After more than forty years in handball – as a player, referee, coach, manager, and international figure – Gerd Butzeck is taking the next step. In December, he will challenge long-time president Hassan Moustafa for the presidency of the International Handball Federation. “Handball deserves more,” he says, promising transparency, global development, and a modern approach if elected.
Hassan Moustafa, known as “The Pharaoh,” is aiming to stay at the helm of the IHF even after 2025 – 81 years old and 25 years after he first became president. But unlike the previous three elections in 2013, 2017, and 2021, this time the Egyptian will face at least one challenger.
The election is set for December 21 in Cairo, and at least one candidate is stepping up: Gerd Butzeck, who is granting GoHandball an exclusive interview – the first time the German agrees to an interview outside of his home country of Germany since announcing his candidacy back in April.
Butzeck, who has unprecedented experience in the handball community, looks like a strong candidate. The 66 year old has played handball, refereed at the highest level, managed a club, worked for huge national federations, managed over 300 transfers as a player agent, won medals with Belarus and SKA Minsk as a leader, worked as a delegate on over 100 international matches, been a chairman of a German club, been a pioneer in developing beach handball and founded Forum Club Handball where he still is managing director. Quite the resume in other words.
Can Butzeck finally shake Moustafa’s decades-long grip on the handball world? In 2004, Moustafa defeated Sweden’s Staffan Holmqvist, and in 2009, it was Luxembourg’s Jean Kaiser who fell to the Egyptian.
Below is the in-depth interview Ola Selby had with Gerd Butzeck:
How and when did the idea to candidate for the IHF presidency start?
– I tried to persuade the French, Danish, German and the Swedish president of the respective federation, plus the EHF president, to become a candidate, but none of them agreed. Finally I was asked by a very good friend to do it because the current IHF president needs an opponent. And I agreed.
Would it be fair to describe it as you have been suggesting other people to candidate and then when nobody else wanted you decided to do it yourself?
– I am still pushing other potential candidates to step forward. But saying that I believe that I would be a good president. I am pretty sure I have good chances to be elected.
What made you decide to run for the position of IHF president?
– I have been a part of the handball family for several decades and I think that after 25 years with the same president handball deserves a change. My motto for the candidacy will be ”Handball deserves more”. I think that I need to focus on the global stage of international handball, and also new structures – the IHF needs to become a modern organisation to activate the full potential of handball. There is much to improve and what I have seen in the past years is my motivation.
You have great experience within handball organisations – which experiences would you particularly like to bring into the role of president?
– I think it’s all about team play. You need to put the right person in the right position. This needs to be a transparent process, and we need to establish good governance at the IHF. This is key.
A new handball discipline in the works?
How would you describe your vision for international handball over the next ten years?
– It is the job of the IHF to develop handball worldwide – and Europe must be the motor of this development. That is the key sentence of my candidature. My vision is good relations between the IHF and the EHF leadership, which shall lead to European support for all nations and continents worldwide.
– My vision is that we need a third handball discipline that’s more urban, but more on this later. We also need more funding for smaller nations and we need to reach and develop new markets. We need to remain an Olympic sport and we need to invest in modern public relations and communications. I believe that more non-European organisers are needed for World Championships, even if the IHF needs to support this financially. As you can see by my answer – there is a lot of work ahead of us.
What does handball mean to you personally?
– Handball is my life. I started in handball when I was 14 – today I am 66 and in between I worked in handball. There is not one day during my life that I didn’t work in handball.
Why should the federations vote for you?
– I think that beside the EHF president, who is an excellent expert and very well connected, I am most likely one of the most experienced specialist in handball, and especially if you take all fields including refereeing, coaching, beach handball, playing, agent and officiating. I hope that the federations see that. Handball deserves someone who has experience in as many fields as possible. But it’s not about me – it’s about the team.
– I hope that the federations can see that only a wind of change can bring handball to a higher level, and I hope that the federations will benefit from a new IHF structure. I will give you an example: the IHF has 20 employees and FIBA (editor’s note: FIBA is the International Basketball Federation) has 200.
The election takes place in Cairo in December. How are you preparing in the upcoming months?
– I am travelling a lot. For example I spent one week in Asia recently where I visited a different country every day. At home I have 2-3 zoom calls every day nations from Oceania, South America, Central America, Asia and Africa. Fast learnings.
What can one of those conversations look like? What do you talk about?
– Usually I give a short introduction for about 15 minutes about me. And then I prefer to listen to them and their needs. It’s very interesting – for example someone says that they are governed by volunteers and that they have no professionals in the federation. They ask me if I would be willing to come and speak to their government so that they will pay for a full time employee at the federation. And of course I will do that.
– I spoke to one president of a handball federation in Central America and he said that they only have one handball floor in their country and that it’s old and broken.
“We need to increase our efforts”
How do you see the potential for handball to grow globally, outside of the traditionally strong regions in Europe?
– I think that handball is the best of all team sports and it of course has huge potential. I think that Europe shall boost the rest of the world with the financial support of the IHF. Europe shall share their experience in order to grow handball globally. We need more top events outside Europe.
What concrete initiatives would you like to introduce to increase the sport’s popularity among young people?
– My website with my full program will go online shortly but I will give you one concrete example of an initiative I believe in: I think that we need to develop a handball discipline that can be played on a basketball court, which I believe is interesting for African, Asian, and American countries who do not have regular handball halls. In the US for example they only have one 40×20 court on a permanent basis, but everywhere else they have to do everything every time from the beginning, draw lines etc.
– The idea is that we will try to match the idea of 3×3 in basketball. If we develop a version of handball that we can play on a basketball court then all over sudden we have plenty of handball courts all over the world. You only need to set up a straight line and two goals and you have your court. And perhaps you play 5vs5 or 4vs4.
– You can play this version in every schoolyard, not only on basketball courts. The idea is that everybody at school who played handball once can perhaps ten years later be a potential spectator on a TV match. And if you played in the schoolyard one or two players in every school will be talented and want to try 7vs7 later. So I think we need an urban discipline of handball in order to bring people closer to our sport. This is really my desire – and handball deserves more players.
Handball struggles with visibility in some countries – how would you strengthen handball’s appeal to sponsors and media?
– The IHF basically has no media department and the assets of global marketing have been outsourced. Today federations are changing their strategies and consider working directly with their partners. As I have been a member from the beginning of the EHF Advisory board I am familiar with the problems.
– We need to increase our efforts, we need to produce highlight clips free of charge for media and federations to spread to the world. We need to invest in technology and in reach, and we need people like you in the media that are spreading their enthusiasm for handball.
“The IHF is not a bank”
You are running against Hassan Moustafa, who has held the position for many years. What do you think he has done well – and what would you like to do differently?
– He managed the revenues very well – the IHF has plenty of money. But while he was working only on revenues I would like to start working on investments. IHF needs to invest in the development of handball. The IHF is not a bank, it’s not our job to own huge buildings – our job is to invest in handball and in the development of young people to secure the future of handball.
– Also, I believe that Hassan has the perception that handball must be played in 20,000 spectator arenas. I think that handball needs to be played in full arenas. If we have preliminary rounds in the World Championship being played in arenas with 10,000 in capacity but there are 300 spectators in the stands – that’s not beneficial to our sport. If we have a full arena with 3000 spectators that’s great. But 3000 spectators in an arena with a 15,000 capacity, that’s a poor picture.
– We have to adapt our concepts to reality and and we have to do it now. This will mid- and long-term grow the number of spectators.
Critics have accused the IHF under Moustafa’s leadership of lacking transparency and democracy. How do you view this, and what would you like to change?
– I agree with the critics. Handball deserves more transparency and democracy and this will be key during my tenure. We need new structures within the IHF, and those we need to set up. We need to have age limits – the same age limits that were abolished by Hassan Moustafa years ago. We also need to have limited terms of office – you can’t be president all your life.
How do you see the balance between the traditional centers of power in handball and the need to include new countries and regions?
– Handball needs both. The traditional centers of power are in Europe, and maybe additional centers in Egypt & Tunisia, Brazil & Argentina, Japan & Korea, and maybe in the gulf region with Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
– We need to put emphasis on the big markets. There are three and they are undoubtedly China, India, and the US. In those markets we need to strengthen our involvement, but we also need to strengthen the big handball countries already mentioned.
“We deserve a change”
The handball reputation internationally isn’t the best and a lot of people believe that much of that has to do with the current IHF president. Do you think it’s problematic that Hassan is still the president?
– Yes, it’s problematic. A lot of people in the handball family remember the scandals, but also people at the IOC. All of the federations I have spoken to say that they think handball deserves a change.
I read a quote from you back from 2009 that said ”With someone like that at the top, we shouldn’t be surprised that there’s so much talk of corruption and bribery in handball”. Could you elaborate?
– Of course I could. And you could as well, I am sure. But I don’t want to. I think we should focus on the future. A change is needed, and we deserve a change. The handball family wants to trust in the leadership and I can assure you that if I stand for one thing it’s for neutrality, transparency, and trust. I will not accept any people that don’t follow these ideas.
Do you still feel that way about Hassan Moustafa?
– Hassan Moustafa is an 81-year-old man that dedicated all his life to handball. Of course he made mistakes, but I think that people in his inner circle should allow him to rest and enjoy life. And off course if I am elected I will invite Hassan to the big tournaments and he will have an honorary position in the stands.
What are the biggest challenges facing the IHF today?
– The number one priority for me is that handball remains an Olympic sport. That’s the top challenge in the near future. And we need more people playing handball all over the world, that’s the other thing.
Are you worried about handball’s status as an Olympic sport?
– It’s not easy to get concrete information on the topic so I have made an inquiry to the IOC. The different sport federations are within the IOC ranked from A to E. This system was invented in 2004 and at the beginning handball was in group B, and then our sport was downgraded to D. It’s not good if we end up in E, even though they have invented F now.
– About 40 percent of the IOC evaluation is based on TV ratings. Other things matter as well, such as social media, and spectators at the arena to name two examples, but 40 percent are TV ratings. And what’s special about handball is that if you look at the teams participating at the Olympics it could be countries like Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Croatia and Slovenia. What do these countries have in common? They all have less than 10 million inhabitants. It would be great to have China at the Olympics because if you choose between 50 percent TV rating in Sweden or 0,1 in China you better take the 0,1 in China, because they simply have this huge population. And we have to admit this to ourselves.
What would be the first order of business for you if you were to be elected?
– I will repeat in every interview that it’s the target of the IHF to develop handball worldwide and Europe must become the motor of this development. We need to work jointly on short term, mid term, and long term plans. The IHF has to be restructured.
Do you already have some assurances from federations who will support your candidacy?
– Every federation I speak to says that Hassan Moustafa should step down. Everyone says so. Not one federation has said that they want him to remain in office. Then there are some federations where some people have personal interests.
Which federations are you referring to?
– There are only three European federations which really support Hassan Moustafa. Honestly, I do not understand the presidents of these federations. I think this will become obvious during the upcoming EHF congress. And I hope that at least two of the three will change their mind.
– I believe that my candidacy started something like a wave. A key date for whether or not the wave will grow, will be the 20th of September, the day of the EHF congress in Austria. Elections will take place and I hope that the day after the congress at least one more candidate will announce the candidacy for the role of IHF president, better two!
Hoping for a World Championship outside of Europe
What does it mean for your candidacy that the German federation nominated you?
– It means a lot. It is crucial. Because for whatever reason many federations are afraid of Hassan Moustafa. I don’t understand why, but they are. My respect to the German president.
On a more personal note, what is your best memory from handball – as a player, leader, or spectator?
– It’s a difficult question since I have so many great memories. As a player I remember being 12 years old and that I couldn’t fall asleep on Wednesday ahead of the game on Sunday – as a playmaker I was thinking about the combinations I wanted to do on the court. And then when the match was over I was crushed over the fact that I had to wait a whole week for the next match. That is a very strong feeling still to this day.
– Another amazing memory is from Iceland in 1995 and the party at Café Reykjavik where all the players enjoyed life together. Swedes, Russians, Belarussians, Frenchmen, Croatians, Spaniards, Danes – all enjoying being together.
– As a leader I remember the Champions League final in 1990 with Minsk when we defeated Barcelona in Barcelona. And with the Belarus national team when we won against Germany at the 1994 European Championship. As you can imagine that was huge for me.
If you could dream freely – what would a Handball World Championship look like in 2035 under your leadership?
– I would like to enlarge the question and say how the handball world should look like in 2035. I would like to have a Men’s World Championship take place in Brazil, Egypt or Japan. With sold out arenas and at least three non-European teams finishing in the top 8. Better four.
– And I would like to have a Women’s IHF Super Globe in front of full stands at Madison Square Garden in New York. And that the handball world prepares for the first ever beach handball event at the 2036 Olympics.
What motivates you most in this campaign – is it the sport, the organisation, or something more personal?
– I think it’s something global. I worked all my life in handball and to imagine a 81 year old man who is representing handball is re-elected with standing ovations and without an opponent – that’s my biggest motivation. I think that handball deserves more.
It sounds like the presidency is something you want rather than need?
– Yes, that’s exactly it. To be honest with you this has never been the dream of my life – to become president of the IHF. But I have worked all my life for handball and I think that handball deserves a candidate against Hassan. Even if nobody else is doing it – I will do it.