The XXVI Ordinary Congress of the IHF was held in Antalya on
Saturday November 11, with a full agenda including the President’s Report,
membership admissions and elections of various IHF positions.
IHF President Dr Hassan Moustafa welcomed all representatives
of Member Federations with an address.
“I would like to welcome all of you to this very important
Congress,” said Dr Moustafa, before addressing several items relating to the
agenda and discussing development around the world. “It is very important for
the International Handball Federation to work with all of you, to be in the
same direction in the future.
“2016 was a tremendously successful year. Everything was
achieved by working together.”
Prior to the video-format President’s Report, Dr Moustafa
outlined some of handball’s most important achievements of the last two years
since the previous Congress in Sochi, Russia. These included the number of fans
in attendance at the 25th IHF Men’s World Championship in France,
reaching 540,000, the introduction of the Emerging Nations Championship, the
growth of Europe’s qualification pool for the World Championships and Olympic
Games from 36 countries to 48, and the first U17 Beach Handball World
Championship in Mauritius in the summer of 2017.
“I am pleased to hear from each Federation about their
development programmes, to help and support you and hear exactly what you need
from us,” concluded the President.
New Member
Federations and IHF President motion
The formal proceedings began with the confirmation of five
new IHF Member Federations: Fiji, Timor-Leste, Jamaica (all full membership),
and Scotland and England (associated membership).
The financial and auditor’s report was presented, and the
motion of the IHF President, to divide the Pan American Team Handball
Federation into two was discussed. The proposal is to split PATHF into the North
America and the Caribbean Handball Confederation, and the South and Central
America Handball Confederation, with the following justification:
- An increase in the handball activity in all
areas – resulting from financial advantages due to shorter distances and
reduced travel costs; the remaining money will increase the handball activity
in all areas.
- Especially the North American market is decisive
for the development of handball worldwide and for the position of handball
worldwide. North America is the key market for receiving status and income
related to the Olympic Games. A development in North America will strengthen
the position of handball in the IOC and at the Olympic Games and will guarantee
that handball stays on the Olympic Programme and that Beach Handball can be added
as a discipline.
- Organisational advantages such as shorter
distances. Due to the shorter travel distances, more tournaments can be staged
on a regular basis in all categories and even on club level resulting in
increased handball activity on continental level. The IHF can hereby provide
support in several matters and provide assistance in the kick-off phase.
- Providing the opportunity to focus on the
Caribbean zone with tailor-made projects for Beach Handball. This would give
these countries a realistic chance to take part in IHF events, as they would
then belong to the North America and the Caribbean Handball Confederation,
avoiding the traditionally strong beach handball nations from the south.
- Increased motivation from teams from North and
South which usually do not qualify for IHF events to qualify for a major event
as there is then a realistic pathway. With earning a qualification to IHF
events and with the experience gained at international events, these teams will
have the chance to close the gap to the dominant teams and also the currently
dominant teams will benefit from stronger opponents.
- Smaller qualification tournaments, group stages
similar to football or handball in Europe would be possible in a second step;
finishing the qualifications for IHF events earlier would be beneficial for the
planning on a long-term basis and for setting up the IHF calendar of events.
- With realistic chances of success on competitive
level, also the chances for raising funds from different sources (sponsors,
NOC, governmental institutions) increase significantly.
- More professional administrative bodies could be established, and better
service to the Member Federations is expected, since the respective body will
take care of a smaller number of federations. This could contribute to
enhancing the work quality (more focused and specialised).
- Through having more handball activity on
continental level, more human resources such as coaches, referees, delegates,
handball managers, etc. could be identified and promoted/educated accordingly.
- Giving the IHF the possibility to further
develop the IHF Trophy tournament in order to include this tournament in the
qualification pathway for Junior World Championships.
It was decided that the IHF Council will take the final
decision on this motion.
Elections
The next item on the agenda was the election of various IHF
positions, including President, with the results as follows:
IHF President: Dr Hassan Moustafa (EGY)
IHF 1st Vice-President: Joel Delplanque (FRA)
Treasurer: Anna Rapp (SWE)
Executive Committee – two new members: Narcisa Lecusanu (ROU), Frantisek
Taborsky (CZE)
Chairperson of the Commission of Organising and Competition: Per Bertelsen (DEN)
Chairperson of the Playing Rules and Referees Commission: Ramon Gallego (ESP)
Chairperson of the Commission of Coaching and Methods: Dietrich Spate (GER)
Chairperson of the Medical Commission: Dr Francois Gnamian (CIV)
Chairperson of the Commission for Development: Raquel Pedercini Marinho (CAN)
Chairperson of the Arbitration Tribunal: Zoran Radojicic (MNE)
Chairperson of the Arbitration Commission: Tomislav Grahovac (CRO)
Chairperson of the Ethics Commission: Hussein Moustafa Fathy (EGY)
Many of those elected took the opportunity to address the
Congress. President of the Canadian Handball Federation, Raquel Pedercini, was
voted as Chairperson of the IHF Commission for Development:
“Thank you very much for the support. I’m hoping to work
together with everyone to help to develop handball around the world and bring
handball to the level we hope to achieve in the countries that have to develop
more.”
Motions from
Federations, and Rules and Regulations
Motions to the Congress were presented by Montenegro and
Norway. Montenegro motioned for the awarding of Youth and Junior World
Championships to be the subject of IHF Council decisions, rather than Congress,
as was previously the case. This motion was approved by Congress.
Norway motioned that every IHF body be comprised of members
of both genders, was approved. Norway also motioned that when changes to the
Rules of the Game are approved by the Council, a minimum of three Member
Federations of different sports levels shall play under the modified rules for
at least one season in order to test them before implementation. This motion
had the full support of newly elected PRC Chairman Ramon Gallego, and was
approved by Congress.
After the motions, Dr Moustafa outlined minor changes to the
Rules and Regulations, regarding items such as Transfer between Federations,
the Ethics Code, and Coaching Education, as ratified by the Council. Dr
Moustafa then shared the IHF programme of activities for the coming four years,
and the budget for 2018 and 2019 was presented and approved.
Awarding of Junior
and Youth World Championships
One of the last items on the agenda was the awarding of
Men’s and Women’s Youth and Junior World Championships. The 2020 IHF Women’s
Junior (U20) World Championship was awarded to Romania, while the 2021 Men’s
Youth (U19) World Championship was awarded to Greece. The 2021 Men's Junior (U21) World Championship was awarded to Hungary with the understanding that the Hungarian Handball Federation will work to reduce the per-day cost for participating teams.
Russia, who had previously bid to host the 2019 IHF
Congress, withdrew, and the awarding of this event will therefore be decided by
the IHF Council.
Finally, the IHF President’s Development Awards were
presented, with Russia receiving the developed countries award and Mongolia
receiving the emerging nations award.