The European Handball Federation (EHF) has suspended North Macedonian referees Gjorgji Nachevski and Slave Nikolov for two years following a case involving manipulated fitness test videos ahead of the Men’s EHF EURO 2026.
The decision was delivered by the EHF Court of Handball after proceedings were opened against the referee pair earlier this year. The case relates to alleged manipulation of uploaded video recordings from the so-called “Multistage Fitness Test”, a mandatory physical assessment for officials.
Ahead of the Men’s EHF EURO 2026, the EHF had already withdrawn the nomination of Nachevski and Nikolov, as previously reported by GoHandball.
Following an analysis conducted by the EHF’s integrity partner Sportradar, the court concluded that the submitted videos had indeed been manipulated. The ruling states that the actions constitute severely unsportsmanlike conduct.
As a result, both referees have been suspended from carrying out any function within the EHF and from participating in any EHF-related activities for a period of two years, effective from the date of the first instance decision.
In addition to the suspension, each referee has been fined €5,000 for fundamental violations of the EHF Code of Conduct.
The decision is not yet final, as both officials have the right to appeal to the EHF Court of Appeal within seven days.