Eight months of election campaign will end for Gerd Butzeck on Sunday from 10:15 a.m. CET. Since April, the sixty-six-year-old has been trying to convince as many member states as possible of his ideas in conversations, video conferences and telephone calls. It was a full-time job for the full-time executive director of the European Club Handball Association.
The German is running for president of the International Handball Federation (IHF) and is confident: “I will be elected.” That would mean that he would replace the current president of the world association, the 81-year-old Egyptian Hassan Moustafa. He wants to be confirmed as boss in Cairo on Sunday. He would then follow the 25 years at the top of the IHF with four more. “Four more years would mean stagnation instead of progress and further development,” says Butzeck in an interview with the FAZ: “We need change, transparency and professionalization at the IHF.”
His slogan is: “Handball deserves more.” So: Handball deserves better. In order for handball to retain its Olympic status, Butzeck wants to make it a global sport that is broadcast in a modern way (social media!) and supported by strong sponsors. Handball should also be able to be played outside. Things should be more diverse, more integrative and more sustainable – even in the global association.
The association’s closed communication
Most recently, Hassan Moustafa was missing from the final weekend of the Women’s World Cup in Rotterdam. Official reason: The preparation of the electoral congress was extremely time-consuming, especially because of outstanding visa issues. This answer came from IHF Secretary General Amal Khalifa. Her threads come together. It is said in handball circles that she decides everything, not the aged president. Questions, including from the FAZ, on various topics relating to the election and world handball remain unanswered. Closed communication is a core problem for the association, says Gerd Butzeck: “The International Basketball Association has 200 employees. The IHF has 20. Their people are good. But far too few.” This is also why urgently needed developments regarding marketing and media failed to materialize. There is frustration and fear at the association headquarters in Basel: “When I start there, the first thing I will decide is that from now on there will be laughter,” says Gerd Butzeck.
He can be sure of the support of the German Handball Association (DHB). Its CEO Mark Schober will also be traveling to Egypt this Thursday. He says: “We as Germany want to take responsibility for international handball. It won’t hurt us that we have become active and support Gerd Butzeck.”
Recently there were voices that the DHB Moustafa should be grateful for how many tournaments Germany was allowed to host. This is what Berlin managing director Bob Hanning said. DHB President Andreas Michelmann countered that gratitude is not the basis for cooperation. It is also the case that the financially healthy IHF benefits from lucrative major tournaments in Germany because it is the most important market.
180 representatives of the association are expected in Cairo. Every association has one vote, regardless of size. Many of them are ghost associations without games or an online presence. You’ll also look in vain for phone numbers or email addresses. Critical voices are coming from Scandinavia in particular: these nations are Moustafa’s “voting cattle”.
Butzeck appears confident of victory
Europe has not been able to agree on a candidate. Butzeck, the Dutchman Tjark de Lange and the Slovenian Franjo Bobinac are competing. There is no European unity against Moustafa. The French association president Philippe Bana is in favor of another term in office for the Egyptian. Sweden and Spain are also keeping their feet still because their representatives are hoping for positions in Moustafa’s cabinet.
Bana denied the existence of “ghost associations” to the critical Norwegian handball portal “Gohandball”. His motivation could be that he could soon succeed Moustafa as vice president if he were to retire for health reasons. Bana pointed out that it was in keeping with the spirit of the times to insubordinately criticize people in responsibility. Moustafa stands for continuity. Against this background, circles have also offered him the chance to free up his place at the top at the congress and henceforth act as “honorary president”. Hassan Moustafa rejected that.
Gerd Butzeck is now certain that he will be elected on Sunday. 80 percent of Europeans are on his side. In Asia and South America it is 40 to 50 percent. Africa, on the other hand, traditionally stands behind Moustafa. If the incumbent fails to secure an absolute majority in the first round of voting, everything will be at stake between him and Moustafa in the second round, says Butzeck: “Then the fate of handball will be decided.” Neither the German candidate nor the DHB wanted to rule out outside influence. Like 16 years ago, when Luxembourg presidential candidate Jean Kaiser had his microphone turned off during his candidacy speech.
