The EHF selected the Jarun Cup to debut their ‘EHF Beach Handball Candidate Referee Programme’ with the first stage of three in total being held at the event in Zagreb, Croatia which took place from 1 to 4 May.
Four referee couples – Marin Malinic and Andro Vucetic (Croatia), Greta Osvai and Alexandra Krisztina Rubint (Hungary), Michal Jakubek and Mikolaj Marcinkowski (Poland) and Marija Radoicic and Jovana Mrksic (Serbia) – were nominated by their national federations to the EHF to participate in the programme which ran across all four days.
The newly-implemented initiative aims to empower the next generation of beach handball referees and develop future international referees through training and mentorship, while helping them gain practical experience at top EHF European Beach Handball Tour (ebt) tournaments.
We spoke with Croatian pair, Marin Malinic, 22 and Andro Vucetic, 23, both from Rijeka.
Jarun Cup: Why are you here at Lake Jarun?
Marin: We’re here as part of the EHF Beach Handball Candidate Referee Programme. We’re learning. We’ve been refereeing some matches, having seminars, presenting, learning and practising.
Andro: We did a presentation about the main rules in beach handball games, penalties, passive play and the areas of defence and goalkeeper. A year ago we were here and this was the first tournament for us. This year we have practiced, and now the EHF programme, it has been a good experience for us.
Jarun Cup: When did you start whistling in handball in general?
Andro: Marin and I only played handball in the hall before, but we never played handball on the beach before. But since the beginning of our refereeing careers, we’ve been whistling together, starting in the hall. I was 20/21 when I started, in 2023.
Marin: I’ve been referring a long time. I’ve been a referee for about nine years. I finished the course in late 2016 when I was in eighth grade, around 13/14 years old. It just happened. I was told by a delegate once that it would be good for you to go, you can learn more and more about the rules, maybe fix some aspects of your game and things like that. He (Andro) was told by a friend that it would be a good job for him, so he accepted as well.
We played whilst we were younger. None of us got to the senior level. We both quit at about 16/17. I played everywhere, whenever anything was needed. I was there. I started as a goalkeeper and then played sometimes in the middle, the centre and on the wings.
Andro: I played left back.
Marin: He has a good shot. I can vouch for him. His shot is great. We usually train a bit when we have time, so I’m usually the one in the goal.
Jarun Cup: When did you whistle your first beach handball game together?
Marin: It was a youth game between two Zagreb suburbs here at the Jarun Cup last year. Actually, it was a very pressurised game, even though the players didn’t really know us well, they didn’t really know how to play, but the coaches were ramping up the pressure, so it was a cauldron of fire.
Jarun Cup: You are not only refereeing senior games at the Jarun Cup 2025, but younger age category games too, what has that been like for you?
Marin: When they’re young, you have to talk to them all the time and listen. Help them with the rules, certain things; fix your leg work, don’t do that much contact, please don’t do that. It’s a part of the job.
As well as with older people and seniors and children, you have to have that communication with them. You have to talk to them and sometimes you have to throw a joke around to make them feel more at home, more easy. They play better in that system, and we referee better as well.
Jarun Cup: How is your relationship with each other?
Andro: In football, the referee always changes partner, but in handball your partner is always the same. Before anything, Marin is a good friend, and after that, when you have a good friend, you can have a good partner.
Marin: There’s mutual respect. There’s friendship. We spend a lot of time together. We room together constantly. We are in contact constantly, twice to three times a day – at least two calls a day. We see each other out. I can only say positive things about him.
Jarun Cup: What is the biggest thing you can take away from this programme?
Andro: The biggest thing I have taken from this so far is that the most important thing is to respect each other. Without that, we can’t have a good relationship.
Marin: First of all, it’s an honour to be among these referees. There are obviously people who worked very hard to get here, who are still working on themselves, who are constantly training, constantly looking over clips and constantly trying to better themselves.
It’s an honour to be here to learn from Georgiana (Doana – EHF Beach Handball Lecturer), so a massive respect to her. She’s a great teacher, and what we’ve got in the last few days is a very good education. The other referees will say the same. We’re all trying to do our best here. We’re doing our maximum, and we’ll see.
Jarun Cup: What would it feel like if you became an EHF Beach Handball referee?
Marin: It’s always there, we always see EHF beach referees but you’re never really sure if you’re ever going to become one. It’s a very hard job to do, and it’s very hard to get there. We’re very grateful to the Croatian Handball Federation for giving us this great chance.
We try to do our jobs as best as we can. We’re always honest. When we make a mistake, we say, ‘listen, we’re sorry’. Everyone makes mistakes, but the main thing is, we do our best.
Jarun Cup: What are your dreams for the next year?
Andro: I hope that I will be better than this year – this is the most important thing for me. I hope that we – Marin and I – will be here again.
Marin: I also hope we’re going to be here again, first of all, the Jarun Cup. For the EHF, we will work hard and we’ll see. First of all, we want to be here, but will just do our best and go day-by-day.
Pictures: Paweł Jakubowski/PAWI.PL & Jozo Cabraja / kolektiff
