharest, Romania 2-5 April 2020
2nd April - Strategic Planning Day for identified countries
3rd April - BEC Members' Forum
4th April - 53rd BEC Annual Delegates' Meeting and 8th BEC Awards Gala
5th April - Board of Directors meeting
Board and Commission Meetings in Saint Petersburg, Russia 19-21 June 2020
Board meeting in Milton Keynes, England September 2020 (dates TBC)