EHF Court of Appeal confirms decision in Nachevski/Nikolov case

The EHF Court of Appeal has confirmed the Court of Handball decision in a case against the Macedonian referee couple Gjorgji Nachevski and Slave Nikolov.

Prior to the Men’s EHF EURO 2026, the EHF withdrew the nomination of the two referees from North Macedonia due to the alleged manipulation of uploaded video recordings of the so-called 'Multistage Fitness Test'.

Based on the expert analysis of the EHF's integrity partner Sportradar, the EHF Court of Handball concluded that the videos in question had been manipulated and issued the following sanctions, which have now been upheld by the EHF Court of Appeal.

Both referees are suspended from carrying out any function within the EHF and participating in any EHF activities for two years as of the date of the first instance decision due to severely unsportsmanlike conduct.

Each referee must pay a fine of €5,000 for fundamental violations of the EHF Code of Conduct. 

A recourse may be filed to the European Handball Court of Arbitration (ECA) within 21 days.