Overview
- North Macedonian referees Slave Nikolov and Gjorgji Nachevski were removed from the roster and will not travel to the tournament.
- The European Handball Federation said suspicions arose after December reviews of the pair’s submitted Multistage Fitness Test recordings.
- All referee pairs must upload two fitness-test videos eight and four weeks before the championship as part of mandatory pre-event verification.
- Expert reviews concluded the videos showed a high likelihood of manipulation, prompting the withdrawal to protect tournament integrity.
- Seventeen referee pairs remain nominated, the EHF says officiating capacity is fully ensured, and the case stays under investigation with potential legal action reserved.