Handball Academy Certification Programme 

The new programme, addressed to entities that provide handball training for children and young people up to the age of 19, aims to raise and unify the level of training at handball academies and to create their national network operating based on uniform standards of training and infrastructure. The programme is targeted at national non-governmental organisations which, as part of their key statutory activities, promote physical culture, with the focus on handball, among children and young people. In 2025, PLN 4.5 million has been allocated to the programme from the Physical Culture Development Fund. The academies can seek a certificate at one of three levels: 

• gold, with funding of up to PLN 20,000 per team in the academy; 
• silver, with funding of up to PLN 14,000 per team in the academy; 
• bronze, with funding of up to PLN 7,000 per team in the academy. 

We want the academies to develop and young people to have possibilities to make use of the best experience. For handball to develop, investment in smaller clubs is needed. Top-level sport begins in small towns and small clubs. For this to happen, however, sufficient funds are required. Thanks to the programme, the academies will receive funds for equipment, organisation of training camps and salaries of the coaches. We do our best to provide comprehensive support to team sports

- said Jakub Rutnicki, Minister of Sport and Tourism. 

If we want our handball to remain strong in the future, we must focus on the clubs and academies that train young people, as this is of fundamental importance. The programme will certainly help develop young players and coaches who engage children and enthusiastically motivate them to work. I am convinced that in a few years, handball will once again be the most watched sport in Poland

- added Sławomir Szmal, president of the Polish Handball Federation. 

Applications to participate in the programme may be submitted until 1 September 2025 and will be assessed by 8 September. The pilot programme will be conducted from 1 September to 31 December 2025. 

Handball on Orlik Pitches tournament 

In parallel to the launch of the Handball Academy Certification Programme, registration was opened for teams to take part in the national tournament Handball on Orlik Pitches for children aged 11 and 12. The tournament aims to integrate kids: the teams will be mixed and matches will be played on Orlik pitches. The tournament is open to: 

• teams registered by a school - composed solely of players who are students of a given school; 
• teams including no more than 3 players - students of a sports school/members of a sports club; the other players should be school students (excluding students of sports schools, sports championship schools, schools with sports divisions and schools with sports championship divisions). 

The tournament aims to promote handball that is a beautiful but demanding sport. We invite everyone to participate and register their teams. The more kids play handball, the greater our chances for having top world-class players

 - said Minister of Sport and Tourism Jakub Rutnicki. 

Local qualifiers will start on 22 September and end on 10 October. The regional stage will last from 16 to 28 October and the voivodeship stage from 3 to 17 November. The grand finals will be held on 1-3 December at Ergo Arena on the border of the cities of Gdańsk and Sopot.

Applications can be filed until 15 September on the website www.recznanaorliku.pl. 

The tournament Handball on Orlik Pitches is organised by Orły Sportu [Sports Eagles] Foundation as part of the Active School programme that is co-financed by the Ministry of Sport and Tourism and conducted in cooperation with the Polish Handball Federation. The tournament budget is PLN 4.1 million.