IHF President Dr Hassan Moustafa was in Greece for meetings with the Greek Government, Hellenic (Greek) Olympic Committee (HOC), Hellenic Handball Federation (HHF) and Forum Club Handball (FCH).

Support from the very top in Greece

The first day of his three-day visit (15-17 June) to Athens saw President Moustafa meet in the early afternoon with HOC President, European Olympic Committees President and International Olympic Committee (IOC) Member Spyros Capralos in the presence of HOC 1st Vice President and HOC Plenary Session Member Stelios Angeloudis, before moving on to an engagement with Lefteris Avgenakis, Deputy Minister of Culture and Sports for the Greek Government. 

President Moustafa, accompanied by FCH Managing Director Gerd Butzeck, HHF President Konstantinos Gkandis, HHF Board of Directors Member Konstantinos Stamatiadis, congratulated President Capralos on his recent election as President of the European Olympic Committees, invited him to the IHF Head Office in Switzerland in the future to discuss the future of handball at international sporting events, the possible inclusion of beach handball in the Olympic Games and the desire to create a modern facility and home exclusively for handball and the national teams in Athens.

The conclusion of the meeting saw President Capralos assure President Moustafa and his fellow handball representatives that he will remain close to the handball family and will continue to support decisions and actions that serve the promotion and development of the sport not only nationally in Greece, but globally.

Top level clubs, top level discussion

Dr Moustafa concluded his opening day at dinner with the FCH Member clubs who were in the Greek capital for the 24th FCH General Assembly, which included 35 clubs from 22 nations.

The following day, Wednesday 16 June, saw Moustafa present at the 24th FCH General Assembly, where the ongoing cooperation between the IHF and FCH was on the agenda with reference to the prolongation of the IHF and FCH Partnership Agreement.

The General Assembly saw elections take place and following the results, where FC Barcelona’s Xavier O'Callaghan was elected as the new FCH President amongst other newly-elected members, Moustafa met with the new FCH leadership.

Greece proposal to co-host 2023 IHF Men’s Junior (U21) World Championship

The final day of Dr Moustafa’s Greek trip saw the IHF President meet with a number of people involved with the HHF, including representatives from AEK Athens, who recently won the 2020/21 EHF European Cup Men.

In the presence of the HHF President Gandis, HHF Vice President Stefanos Stamoulis and Technical Advisor of the Greece National Teams, Panagiotis Traikoglou, a number of topics were discussed including the Greek governmental support for both forms of the game and the development of the Greek handball facility in Athens.

Also on the agenda was a proposal from the HHF to opt-in to co-host the 2023 IHF Men’s World Junior (U21) Championship with Germany. The proposal came about following the cancellation of the 2021 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship in February, which was supposed to be hosted by Greece.

President Moustafa expressed his desire for the HHF to foster the successful ‘Handball at School’ developmental programme within Greece and invited the HHF to IHF Headquarters for an official visit, which was accepted.