European Canoe Association activities Q1 2025

New Vice President, Board members and name  

The first quarter of 2025 has been full of activities for the European Canoe Association, with the highlight at the end of March when Budapest hosted the 17th Ordinary Congress. The Congress discussed many interesting topics, elected a new Vice President and five members to the Board of Directors, and accepted a proposed name change.

With the significant help and excellent organisation of the Hungarian Canoe Federation, the 17th Ordinary Congress of ECA successfully concluded in Budapest. Delegates supported the proposal to change the name of the continental body to Paddle Europe. However, the name change will not be immediate, as the competitions have already begun this year under the ECA banner. Official event names in 2025 will still use the ECA acronym. With this name change, the ECA follows the example of the International Canoe Federation, which will also be rebranded as Paddle Worldwide in 2026.

Moira Aston, Chief Executive of Canoeing Ireland and a Board member of the Olympic Federation of Ireland, became the new Vice President. In addition, five new members were welcomed to the Board of Directors. They are Greg Smale from Great Britain, Stien Verlinden from Belgium, Vitor Felix from Portugal, Peter Karai from Hungary, and Christian Jacobsen from Denmark. Smale, Verlinden, Felix, and Karai were given a four-year mandate, while Jacobsen has a two-year term. Aston and Karai were elected as representatives of the ECA to the ICF Board, joining myself and Vice President Andrej Jelenc.

ECA/Paddle Europe Board of Directors:   

- President: Jean Zoungrana (FRA)  

- Vice Presidents: Moira Aston (IRL) and Andrej Jelenc (SLO)  

- Board of Directors members:   

• Peter Karai (HUN)  
• Manuela Gawehn (GER)  
• Geir Kvillum (NOR)  
• Greg Smale (GBR)  
• Stien Verlinden (BEL)  
• Vitor Felix (POR)  
• Christian Jacobsen (DEN)

During the Congress, delegates supported several proposals, including the planned sports programme, membership fees, development programme, and budgets for 2025 and 2026, as well as partial amendments to the statute related to the name change of the organisation. They also reviewed plans for the development of recreational and educational programmes, presented by Gabriele Koch, ECA Recreational Technical Committee Chair, and Special Olympics, presented by Matteo Secchi. In the coming months, ECA faces another significant milestone: its move from Zagreb, its previous headquarters. 

Honours for Lovric and Haviar

After the Congress, a gala dinner followed. ECA Honorary Life President Albert Woods OBE and I thanked two long-standing members of the European canoeing family. Former Secretary General Branko Lovric and long-time Vice President Miroslav Haviar were appointed as Honorary Board Members of the ECA in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the sport. With this Congress, Ruud Heijselaar, who will remain ECA Canoe Marathon Technical Committee Chair, and Jovana Stanojevic, who stepped down prematurely as a Board member after being appointed ECA Sport and Event Manager, also concluded their time as members of the Board of Directors. Stanojevic is also the ECA Canoe Sprint Technical Committee Chair. I took the opportunity to thank the Presidents of the Hungarian and Turkish Canoe Federations, who organised the last two Congresses.

ECA Board of Directors meeting in Ponte de Lima

In February, the ECA Board of Directors meeting was held in Ponte de Lima, Portugal, where this year’s Canoe Marathon European Championships will be held.   

It was a long but fruitful weekend for the Board who discussed important topics regarding the future of canoeing in Europe. Among the decisions made, the locations for the ECA European Championships in several disciplines were allocated. It was confirmed that the 2026 ECA Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe European Championships will be held in Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal. The organisation of the 2026 ECA Canoe Slalom European Championships was entrusted to Ivrea, Italy, while the 2026 ECA Junior and U23 Canoe Slalom European Championships will be held in Epinal, France. The canoe freestyle competitors will compete for the 2026 ECA Canoe Freestyle European Championships titles in Lieksa, Finland. The 2027 ECA Canoe Slalom European Championships will be held in Krakow, Poland, and the 2027 ECA Canoe Marathon European Championships will take place in Mirandela, Portugal. The full ECA calendar is available here: https://canoe-europe.org/documents#calendar  

It was also decided that refugee athletes with UN status will be allowed to participate in the non-qualification events, inline with the ICF rules and the broader European sports framework. The Board of Directors were presented with and discussed the financial report and the provisional budget for the next two years, as well as the strategic and development plans, which support the planned growth and ambition in development over the next two years, focusing on sports initiatives, organisation of training camps across Europe in various disciplines to increase the number of nations and athletes participating at European Championships, and supporting the development of canoeing in Europe. The Board members also confirmed the proposed compositions of the Technical Committees.  

During their stay in Ponte de Lima, the ECA Board of Directors had the privilege of visiting the impressive Clube Náutico de Ponte de Lima, where they were warmly welcomed by the representatives of the Portuguese Canoe Federation and the local club. Among those who welcomed the delegation was Fernando Pimenta, Portugal's canoeing superstar, a two-time Olympic medalist, and multiple European and world champion. The ECA's Board of Directors was impressed with the outstanding facilities, the impressive number of athletes, and the diverse range of programmes offered, showing that the club plays a vital role in fostering talent and passion for canoeing and sport in the region.

Technical visit of the 2025 Canoe Slalom European Championships  

Colin Woodgate, Chair of the ECA Canoe Slalom Technical Committee, and Stanojevic were in Paris to visit the Olympic Nautical Stadium of Ile-de-France in Vaires-sur-Marne. They met with the organising team of the 2025 ECA Canoe Slalom European Championships as well as with Pascal Bonnetain, the new President of the French Canoe Kayak and Paddle Sports Federation, and Maryse Viseeur, Secretary General of the federation. Woodgate and Stanojevic visited and inspected the site of the championships set to take place this May, and held meetings to deliver the ECA Canoe Slalom European Championships.

ICF Paddle Summit and Board meeting in China  

The International Canoe Federation held the ICF Paddle Summit and meetings of the Executive Committee and Board in Hangzhou, China. I attended the meetings along with Lovric, Jelenc, and Stanojevic, where several topics were discussed. The Board meeting ended with an emotional tribute by the ICF President Thomas Konietzko to Stanojevic and more particularly to Lovric for his long-standing commitment to the ICF Board as ECA Secretary General. This was their last participation in the ICF Board meeting. For ECA, the visit to China was also an opportunity to meet and exchange views with our new partner company Peisheng.

General Assembly of the European Olympic Committees  

The European Olympic Committees (EOC) held the 54th General Assembly in Frankfurt, Germany, with the EOC Director and Executive Committee elections taking place. EOC President Spyros Capralos will lead the body for the next four years as the head of an Executive Committee. President Capralos was re-elected to the position alongside Vice President Daina Gudzineviciute and Treasurer Peter Mennel. Italian NOC Secretary General Carlo Mornati was elected as the new EOC Secretary General and will replace Raffaele Pagnozzi, who is retiring after 19 years in the role. The elections for the Executive Committee saw six of the previous members re-elected to their positions, with six new members elected to join them for the four-year mandate from 2025 – 2028.

By Jean Zoungrana, President of the European Canoe Association