The countdown to the 76th EJU Congress in Budapest on 23 November is entering the hot phase. The conference venue is the Hilton Castle Hotel in the Buda district. Almost 200 guests from 47 nations have registered so far. EJU President László Tóth (HUN) is the only candidate standing for (re-)election. His list includes three Vice-Presidents and a total of 18 members. General Treasurer Envic Galea (MLT) and General Secretary Martin Poiger (AUT) are also – as the only candidates – standing for election.
“The results of the last two years speak for themselves: with currently seven Olympic champions and eight world champions, Europe’s judoka are the clear number one. In the last two years, the EJU has successfully launched a series of new event formats such as the European Championships Open, the Adaptive Judo Get Together Tour and the Under-15 Judo Hopes Cup. In the 2024 Olympic year alone, we are responsible for a total of 101 events and have distributed one million euros per year to our members as part of the pandemic programme. We registered 15.4 million live views on JudoTV and have around 500,000 followers on the five EJU social media channels. We want to continue in this vein,” says EJU President László Tóth.
Planning for 2025 is already in full swing: “We have deliberately enlarged the Executive Committee in order to have even more expertise in the team. It was also important to us that all the major nations are at the table. For the first time, we have two women in the role of Vice-Presidents. In short: the EJU is constantly evolving and that’s a good thing.”
The election proposal in detail:
President: László Tóth (HUN)
Vice-Presidents: Ivan Todorov (SRB/Marketing), Catarina Rodrigues (POR/Sport), Kristiina Pekkola (SWE/Education)
Development Directors: Giuseppe Matera (ITA), Moshe Ponte (ISR)
Education Directors: Gévrise Emane (FRA), Teodor Adrian Pop (GER), Ronnie Saez (GBR)
Marketing Directors: Oleksandr Nagibin (UKR), Jacek Zawadka (POL)
Head Refereeing Director: Alexandr Jatskevitch (LAT)
Referee Education Director: Juan Carlos Barcos Nagore (ESP)
Head Sports Director: Urska Zolnir Jugovar (SLO)
Sport Directors: Branislav Crnogorac (BIH), Sezer Huysuz (TUR), David Kevkishvili (GEO), Agron Kuka (KOS)
General Treasurer: Envic Galea (MLT)
General Secretary: Martin Poiger (AUT)
Facts and figures on the new Executive Committee:
– Gender parity: For the first time, there are two female Vice Presidents in office, Kristiina Pekkola (SWE) and Catarina Rodrigues (POR).
– Even more judo expertise: Seven new members (Gévrise Emane/FRA, Juan Carlos Barcos Nagore/ESP, Branislav Crnogorac/BIH, David Kevkhishvili/GEO, Giuseppe Matera/ITA, Teodor Adrian Pop/GER, Ivan Todorov/SRB) will be elected to the Executive Committee.
– Quality & quantity: The major European judo nations such as Germany, France, Georgia, Italy and Spain will be all represented on the Executive Committee as a result of the increase. Together, the ‘big five’ represent more than one million judoka. The EJU Executive Committee comprises a total of 20 people (instead of the previous 15).
– Highly decorated: Branislav Crnogorac/BIH holds the ninth dan, Juan Carlos Barcus/ESP, Envic Galea/MLT, Alexandr Jatskevitch/LAT, Oleksandr Nagibin/UKR and László Tóth/HUN hold the 8th dan.
– Olympic experience: No fewer than nine Executive Committee members have competed at the Olympic Games (Emane, Huysuz, Jatskevitch, Kevkhishvili, Ponte, Todorov, Zolnir Jugovar), Urska Zolnir Jugovar/SLO/-63 won gold in 2012, Gévrise Emane/FRA/-70 won bronze in London, Alexandr Jatskevitch/LAT finished third in Moscow 1980.
Author: EJU Media