The Men’s World Championship in Spain is going into the home stretch. Sunday will see the final at Palau San Jordi in Barcelona. Dr Hassan Moustafa, President of the International Handball Federation, attended and witnessed many matches and visited the venues of Granollers, Madrid, Saragossa, Seville und Barcelona. Prior to the semi-finals he gave a detailed interview to take stock of the WCh in Spain that revealed nothing but positive results while reflecting about the development of handball around the world.

You saw nearly all 24 teams during this WCh within a couple of days. What is your first impression about the WCh’s performance level?

Hassan Moustafa: I am fully delighted with the performances shown by the majority of teams and players at this WCh. The performance level is really high but this is nothing special, as it’s a Men’s A World Championship. So the world’s best teams are competing for the World Championship title.

Would you like to stress individual teams due to their achievement?

Hassan Moustafa: Yes, for sure the German team deserves a special mention. They are back among the top of the world after suffering from some mediocre rankings and after missing the Olympics last year. That is of utmost importance for the German handball fans but also for the IHF, as the German federation is the world’s biggest national federation. I also appreciated Brazil’s performance. They hadn’t been in London either but led a fine campaign here in Spain. Further I am eager to stress the performances made by the Pan-American and African sides too, which have been progressing to come close to the European teams. That is equally important as the IHF focuses on handball as a global sport.

The Egyptian team reached the eighth-final where they dropped out.

Hassan Moustafa: (smiling) As the President of the IHF I have to be neutral. Seriously speaking I expect such neutrality from our IHF nominees. I did not watch Egypt’s eighth-final in Barcelona but deliberately decided to go to Saragossa that day. But still, Egypt has a young team and will certainly be back among the top of the world at coming events.

Do you remember something surprising at this WCh?

Hassan Moustafa: The Tunisian team was indeed very impressive and convincing in their first games, added to that the team from Brazil, as previously mentioned, and Qatar, host of the next World Championship in 2015. The IHF continues its close collaboration with the Qatar federation. We have launched a special programme to support the host in lining up a strong and competitive team for the 2015 WCh.

Any aspects that were a source of worry or disappointment?

Hassan Moustafa: Am I allowed to say that? I was somewhat disappointed with the Argentine team. They had performed brilliantly at the WCh in Sweden two years ago to leave a strong impression. Unfortunately hardly any of that progress could be noticed here. And I also noticed Korea’s rather disappointing performance. However, things are different here, as they are currently about to build up a completely new team. And you know that it takes time.

The IHF changed the competition format including a preliminary round followed by the eighth-finals thus the knock-out stage directly. Did that stand the test?

Hassan Moustafa: The competition format you mention is not brand new. I am fully convinced that it was wise to apply that highly interesting format again. I gained widespread acceptance when talking to both coaches and players, who are telling me that the format was excellent. Further it enables teams from outside Europe to advance to the knock-out stage. Finally viewing figures and the atmosphere at the halls prove that it’s fascinating.

Could you make out new tendencies in handball too?

Hassan Moustafa: The game is constantly speeding up. That’s the major trend. We adapted to that trend a long time ago by making the tasks for referees easier. Different tasks are now fulfilled by the table people. So the referees do not need to note anything but keep concentrated on the game.

Have you been satisfied with the referee performances so far?

Hassan Moustafa: Yes, indeed. Referee performances at this WCh reached the highest level. Mistakes happen, that’s for sure. Referees are human beings but no machines. Yet, the performances were convincing and prove that intensive internal training of IHF referees throughout the year is efficient. The referees have to pass a test drawn up by the IHF at national level. If they pass the test, the national federation may release them for IHF events. Should they fail to prove their test result during the IHF event they have to return home while the national federation bears the costs incurred by the referee couple concerned. It seems like rather rigorous standards. However, they proved 100% worthwhile.

The Spanish federation had long prepared for the WCh. Did their preparations pay off?

Hassan Moustafa: There had been a number of issues to be solved in the run-up to that WCh, which were partly due to the financial crisis in the country. It goes without saying that the federation could not escape from that. The more I am pleased today to state that the federation, the organizational bodies and the different WCh venues did an excellent job. People worked hard here putting heart, soul and passion into their work to stage a fantastic WCh. They have done a perfect job until now. Transportation had been an issue after completion of the preliminary round when a train was cancelled in Seville due to a thunderstorm. Well, even the best organizer in the world is unable to influence the weather. Spain has been a good host - passionate and very open-minded.

And a word about the atmosphere at the halls?

Hassan Moustafa: Every time the host team was playing the halls were crammed full of people. Unfortunately it was not the case for all other matches. But this is normal. I saw pictures of the African Football Cup of Nations in South Africa. Stadiums were rather deserted when the host team wasn’t playing.

There might be a new record TV coverage generated at this WCh....

Hassan Moustafa: We will have the detailed figures after the WCh. However, I may say right now that outstanding viewing figures were recorded in Germany that is certainly due to the excellent results of the German team. As part of a first feedback excellent figures were also reported from Denmark.

Which conclusions does the IHF draw from this WCh?

Hassan Moustafa: The WCh emphatically proves that handball is a global sport. We will have to make handball further grow outside Europe as we have been done for years. And we are working hard day and night to that aim! We may state we have done a good job only if a non-European team gains the World Championship title one day.