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"Handball deserves more": resistance against Hassan Moustafa

For a quarter of a century, the scandal-ridden Pharaoh Hassan Moustafa has ruled world handball and, now in his ninth decade and marked by illness, wants to be crowned IHF president again in Cairo shortly before Christmas. Three opponents want to prevent this.

,   and  Jens Weinreich
7 min read
IHF presidential candidates: Tjark de Lange, Pharaoh Hassan Moustafa, Franjo Bobinac, Gerd Butzeck. (Collage: SPORT & POLITICS. Photos: Kapp, Alamy/ZUMA Press, Gorenje Group, private)

A few days ago was the deadline for nominations for the 40th Ordinary IHF Congress, which will take place in Cairo on 21 December 2025. It has been known since April that Gerd Butzeck, a German, will challenge the long-standing incumbent Hassan Moustafa...

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.
THE INQUISITORJens Weinreich

... since then, there has been little communication between Germany, the German Handball Federation (DHB), which officially submitted Butzeck's candidacy to the International Handball Federation in Basel in mid-September, and Hassan Moustafa.

Hassan Moustafa, who apparently suffers from Alzheimer's and whose age-related mental lapses are legendary, recently stayed away from the European Handball Federation (EHF) congress in Andau (Austria). Currently at the IHF Super Globe, where the final is taking place today (unfortunately, for once without the glorious SC Magdeburg), Moustafa sits tiredly in his presidential seat in the empty hall. Just ten kilometres away, at The St. Regis New Capital, the election will take place in December. Anything less than a clear majority of the 211 national federations for the Pharaoh would be a sensation.

It would be the landslide victory that the IHF needs.

The fact that Hassan Moustafa is running for another term to extend his tenure indefinitely has been clear since the IHF Council Meeting in June at the latest.

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