# Mediterranean Handball Confederation

The Mediterranean Handball Confederation (Arabic: اتحاد كرة اليد البحر الأبيض المتوسط; French: Confédération Méditerranéenne du Handball), officially abbreviated as MHC, is the governing body of handball in the Mediterranean region.

## History

On 12 June 1999 in Cairo (Egypt), the Mediterranean Handball Association (MHA) has been established among the following countries: Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Libya, Morocco, Portugal, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and Yugoslavia. The first president of MHA was Dr. Hassan Moustafa (Egypt).
On 22 February 2003, in Rome (Italy), the Mediterranean Handball Association decided to change the original name into Mediterranean Handball Confederation and an Executive Committee was elected Francesco Purromuto (Italy) (President), Rui Coelho (Portugal), Jaume Conejero (Spain), Jean Férignac (France), Taoufik Khouaja (Tunisia) and General Charalambos Lottas (Cyprus), having the task to perform all the necessary acts to summon the MHC Congress for the approval of the MHC Rules of procedure, for the election of the Statutory bodies.
The 1st Congress was held on 28 and 29 February 2004, in Castelo Branco (Portugal), and the following countries participate as foundation members: Albania, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Libya, Malta, Portugal, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey. Each year, the Mediterranean Handball Confederation organises the Mediterranean Men's Handball Championship and Mediterranean Women's Handball Championship on different dates. These competitions are preferably reserved to young athletes.
From 24 to 29 February 2004, the first Mediterranean Men's Handball Championship, was conducted under the aegis of the MHC, in Castelo Branco (Portugal). From 21 to 28 June 2004, the first Mediterranean Women's Handball Championship was held in Misano Adriatico (Italy). The Mediterranean Games with handball as an event were organized for the first time in Tunis 1967 (men's tournament) and Split 1979 (women's tournament).

## MHC Presidents

| S. No. | Name | Country | Term |
| 1. | Dr. Hassan Moustafa | Egypt | 12 June 1999 – 22 February 2003 |
| 2. | Mr. Francesco Purromuto | Italy | 22 February 2003 – Till date |

## MHC Executive Committee

The Executive Committee is the Mediterranean Handball Confederation managing Body. It consists of the MHC President and the members elected by the MHC Ordinary Congress for a four-years mandate. The following Executive Committee has been elected, for the term of the office 2015 – 2019, during the 3rd Ordinary Congress in Rome (Italy) in September 2015.
| Designation | Name | Country |
| President | Francesco Purromuto | Italy |
| 1st Vice-President | Charalambos Lottas | Cyprus |
| Vice-President | Zoran Radojičić | Montenegro |
| Vice-President | Günal Ensari | Turkey |
| Vice-President | Alain Koubi | France |
| Treasurer | Mehdi Khouaja | Tunisia |
| Member | Francisco Vidal Blázquez García | Spain |
| Member | Leon Kalin | Slovenia |
| Member | Hesham Nasr Soliman Ahmed | Egypt |
| Member | Siniša Ostoić | Croatia |
| Member | Konstantinos Violitzis | Greece |

## MHC Tournaments

* Mediterranean Men's Handball Championship from 2004.
* Mediterranean Women's Handball Championship from 2004.
* Handball at the Mediterranean Games from 1967 (Men's) and 1979 (Women's).
* Beach Handball at the Mediterranean Beach Games from 2015.

## Women's Mediterranean Handball Championships

From 2004 (2005 and 2014 was not held):
| Number | Year | Host City | Host Country |
| 1 | 2004 | Misano Adriatico | Italy |
| 2 | 2006 | Tivat / Budva | Montenegro |
| 3 | 2007 | Paris | France |
| 4 | 2008 | Mersin | Turkey |
| 5 | 2009 | Lignano Sabbiadoro | Italy |
| 6 | 2010 | Ploče | Croatia |
| 7 | 2011 | Mestrino | Italy |
| 8 | 2012 | Eilat | Israel |
| 9 | 2013 | Budva | Montenegro |
| 10 | 2015 | Nabeul / Hammamet | Tunisia |
| 11 | 2016 | Žabljak | Montenegro |
| 12 | 2017 | Nabeul | Tunisia |
| 13 | 2018 | | |
| 14 | 2019 | | |
| 15 | 2020 | | |

## Men's Mediterranean Handball Championships

From 2004:
| Number | Year | Host City | Host Country |
| 1 | 2004 | Castelo Branco | Portugal |
| 2 | 2005 | Katerini | Greece |
| 3 | 2006 | Loutraki | Greece |
| 4 | 2007 | Larnaca | Cyprus |
| 5 | 2008 | Port Said | Egypt |
| 6 | 2009 | Mahdia | Tunisia |
| 7 | 2010 | Bar | Montenegro |
| 8 | 2011 | Trabzon | Turkey |
| 9 | 2012 | Lagoa | Portugal |
| 10 | 2013 | Nabeul / Hammamet | Tunisia |
| 11 | 2014 | Chieti | Italy |
| 12 | 2015 | Pescara | Italy |
| 13 | 2016 | Alexandria | Egypt |
| 14 | 2017 | Paris | France |
| 15 | 2018 | Marrakesh | Morocco |
| 16 | 2019 | Port Said | Egypt |
| 17 | 2020 | Athens | Greece |

## Current title holders
### Handball

| Tournament | Men | Women |
| Mediterranean Handball Championship | Spain (2019) (1) | Romania (2017) (1) |
| Mediterranean Games | Croatia (2018) (4) | Spain (2018) (2) |
* (Titles) (*) Record

### Beach Handball

| Tournament | Men | Women |
| Mediterranean Beach Games | Greece (2019) (1*) | Greece (2019) (1*) |
* (Titles) (*) Record

## MHC Members
### Full Members

* Albania
* Algeria
* Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Croatia
* Cyprus
* Egypt
* France
* Greece
* Israel
* Italy
* Lebanon
* Libya
* Malta
* Montenegro
* Morocco
* Portugal
* Serbia
* Slovenia
* Spain
* Syria
* Tunisia
* Turkey

### Associated Members

* Andorra
* Monaco
Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain competed in 2020 Men's Mediterranean Handball Championships.