Declan Hill on Moustafa’s 25-year tenure as president: "You need change in any government structure"

Declan Hill is one of the world’s leading investigative journalists and specializes in the study of organized crime and international affairs. GoHandball spoke with him ahead of the upcoming IHF presidential election, asking questions about structural issues, the new member nations, and the fact that over 100 member federations have no website, no ranking, and no verifiable handball activity.
– If what you are saying is true my eyebrows are raised into my scalp. And my scalp is very high above my eyebrows, says Declan Hill to GoHandball.

Hill knows what he is talking about. The academic and journalist has covered the world of sport for many years and is deeply familiar with both match-fixing and other forms of corruption. GoHandball sat down with him ahead of the IHF Congress in Cairo in December.

From your perspective, what are the main structural weaknesses you see in international federations like the IHF?

– It’s difficult to overstate how utter failures they are at transparency and general good governance, says Hill.

The IHF has long faced criticism for being an organisation where power is concentrated in the hands of the president. But how vulnerable are such structures to governance failure? Hill has extensive insight.

– I have no specific information on the IHF president, but when any leader, it doesn’t matter if it’s in North Korea, China, the IHF or Sweden, has been there for 25 years there are going to be problems. You need change in any government structure. The issue in any cooperation in general is that corruption starts from the people. So I hope that the election in a couple of weeks is fair, but given the history of handball I fear for it, and I fear for the sport in general unless the sport begin to have general transparency.

The IHF has admitted eight new member nations since 2016 — several of which have little visible handball activity. What do you make of this pattern?

– Two things. One is that you want to grow the organisation. And the fact that nations like England or Scotland enter should be celebrated. It’s good. However, there is a phenomenon in international governance, I am not saying specifically in this case, but a phenomenon of vote packing. It happened internationally with whaling competition in the 80s and 90s, and it happens every time the US goes to another ridiculous war.

– Every time a new country enter as members there should be some form of oversight what they are bringing to the association.

Is it common for long-standing presidents to expand membership strategically to consolidate support?

– I am trying to be fair here but Joao at FIFA was notorious for bringing in new members. On the other hand he grew the association. So new national federations are not always bad. But scrutiny is needed. You want to avoid the phenomenon where tiny ineffectual nations with no cultural links to handball are brought in simply to support a sitting president. We should all be aware of it.

A recurring debate within handball — and one GoHandball has raised in our coverage ahead of the IHF Congress in December — concerns whether stricter criteria should be required for membership, such as a demonstrably functioning federation and active competitions. Hill has his own view:

– I think it returns to the rigour. What are the nations bringing? You want to grow a sport and make sure it’s expanding and growing internationally. But what are the new nations actually bringing to the sport?

Over 100 IHF member nations have no website, no ranking, and no verifiable activity – some cannot even be reached by phone or email. How concerning is this?

– If what you are saying is true – and I don’t know because you are just telling me and I haven’t checked – my eyebrows are raised into my scalp. And my scalp is very high above my eyebrows, says Declan Hill.

Declan Hill on Moustafa’s 25-year tenure as president: “You need change in any government structure”

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