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Twilight of the gods: the IHF pharaoh has a presidential challenger

Is the era of Hassan Moustafa as president of the International Handball Federation (IHF) coming to an end after a quarter of a century? Today, the largest national federation nominated a rival candidate: Gerd Butzeck. However, Moustafa will have home advantage at the election in December.

Pharaoh Hassan Moustafa, challenger Gerd Butzeck. (Photo: private)

The last time I exchanged a few words with Hassan Moustafa was a few months ago in Cascais at ANOC's general assembly. We usually always chat a bit. But you never know with him. Sometimes he yells at me (‘Shut up!’), sometimes he flees. Increasingly, I got the impression that he no longer really knew who he was dealing with. In Portugal, I politely asked him how he was doing and how his health was. When I then enquired how many more decades he intended to hold out at the top of the IHF, he shuffled away without a word.

So far, it's been 25 years.

Age limits and term limits, all this new-fangled nonsense, do not exist at the IHF. There are good reasons why Hassan Moustafa is called the Pharaoh. He will turn 81 in July, and although age is getting to him and his naps and mental lapses are legendary, Hassan Moustafa wants to run again at the elective congress in December.

Luxembourg's Jeannot Kaiser once formulated the unflattering sentence about the IHF supremo:

‘Hassan Moustafa can't even spell the word democracy.’

Kaiser had tried to rebel against the Egyptian in 2009 – by standing for the IHF presidency. In vain, of course. Kaiser subsequently lost the election in Cairo, where Moustafa had a home game, under rather dubious circumstances.

Incidentally, 2009 was the turbulent year when Gerd Butzeck formulated this unflattering sentence about Moustafa in the run-up to the IHF election:

‘With someone like that at the top, we shouldn't be surprised that there's so much talk of corruption and bribery in handball.’

Basically, not much has changed in the correctness of this analysis. However, it is becoming interesting and explosive because Gerd Butzeck (66) is now preparing to end the presidential era of Hassan Moustafa (who will turn 81 soon).

The German Handball Federation (DHB) today nominated Butzeck as its candidate for the IHF presidency at its board meeting in Berlin.

Because it is so rare – Hassan Moustafa has only had to deal with a challenger twice before – I am publishing the DHB's full statement for a change:

DHB nominiert Gerd Butzeck zur Wahl als IHF-Präsident

05.04.2025 | Kandidat beim Ende Dezember in Kairo stattfindenden Kongress

Gerd Butzeck soll beim 40. Ordentlichen Kongress der Internationalen Handball-Föderation für das Amt des Präsidenten kandidieren. Das Präsidium des Deutschen Handballbundes beschloss bei seiner Sitzung an diesem Samstag in Berlin, den 66-jährigen Butzeck als Kandidat für die Wahl zum Präsidenten des Weltverbands vorzuschlagen. Der IHF-Kongress findet vom 19. bis zum 22. Dezember in Kairo statt. Formal gemeldet werden müssen Kandidaten bis zum 21. September.

„Gerd Butzeck ist einer der erfahrensten und profiliertesten Handball-Funktionäre – global vernetzt und mit Einblicken in unseren Sport von der Basis bis zum absoluten Top-Level. Er besitzt die notwendige Gestaltungskraft für die weitere Professionalisierung des Handballsports“, sagt Andreas Michelmann, Präsident des Deutschen Handballbundes. „Wir möchten mit diesem Vorschlag der internationalen Handball-Familie eine Option anbieten, so die globale Zukunft des Handballs mitgestalten zu können. Zugleich sind wir Dr. Hassan Moustafa dankbar für alles, was er bisher für den Handball getan hat.“

Sportpolitische Erfahrungen sammelte Butzeck von 1992 bis 2002 als Vizepräsident des weißrussischen Verbandes sowie von 1993 bis 2006 als Mitglied verschiedenster Arbeitsgruppen in EHF und IHF. Von 2017 bis 2021 gehörte er der EHF-Exekutive an und war Vorsitzender des Professional Handball Board der EHF. Seit 2006 ist er Geschäftsführer der Group Club Handball und des Forum Club Handball, der Interessenvertretung der internationalen Spitzenvereine.

Butzeck hat im Handball in verschiedensten Funktionen Spuren hinterlassen: So war er beim TSV Milbertshofen einer der ersten professionellen Handball-Manager, zudem managte er die sowjetische Nationalmannschaft. Für den europäischen Verband EHF war Butzeck Delegierter in der Halle und auf Sand. Mehr als drei Jahrzehnte spielte er selbst in Solingen Handball und engagierte sich auch als Trainer; als Schiedsrichter schaffte er es bis in die Bundesliga, wo er 1986 jüngster deutscher Spitzenreferee war.

Der in Wuppertal lebende Butzeck ist studierter Lehrer für Mathematik, Russisch und Pädagogik. Von 1989 bis 2006 war er Geschäftsführer der Allstars Sports Promotions GmbH, die sich um Spielervermittlung, TV-Rechte und Vermittlung von Werbepartnern kümmerte. Seit 2013 fungiert er als Aufsichtsrat der EHF Marketing GmbH.

Rio 2016. (Foto: IOC/Ian Jones)

Among the International Olympic Federations (IF), Germany currently only has a president in canoeing (ICF): Thomas Konietzko.

In recent years, German presidents Josef Fendt (FIL), Thomas Weikert (ITTF) and Klaus Schormann (UIPM) have resigned from their posts for various reasons.

Gerd Butzeck has one of the most extensive handball networks. On the other hand, the handball family that Hassan Moustafa is always talking about is a relatively small one.

As managing director of the Group Club Handball and the Forum Club Handball, Butzeck is a kind of Nasser Al-Khelaifi of handball – only, unlike the Qatari puppet-master, he does not have a war chest worth billions at his disposal.

Over the decades, Gerd Butzeck has placed around 350 players. His clients have included handball icons such as world players of the year Henning Fritz and Talant Dujshebaev, as well as Denmark's national coach Nikolaj Bredahl Jacobsen, who has become world champion four times and Olympic champion in 2024 with his team.

You could call Butzeck a candidate of elite handball, even if it is actually a bit more complicated. But at IHF congresses, each member nation has one vote. This sham democracy is a problem, as in many other IFs.

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