The scandaled president of the World Handball Association receives a German opposite candidate. Gerd Butzeck competes against the Hassan Moustafa, which has been in office for 25 years: “It takes fresh impulses.”
Participation in a large manipulation scandal has been proven. He reached into the cash register of his association and removed about half a million euros without submitting any evidence. There were fabulous increases in the expenses among him and also investigations into suspected bribery.
Just 16 years ago, someone said about Hassan Moustafa: “With such a person at the top, we shouldn’t be surprised if there is always talk of corruption and bribery in handball.”
But Moustafa is still at the top of the International Handball Federation (IHF), and he also wants to stay there, even though he turns 81 in July and has sown doubts about various appearances whether he has grown the task mentally. Hassan Moustafa, President of the IHF since 2000, wants to run in Cairo, the capital of his Egyptian homeland in December 2025.
For the first time since 2009, another candidate
However, he should not get the fabulous results of around 90 percent like the past three elections. This time – for the first time since 2009 – there will be another candidate.
His name is Gerd Butzeck (photo on the right, on the left IHF President Hassan Moustafa), is 66 years old, born in Solingen, living in Wuppertal. Butzeck was the first full -time manager in German handball at TSV Milbertshofen in the mid -1980s. At the same time, he was a manager of the Soviet national team (the contacts were linked during the study of mathematics and Russian in Moscow), later Vice President of the Belarusian Handball Association. He was a referee in the German Bundesliga, he was sitting in the Executive Commission of the European Association EHF that he is the managing director of the “Group Club Handball” and the “Forum Club Handball”, a representation of interests from the top international associations.
Butzeck: “Not to be expected to be chosen”
Butzeck has been well networked for decades and he is a realist. “It is not to be expected to be chosen“, he said on Monday (April 7th, 2025) in conversation with the Sportschau, two days after he was proposed by the Presidium of the German Handball Association (DHB) as a candidate for the IHF boss.
“Gerd Butzeck is one of the most experienced and profiled handball officials-globally networked and with insight into our sport from the base to the absolute top level. He has the necessary design for the further professionalization of handball” “DHB President Andreas Michelmann was quoted for the decision.
Formally, the candidacy must be registered until September 21, and the Cairo Congress is chosen between December 19 and 22.
Moustafa with a lot of safe voices
So there are still a few months for an election campaign that appears hopeless. Of the 210 member associations of the IHF, each of which will have a voice, 99 come from Africa and Asia. They are closed behind Moustafa, who did a few crooked, but also many good business through which he could distribute money. He also used another way to win backing. The World Cup was expanded from 24 to 32 participants.
IHF President Hassan Moustafa in his speech after the 2025 Handball World Cup
A World Cup in handball is almost an open European championship. Only Qatar got a medal at a world tournament, but that with a team that was mainly recruited in Europe. Born in the Spaniard, Croatian and French.
Nations like Brazil and Moustafa’s home country Egypt have caught up, but only in the top. “The IHF has not managed to bring handball forward on other continents and to structure them properly. We need fresh impulses”says Butzeck. So a German wants to promote handball in the rest of the world, while the North African Moustafa ensured that handball was almost exclusively in Europe, not even in all countries.
Complicated mixture
The mixture in handball is as complicated as it works. In Europe, there has been a “pharaoh” for years – albeit no closed – resistance to Moustafa, which is also called “Pharaoh” because of its autocratic leadership style.
According to information from the sports show, the Europeans agreed to send Mustafa into the race against Moustafa in the course of 2024. The Dane has successfully conducted the Association of his homeland since 2007. In the past four editions, Denmark has become world champion among the men. However, Christians suddenly died on November 1, 2024 at the age of 65. The search started again, and it ended at Butzeck, which, however, does not indulge in illusions months before the election: “I would be very happy if the Europeans voted for me – but it would also be surprised.”
DHB thanks Moustafa for “everything he has done for handball so far”
In a quarter of a century at the head of the IHF, Hassan Moustafa created dependencies and thus minimized the number of open critics. In his message on the candidacy of Butzeck, the German handball federation also wrote: “With this proposal from the international handball family, we would like to offer an option to be able to help shape the global future of handball. At the same time, we are Dr. Hassan Moustafa grateful for everything he has done for handball so far.”
Hassan Moustafa with Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the opening of the 2019 World Cup in Germany
Butzeck confirmed the sports show to have said the sentence in 2009 cited above and thus indirectly subordinated Moustafa corruption, but he wanted to go into the election campaign more defensive “And look ahead“. Nevertheless, he says: “Without a candidate, Europe would have to expect Hassan Moustafa to be elected for another four years. Handball has developed well and dynamically in Europe in recent years, but a lot of potential is broke. We need change.”
“I see handball in danger as an Olympic sport”
This change and effective globalization are also necessary to promote sport at the International Olympic Committee (IOC). With Thomas Bach, a president has now ceded who, as a German, probably has a completely different perception of handball than his successor Kirsty Coventry from Zimbabwe. For the moment, Butzeck fears popularity due to the mostly limited popularity limited to European nations: “Especially due to the deselection of German Thomas Bach as IOC President, I see handball in danger as an Olympic sport. His successor Kirsty Coventry from Zimbabwe has probably never seen a handball game.”