Inside Federations: Türkiye

Türkiye are one of five co-hosts of the Women’s EHF EURO 2026, and have previous experience organising major EHF events in beach handball. The 2025 edition of the EHF Beach Handball EURO was played in Alanya, a city that was one of the early hosts of the event, going back to the third Beach Handball EURO, in 2004.

Türkiye have been on the handball scene for a long time, and especially prominent in the beach discipline, but a spike in development is notable, as their indoor national teams have been appearing with more regularity in various Younger Age Category events. In addition, the women’s team qualified for the EHF EURO 2024 and now await their second appearance as co-hosts, while the men’s side will take part in the 2027 IHF World Championship.

eurohandball.com: What is the structure of the Turkish Federation? What departments do you have and how many employees?

Avni Mutlu: The Turkish Handball Federation operates under the leadership of our President Mesut Çebi and board members. We have a team working in different areas, including administration, sporting affairs, legal affairs, international relations, events and competitions, communication and media, marketing, finance and other operational areas.

We currently have 21 office staff and eight technical staff, making a total of 29 employees working at our federation. In addition, we have a facility where our players can accommodate during national team camps, and around 10 staff members are responsible for the operation and daily needs of this facility.

In total, including our facility staff, around 40 people are involved in the daily operations of the Federation. For major events and specific projects, we also work with additional staff, experts and external service providers when needed.

The headquarters of the Federation includes a playing hall with a capacity of 3,000, a gym, rooms that can accommodate players and a canteen where the teams can enjoy breakfast, lunch and dinner prepared by our kitchen staff. 

eurohandball.com: What does a normal day at the federation look like? What kinds of topics are addressed?

Avni Mutlu: It is difficult to say that we have a completely routine day at the Federation, as we deal with different topics every day. A large part of our day is spent following our ongoing activities while also preparing for the upcoming projects and activities.

During the day, we deal with matters related to our national teams, leagues, clubs, players and coaches, as well as international relations and our ongoing work with the EHF. At the same time, we work on event preparations, meetings, sponsorships, media and communication, legal matters and the daily administrative work of the Federation.

When we are preparing for a major event, we need to follow many different details alongside our daily work. For example, at the moment, the preparations for the Women's EHF EURO 2026 are an important part of our daily agenda. We are in regular contact with the EHF, our local partners, venues, hotels, transport providers, media and other service providers.

So, I would say the most important part of our daily work is being able to follow many different topics at the same time and coordinate everything as a team.

eurohandball.com: What are your most important strategic goals at this moment?

Avni Mutlu: One of our most important strategic goals at the moment is to build a stronger structure for handball in Türkiye, both from a sporting and an organisational perspective.

From a sporting point of view, our main priority is to improve the performance of our national teams at international level. For this, we want to invest more in youth development, improve the education and development of coaches and referees, and help our clubs build stronger and more sustainable structures.

Another important goal is to increase the visibility and awareness of handball in Türkiye. We want more children to discover handball, more people to follow the sport, and handball to have a stronger presence in the media and on digital platforms.

At the same time, we want the Federation to have a more professional, modern and efficient working structure. By making greater use of technology and new solutions, we aim to improve both the daily operations of the Federation and the services we provide to our clubs and athletes.

In short, our main goal is not only to develop handball today, but also to build a stronger and more sustainable structure for the future of Turkish handball.

eurohandball.com: Türkiye is one of the co-hosts of the Women's EHF EURO 2026. How do you see the organisational process from your side? What have you learnt from the past events that is helpful now?

Avni Mutlu: Türkiye has hosted many important international handball events in recent years, and these events have given us valuable experience in both sporting and organisational areas. We are now using this experience in our preparations for the Women's EHF EURO 2026. However, the EURO is a much larger event, so we are planning the process in greater detail and starting our preparations as early as possible.

The support and guidance from the EHF is also very valuable for us. We are in close contact with the EHF team throughout the process and benefit greatly from their experience with previous EURO events. Their guidance on different areas and their quick feedback help us to identify possible challenges early and find solutions together.

One of the main lessons we have learned is that every detail matters in a major event. Good communication and coordination between the EHF, host countries, local partners and service providers are therefore essential. For us, the Women's EHF EURO 2026 is not only a major organisational responsibility, but also a great opportunity to further develop and promote handball in Türkiye.

eurohandball.com: Speaking of developing and promoting handball in the context of the Women’s EHF EURO 2026, what can you tell us specifically about women’s handball and its position in comparison with the men’s game in Türkiye?

Avni Mutlu: I would say that the level of interest in women’s and men’s handball in Türkiye is generally quite balanced. However, when we look back at previous years, our women’s club teams have achieved important results in European competitions, and women’s handball has always been one of the strong areas of Turkish handball.

Our participation in the Women’s EHF EURO 2024 and now the opportunity to host the Women’s EHF EURO 2026 in Türkiye will help us increase the visibility and interest in women’s handball even further. Hosting the EURO 2026 is a particularly important opportunity for us to bring women’s handball to a wider audience and to create new role models for young athletes. We are also trying to bring our young players closer to the players of the senior women’s national team, so that they can meet their role models and see that playing at the highest level is a realistic goal for them.

It may still be too early to say that we are seeing a major increase in women’s handball today. However, many of the investments we are making are focused on the medium and long term. We believe that our work in youth development, national teams, major events and, especially, in helping young athletes build a stronger connection with handball will show its results more clearly in the coming years.

Perhaps we will start to see the fruits of the seeds we are planting today in five years. For us, what matters is to plan this process correctly from today and to make the future of Turkish handball stronger and brighter.

eurohandball.com: The Turkish Federation is one of many EHF member federations often working in collaboration to advance handball in Europe. How do you see your cooperation with other countries in Europe and the collaborations?

Avni Mutlu: We see cooperation with other European federations as very important, and we are quite active in this area. With both our women's and men's national teams, we organise joint camps and friendly matches with countries at different levels across Europe, in almost every age category. These activities are valuable not only from a sporting perspective, but also for developing strong relationships between federations.

I think one of the best things about the European handball family is that federations support each other. We receive support from other federations when we need it, and in the same way, we are always happy to share our experience and support other federations when they need our help. We believe that these collaborations contribute to the development of both our countries and European handball as a whole.

eurohandball.com: Where does handball sit in Türkiye in general? How does it compare with other sports in terms of things like popularity, structure and so on?

Avni Mutlu: Handball has a strong history and great potential in Türkiye. In February 2026, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Turkish Handball Federation. It was a very special period for us, both to look back at our history and to plan for the future of Turkish handball. At the same time, in 2026, we will co-host the Women's EHF EURO for the first time in our history, which is a very important milestone for us.

In terms of popularity, however, handball is still behind sports such as football and basketball. Nevertheless, I believe that handball is developing and reaching wider audiences in Türkiye. One of our important goals is to bring handball to every part of Türkiye. For this reason, we try to play our national team matches in different cities across the country. We want to bring handball to people in different regions, rather than having it followed only in certain cities.

One of the clearest signs that we are moving in the right direction is the interest in our national team matches. It makes us very happy to see full-capacity venues in different cities and to see people filling the arenas to support our national teams. This growing interest shows us that handball is reaching a wider audience in Türkiye.

Our goal for the coming period is to build on this interest, introduce more children to handball and strengthen the position of the sport in Türkiye. We believe that the Women's EHF EURO 2026 will also make an important contribution to this process.

Images in text: Kaan Boz / THF, kolektiff images