With the foundation of the IHF Handball Academies in Shanghai and Beijing in 2015 and 2016, respectively the first of many steps was taken to promote and develop handball in China. Together with Dietrich Späte, Caretaker Chairman of the IHF Commission of Coaching and Methods (CCM), IHF President Dr Hassan Moustafa travelled to China to foster the development of the two IHF Academies in the country and discuss ongoing and future projects.

For this reason, Dr Moustafa met with the Chinese Minister of Sport Gou Zhongwen, who is at the same time President of the Chinese Olympic Committee, to present the handball projects and plans to develop the sport in China in order to launch a possible partnership with the COC.

The main goal is the promotion and development of the sport. That means for example to work for having the Chinese national teams represented at all IHF World Championships in all age categories. For that reason, it was proposed to recruit professional European coaches for the men’s and women’s national teams on the one hand and the focus should be put on youth and junior training on the other, passing on a modern playing philosophy, identifying new talents and elaborating general training concepts
 

Furthermore, some of the plans IHF President Moustafa discussed with the Chinese Minister of Sports include; promoting the Handball@School programme in China, building up a strong league in the country, hosting a Super Globe edition for women, broadcasting handball matches on Chinese TV. In addition, the IHF Former Players Project should be promoted, aiming to involve former players in handball activities after their playing career has ended, for example as referees, coaches or Technical Delegates. Another step is to assign Chinese coaches to coaching courses in Europe.

To promote handball in China, demonstration matches should be played with the participation of top teams from Europe. Moreover, China could host more IHF events, for example Men’s and Women’s Youth and Junior World Championships.

The meetings organised in China with key figures of sports in the presence of the national handball federation’s leaders were very productive and pave the way for handball development in China.