As part of the preparation for the European Championships, all referee pairs must conduct mandatory conditioning training and fitness assessment.
This process is designed to ensure the referees’ physical readiness and alignment with the tournament’s performance standards.
It includes the upload of two video recordings of a so-called "Multistage Fitness Test”, one from eight weeks and one from four weeks prior to the Championships.
Following the submission of the recordings by Nikolov and Nachevski, the European Handball Federation was notified at the end of December that the videos submitted by the two referees may have been altered and may not represent an accurate recording of the entire test.
The in-depth analysis revealed evidence that there is a high likelihood that the videos were manipulated, says the EHF.
In the light of the evidence at hand and to protect the integrity of the Men’s European Championships 2026, the European Handball Federation – after internal consultation with the EHF EURO 2026 tournament management – decided to withdraw the nomination of Slave Nikolov and Gjorgji Nachevski.
