The Associated Press (AP) has written an article on the upcoming IHF election and it was published in several newspapers including the USA Today. The article contains quotes from Peter Muehlematter, Christer Ahl and Hassan Moustafa. The article quotes Moustafa as predicting victory based on "solidarity, collaboration and trust" with the IHF's 159 members.

Associated Press (AP): Officials push for ouster of handball president: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2009-05-28-1980126860_x.htm

In related news, multiple Germany news outlets have reported on elements contained in the Christer Ahl interview.

In the first part of the interview Christer Ahl discussed the fundamental problems with IHF Management. In this, the second and final part of the interview, Ahl discusses the alleged misdeeds which have been previously reported.

John Ryan (JR): Let's discuss some of the officiating allegations that are frequently mentioned. The Sport Arbitration Court’s (CAS) report on Asian Olympic Qualification implies that Dr Moustafa purposely side-stepped the Playing Rules and Competition (PRC) Committee in the replacement of the German refs with the inexperienced Jordanian refs for the Kuwait-Korea match. What is your specific knowledge in regards to Dr Moustafa's involvement?

Christer Ahl (CA): Well, it really started with the Women’s Qualifications. I had been asked to nominate a referee couple, and the IHF had also nominated a supervisor. Just a few days before the event started, these nominations were abruptly cancelled. When I inquired, I was told by the then Managing IHF Director, Frank Birkefeld, that the President of the Asia Handball Federation (AHF) had reminded the IHF President of their agreement that no supervisor or referees would be sent. The referees were instead nominated and supervised by the Asian referee chief, Dawud Tawakoli. So it was frustrating when later on the Korean and Japanese teams started protesting.

For the Men’s Qualifying, we nominated one top couple to handle the critical matches. The IHF Managing Director sent a letter to the Asian Federation emphasizing that this couple, of course, should referee the KOR-KUW match. I assumed that everything was in order and was shocked to find out that this key match had been played on the first day but with some Jordanian referees. And, of course, I became seriously concerned when I started finding the reports and videos of the scandalous refereeing on the internet. Only a while later, did I learn that the IHF President had said that “he had been forced to withdraw the nomination because it had been announced too far in advance”. This is, of course, a totally silly explanation, as everyone in Asia took for granted that the visiting European referees would handle this critical match. And then, during my appearance as the only IHF witness in the CAS Tribunal, I found that the Asians had testified that the withdrawal in fact was caused by yet another reminder from the AHF President to the IHF President about what they had agreed, namely that the Asians should have free hands to manage the refereeing in this event. That they used this to hand-pick an ineligible and incompetent couple to handle the top match is another story.

JR: The Women’s tournament took place in August, the Men’s tournament in September, but it wasn’t until December 2008 that the IHF publicly acknowledged that there might have been some problems with the qualification tournaments. Arguably, this is the biggest crisis ever to afflict the IHF. Why did it take so long to respond?

CA: Yes, this was a concern for me also, as it involved refereeing and caused a number of people to contact me for explanations that I was not in a position to provide. Through the IHF Office I pressed for faster action, but I had the distinct sense that the Executive Committee did not want to touch the issue and preferred to dump it on the Council. Finally, in mid-November, I was asked to arrange for a review and analysis of the video. With the help of two PRC members I provided both a chronological analysis and rather blunt written conclusion.

JR: Your commentary, as depicted in the CAS report https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.535, on the officiating of the Korea-Kuwait match is pretty stark and compelling as to the degree the officials fixed the match. I’ve seen portions of the match and it truly is disgraceful and a black eye for the sport. What was the reaction of Dr Moustafa and others when they saw the video?

CA: I do not know who saw the video at an earlier stage and how they might have reacted. But you may find it hard to believe that the Council never watched any part of the video. At the meeting I described the results of our analysis and also quoted extensively from my conclusions. My explanations must have been rather convincing, because, much to my amazement, it was declared unnecessary to watch any part of the video. I must say that, as the CAS Tribunal sharply criticized, the meeting process did not match the severity of the issue. For instance, the analysis and conclusions had not been provided in advance, the Asians were not fully forewarned, there was no legal guidance available, and the meeting was poorly run, to put it mildly. A highlight was when suddenly the AHF president phoned in to the IHF president, seemingly in order to influence our discussions….

JR: The IHF ordered replay tournaments, but the AHF didn’t sit idly by and they filed suit against the IHF. And it was eventually agreed to let the CAS rule on appropriateness of the Council’s decisions. You indicated earlier that you were the only IHF witness at the CAS Tribunal. The text of the CAS report also implies that the arbitrators were pretty frustrated that the principal players involved did not testify. Why were you the only one to testify?

CA: I was rather baffled already prior to the Tribunal when I found from the IHF Office that I was essentially the only one submitting background information for our lawyers, even if I was not the person in the best position to do so for all the aspects. And then I was amazed to find upon arrival in Lausanne that I was the only witness from the IHF. Especially the fact that Sasha Kozhukov was missing seemed strange. I never got an explanation. The IHF President was available, but the IHF lawyers indicated that they believed his testimony could be more damaging than helpful to the case of the IHF, so they advised him to stay out. What it meant was that I was the only one who could offer IHF’s argument regarding both the whole chain of events and especially the process at the Council meeting.

JR: Aside from the Asian Olympic Qualification tournament there are reports that Moustafa and Roca have intervened in the assignment of officials at the Olympics and other contests. Can you confirm this?

CA: This has been asserted in the media lately and it must be based on some misunderstanding. I need to split my answer into two parts. First, the PRC nominations of couples to a specific event have to be approved by the Executive Committee under our regulations. On some occasions, they have insisted on changes to these nominations, like prior to the Olympics last year. Ironically, the couple the Executive Committee inserted went on to perform in such a way that the PRC and the IHF President had to decide together immediately after the Olympics to eliminate this couple for all future competitions. The second part refers to nominations during an event. Regulations dictate that the Competition Management, which includes one or two Executive Members together with the PRC president and perhaps someone else, must approve the proposals for each match from the PRC. Normally this goes smoothly without much debate and with very few changes. But in Beijing it was terrible. The number of changes requested by Roca or Kozhukov (NOT the President) was unreasonably high and led to many chain reactions, where several other matches had to be changed also. All in all a very high proportion of the matches were affected. But for me the worst part was that the changes typically involved some specific teams, for which my colleagues constantly wanted ‘better referees’, even if it meant taking them away from difficult matches where the PRC felt that they were better needed. But on this specific point, the President has in fact been unfairly mentioned. His only involvement was a strong dispute with Kozhukov, not surprisingly over the refereeing in the match Russia-Egypt…

JR: Another scandal that is frequently mentioned is the pre-Olympic tournament in Athens where it's reported that half the Egyptian team sat out a match when they found out there would be drug testing. Can you confirm that this happened?

CA: I was present and it did indeed essentially happen like that. The Egyptian team got surprised and angry when they were told before the game that there would be testing. They tried to argue that this should not be allowed etc. And then it also took some time for them to sort out which players would be able to play. I think about half, 8 of 16, participated when the match was finally started.

JR: This calls to mind some of the doping issues that have been reported. As the PRC Chair, doping issues aren’t directly in your lane, but as an IHF Council member you probably have some insight into these allegations. Notably two members of the IHF Doping panel resigned in protest earlier this year. What is your sense for these issues?

CA: As you noted, this is not in my area, so I cannot offer many details. But it seemed clear that secrecy and independence that must be given to the Doping Unit did not seem respected. They must be allowed to keep their plans out of the scrutiny of the President and the Executive Committee, and their budget allocations must be handled in a way that does not jeopardize confidentiality.

JR: And, of course, accounting for expenses have also been an issue. It’s been reported that Dr. Moustafa has spent quite a bit on travel without having to produce receipts. My own experience has always been that I was required to keep travel receipts for a couple of years just in case I was audited. It seems reasonable to expect that someone that rings up $500,000 in travel costs would be required to do the same. Am I missing something here?

CA: It came up in late 2007 that the President apparently had arranged his travel outside IHF and then been reimbursed without submitting receipts, something very different from what the rest of us have to accept, namely that we do not get one cent reimbursed without receipts. As it was found that for some strange reasons the Treasurer and the Managing Director had been aware but without taking any action, the Council felt that retroactive measures would not be reasonable but that the President would have to undertake to change his practices immediately. The President apologized and accepted that decision. All this would be clear to anyone listening to the tape recording of the Council meeting. However, much to my amazement, the minutes of the meeting later on claimed falsely that just the opposite had been decided, namely that we had decided to let the improper habits continue. I thought it was an innocent mistake and tried to have the minutes corrected, but nothing happened. Later I tried to enlist Council colleagues to join me in demanding a correction, but to no avail. It is truly amazing that something like this can be allowed to happen.

JR: Any closing thoughts or other points that you would like to make?

CA: As I mentioned previously, nothing will really improve at the top unless the current President is removed. As regards the PRC, I’m strongly supporting my highly regarded colleague, Manfred Prause for the PRC Presidency. One of the other candidates, Dawud Tawakoli, for this position is clearly tainted by the Asian Olympic qualification matter and other refereeing controversies in Asia. He was responsible for the officiating assignments at the Asian Women’s tournament that resulted in the overwhelming favorites, Korea, losing out to Kazakhstan. He was also involved in bringing the ineligible Jordanian referees to the men’s event. Aside from this, he is widely considered to be too inexperienced and to lack the competence needed. The IHF referees have no respect for him. I sincerely hope that the voters are smart enough to dismiss him! There are other candidates as well, but I think that continuity in the management of the refereeing is extremely important at this time.

Christer Ahl, the current IHF chair for the Playing Rules and Referees (PRC) Commission, has decided to endorse Jean Kaiser of Luxembourg in the upcoming IHF election. Ahl, has been involved with the IHF/PRC for 32 years, serving as the PATHF representative from 1992 – 2004. Since 2004 he has been the PRC chair and a member of the IHF Council.

In the first of a two part interview, Ahl explains why he is supporting Jean Kaiser and describes the current fundamental problems with IHF management/leadership.

John Ryan (JR): I understand you now want to go on record in regards to the upcoming IHF election. Who are you supporting for President?

Christer Ahl (CA): There are so many things that urgently need to be changed: an unacceptable leadership style; a lack of democracy and open debate; a treatment of the Council as a ‘necessary evil’ rather than an important body in the ongoing decision-making; a lack of strategic planning and collective determination of goals and methods; a corresponding lack of participation and transparency in the budget process, with a real accountability at all levels. These are fundamental aspects of the work of any organization and it really means that I find the IHF to be ‘dysfunctional’ as it operates today. There are many other aspects requiring change, but I will stop there for the moment. I think the fundamental and important nature of these problems should make it obvious that they cannot be resolved without new leadership. In other words, I must support a change at the top, so Jean Kaiser gets my support.

JR: Why are you coming out now, instead of months ago?

CA: As long as I had some hope of being re-elected, I preferred to influence things from within. Our team in the PRC had also agreed that I would be the best leader for the next period. We have many recently started initiatives that we need to follow through on, so continuity is vital. This is also the case at a time when there has been so much concern with bribery in the area of refereeing. In other words, I did not want to negatively affect my chances by speaking out openly. In today’s climate in the IHF there is regrettably (and incorrectly) no tolerance for that.

JR: You say "influence from within". I guess I should say as full disclosure at this point that we're both Americans, we've known each other for quite awhile and I was pretty critical of you and others for not speaking out. I understand the rationale of trying to influence from within, but have always felt that it is a compromise that has allowed fundamental problems to fester. Were you ever conflicted with this compromise? Also, what would you say to those that might think that this sudden change of conscience is simply sour grapes from someone who is no longer part of the "inside crowd"?

CA: When you take on a higher position, you have the hope that you will be able to influence things so that the situation can go from ‘bad’ to ‘better’. I had a good sense of the major problem areas and I had known the President for a long time. But, instead of going from ‘bad to better’ it gradually went from ‘bad to worse’. The dwindling of the Executive Committee was one reason, but the fact that the Council was willing to put up with a lack of sufficient insight and the lack of an appropriate role in the decision-making made it impossible for things to improve. One does not get very far by being the ‘lone voice’; I was three times threatened with suspensions and the treatment of Peter Muehlematter was far worse. A ‘critical mass’ is needed to achieve change, but most people do not want to ‘rock the boat’ because in an autocracy this means running the risk of being out of favor and losing some benefits for your continent. So I am disappointed with both myself and my colleagues.

JR: Fair enough; and I have to admit that I'm not privy to the inner workings of IHF politics. As an outside observer, it sure doesn't look pretty. How did you (and others) see your roles and responsibilities on the Council?

CA: I suspect I take a more ambitious view, which might not be so logical given the heavy workload I have had as a Commission President, with lots of operational work and people management. I see the Council as the key group for developing strategies, goals and policies, leaving the 'execution' and ongoing follow-up to the Executive Committee. In reality, though there is not much strategic work undertaken by anyone, and then the agenda of the Council is often loaded up with administrative decisions and other rather mundane questions. Added to this is the fact that we do not meet very often in the first place. Then, apart from the Executive members and the five Commission Presidents, we have a rather one-dimensional group of nine continental representatives. They are already heavily involved in key positions in both their continents and sometimes also their countries, so they are typically more likely to have a parochial interest in thinking about the tangible benefits for their continents. It is more rare to see them think of themselves as part of the management of the IHF as an organization. This lack of planning and goal setting, in my opinion, results in problems with budget accountability and overall transparency in the decision-making.

JR: How so?

CA: Frankly, there is not much participation in the budget process and there is certainly no personal accountability on the part of Council members individually or collectively. The budget proposal for the next year emerges from the Treasurer and the Executive Committee, largely on the basis of the current year's trends and the previous year’s results. There is not much discussion about the underlying assumptions or about how the amounts tie into specific strategies or goals. Some items may be rather self-evident, recurring or small, but other items may be huge, seemingly amorphous or linked to clusters of projects lumped together. This makes it difficult to follow up and see how money is actually used. The result is that without a consensus-based goal setting and a clear budget accountability, there is far too much room for a President and an Executive Committee who are so inclined to ‘hi-jack’ the entire decision-making and spending processes.

JR: Do you see any obvious ways of achieving improvements in the overall management structure?

CA: Mostly it depends on moving towards democracy and participation in general terms. Then it is clear that the rights, the obligations, and the tasks of the Executive Committee and the Council must be defined differently. And then the Council needs an infusion from other stakeholders, especially the athletes, but also representatives of media, sponsors and those who pay to watch handball. Also, a much strengthened headquarters staffing with more technical experts and specialists, who can serve as the necessary support structure for the elected and appointed people, is necessary and long overdue.

JR: Are you still a candidate for PRC Chair?

CA: I am at the point where I intend to withdraw my own candidature, and support my close colleague, Manfred Prause. He has the experience and competence to provide the continuity and leadership that is needed. I am not stepping down because it was what I had planned. It is rather because it had become clear that political manipulations will leave me without any chance in the elections. While I regret that it is not quality and results that count, I have to accept the reality that politics and power games are part of high-level sports these days. I have enjoyed the many years that I have been able to work for the sport I love, so I will think back on many wonderful experiences and the fantastic people I have met.

In part two of the interview, Christer Ahl, provides his firsthand account of many of the alleged manipulations that have occurred with Dr Moustafa’s direct involvement.

In two letters addressed to all the national federations, Jean Kaiser has further outlined his intended changes for the IHF should he be elected President. As with previous letters and articles the case against Dr Moustafa is outlined in detail. Towards the end of the letter, however, Kaiser branches off with solutions and a way forward. Specifically the letter outlines 4 areas for change:

A) Administration: Proposes complete transparency in financial matters
B ) Cooperation with the Continental Federations
C) Communication: Proposes regional conferences and direct engagement with the athlete’s commision
D) Marketing of the product Handball: Proposes establishment of an IHF marketing division

1st Letter: https://teamhandballnews.com/request57.html
2nd Letter: https://teamhandballnews.com/request58.html

IHF Secretary General Peter Muehlematter is actively making his case for re-election. In a recent letter to all National Federations, he received the backing of Jackson Richardson, Erhard Wunderlich and Zlatko Portner. In the letter (see link below) the current/former handball plead for the voters not to be hoodwinked by the favors they may receive in Cairo during the IHF congress. The letter rehashes many of the allegations that have already been made, but also highlights a couple new ones concerning finances in support of the 1999 WC in Egypt and the outright fear and negative working conditions of staff members at the IHF Headquarters in Switzerland.

In addition to the letter campaign, SecGen Muehlematter has launched a blog site on the web. The blog site contains a 2 minute video of the candidate making his case and encourages any national federation member with questions to contact him directly.

Richardson/Wunderlich/Portner Endorsement: https://teamhandballnews.com/request60.html

Peter Muehlematter Blog: http://petermuehlematter.blogspot.com/

[html] Jean Kaiser of Luxembourg has responded to a questionnaire covering many of the issues currently effecting the Handball world. Below are his responses. As of this posting neither of the other 2 candidates (Hassan Moustafa and Gudmundur Ingvarsson) have responded. Should they respond their answers will also be posted.

[center][b]IHF Presidential Candidate Questionnaire[/b][/center]

[b]GENERAL[/b]

 [b]Why do you want to be (or continue to be) the IHF President?[/b]
The first and most important reason is the fact that I fear that handball could possibly lose its Olympic status for 2016. The second one is the scandalous behaviour of Dr Hassan Mustafa concerning financial matters, such as expenses compensation without any proof, or irresponsible investments as the refurbishment of the IHF headquarters for almost the same amount as the purchase price or the purchase of a car at a price of almost 100.000 Eur. And so on.
[b]What are your qualifications to be the IHF President?[/b]
I spent almost 40 years of my life with handball. I was a player for more than 22 years. I was a referee. I was president of the Luxemburg Handball Federation for more than 13 years. I was also for 13 years president of the court of appeal of the EHF. I was an EHF/IHF delegate from 1991 until 2008 with 7 European Cup Finals and 6 European Championships and I was present at practically all the EHF and IHF congresses until 2008 In my job I was general manager of a bank. I am comfortable leading people in a democratic way.

[b]OFFICIATING CRISIS[/b]

[b]What actions would you take to address the current referee scandals?[/b] First of all there should be installed in each Continental Federation one commission responsible for making referee nominations. The Continental Federations should do the follow up. That means they should organize travel and hotels so that there will be no contact between the referees and the clubs or national federations until 1 hour before the match. There should be no common meal. The hotel should not be known by the clubs. And last, but not least, better payment for the referees. The present cases should be investigated properly with consequences for wrong doing.

[b]INTERNATIONAL/CLUB CALENDAR[/b]

[b]Do you favor a two year or four year cycle for the IHF World Championships? (The 4 year cycle would mean that World Championships would take place 2 years after each Olympics)[/b]
There should be changes, but I think that this has to be part of a whole concept, to be discussed on every level (big – small federations/ promotion of handball in small countries ….)
[b]Do you think the IHF World Championships should continue to be played in January?[/b]
Certainly not. I think that this interrupts the national competitions. Winter is also not the best time for handball fans to make long trips.
[b]How would you address the basic conflict of interest between European Professional clubs, the EHF, IHF, and player’s unions over the number of games the world’s elite players play each season?[/b]
My first aim would be a discussion with the concerned parties to listen to their problems. It is a certainty that the current schedule is dangerous for the health of the players. And we should care about their health.

[b]DOPING[/b]

[b]Two members of the IHF Doping Commission resigned due to concerns with the lack of funding and support from the IHF leadership. Do you feel their resignation was justified?[/b]
Absolutely. Nobody can understand the irresponsible behaviour of the IHF President. With this very dangerous game he played by dissolving the Anti-Doping-Unit of IHF and refusing the necessary funds, he endangered the Olympic status of handball
[b]What steps would you take to address WADA concerns with the IHF’s doping policies?[/b]
 The IHF needs to immediately remedy this situation, by fulfilling at 100%, the regulations of WADA. And this should be done in direct cooperation with the agency

[b]IHF FINANCES[/b]

Would you favor a release of the IHF’s finances at a top level? (i.e., information would include basic income and expenses)
I would like to see the president and the treasurer, behave like everybody in the economic world. That means they have to stand for integrity, correctness and transparency of all financial matters.
[b]What is your position on the IHF’s current accounting practices? For instance, do you think travelers should be required to keep receipts for auditing purposes?[/b]
It’s unbelievable that a council allows a president to spent almost 600.000 Swiss Francs without receipts. A president should have a certain amount for “out of pocket expenses” but for all other expenses he has should require proof as everybody has to do in a serious accounting.

[b]HANDBALL MARKETING AND DEVELOPMENT[/b]

[b]Are you satisfied with the IHF’s current website presence? And, if not, what would you do to improve it?[/b]
Actually I did not think about that, as there are more important problems to resolve. But one can always think about what we can ameliorate.
[b]What is your opinion of Internet web streaming of handball matches? Do you envision the IHF developing a platform similar to ehftv.com?[/b]
 That would, of course, be a goal for the future
[b]What steps would you take to ensure more TV broadcasts of Handball in countries where Handball is less popular?[/b]
 First look where the problems are. Why there is no coverage by TV. Discuss with those federations about what to do and which help is required. That will be part of a whole concept which I have partly in mind, but it is too early to present it to the federations.
[b]Handball is predominantly a European sport. What steps would you take to increase its popularity in the rest of the world?[/b]
 This will be a very important goal for the new President. I already have a concept developed, but I will present it later on.

[b]ASIAN OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION CONTROVERSY[/b]

[b]Do you think that the IHF President’s role (phone conversations with the AHF President) in the assignment of Jordanian officials (vice the experience German pair) at the 2007 Asian Olympic was appropriate? If not, how would you handle a similar situation? [/b]
It is not the responsibility of the president or the treasurer to intervene in the nomination of the referees. The same thing happened at the Olympic games 2008, when the President and the Treasurer did make changes to Alexander Kozhukhov’s nominations of the referees. It is scandalous.
[b]Do you think the IHF was sufficiently proactive in addressing the Asian Olympic Qualification controversy? [/b]
The only one who was active was P. Mühlematter, by bring this scandal to the public. With the result that the president asked for his resignation. Nevertheless the president had to confess in public. What a shame for our sport!

[b]OTHER: If you have any other issues, concerns or points that you would like to make please feel free to include them.[/b]
 For the moment being it were the most important items to talk about. Maybe that later on I will have some other items, then I would let you know. [/html]

The IHF has informed national federations with new candidates up for election at the IHF Congress that “for reasons of time we can not give the candidates the opportunity to introduce themselves to the Congress.” The brief memo then invites the nations to make sure that their resume is available for the official Congress Documents.

Jean Kaiser (LUX), a candidate for President fired off a terse counter-memo decrying this position as unbelievable, noting that it was counter to previous Congresses and that the current President has been globe-trotting at IHF expense to campaign directly to the different nations. He further notes that “an election congress is the most important congress within that 4 years period. Consequently it is of a very high importance for the representatives of the national federations, to make their own mind about the candidates, by listening to their proposals.”

A close look at the agenda provided on the Federation website does seem to indicated that time could be found for candidate introductions. Notably, Thursday, 4 June is a social day with a trip to the pyramids and a spa for the attendees.

IHF Congress Agenda: http://www.ihfcongress2009.org/congress2009/timetable.htm

Text of the IHF memo and Jean Kaiser response is in the extended post

To the Handball Federations CRO, DEN, FIN, FRA, GER, IND, ISL, ITA, JOR, KAZ, KOR, KUW, LUX, MKD, NOR, POL, SLO, SUI, TUN, UKR

Basle, 8th May 2009

XXXII Ordinary IHF Congress 2009 New candidates for positions at the IHF

Dear Handball Friends,

You presented candidates from your federation for a position in the IHF at the coming Congress. The candidature has been handed in in due time and has been announced in the circular letter dated 11th March 2009.

As for reasons of time we can not give the candidates the opportunity to introduce themselves to the Congress, we would herewith invite you to send us the respective CVs (if you have not already done so) in order to add them to the official Congress documents. We would kindly ask you to send us the CVs by the 15th May at the latest.

Please do not hesitate to contact us for any further information you may need.

Thanking you in advance for your kind cooperation we remain,

With best sporting regards

INTERNATIONAL HANDBALL FEDERATION
Christoph Geissler
Head of Administration

—————————————————————————-
To all Handball friends.

It is really unbelievable !!
We, the candidates to the different positions in IHF, at the congress 2009, are forbidden to present ourselves to all the congress participants.

An election congress is the most important congress within that 4 years period.

Consequently it is of a very high importance for the representatives of the national federations, to make their own mind about the candidates, by listening to their proposals.

In the past, this procedure has been a very appreciated usance

M. Hassan Moustafa, president of IHF in his dictatorial way, refuses this to the representatives of the national federations!

Whereas he is travelling around the world, "sponsored" by IHF-funds, to make his own election campaign, he does not allow the other candidates even to talk to the congress.

What kind of impudence! What an unfair competition!

What an indignity for democracy and an insult for all congress participants.

I kindly request you all, to rise and protest for democracy, and against the shabby behaviour of the IHF president.

Jean KAISER (LUX)
Candidate for President

In a letter sent to all National Federation, Handball legend Jackson Richardson decries the actions of President Moustafa and endorses Jean Kaiser for President. Joining Richardson in signing were former German National Team Player, Erhard Wunderlich and Zlatko Portner, who played for the former Yugoslavia. The complete text of the letter is below.

To all national presidents, secretary generals and functionaries,
To all national and internationalplayers, trainers and referees

Basel, May 2009

The signing athletes in connection with the IHF congress 2009 and in connection with the linked discussions want to make the following statements:

– the current president of the IHF, Dr. Hassan Moustafa, as well as the current treasurer of the IHF, Miguel Roca Mas, feel put out to entitled criticism.
– concerning the financial transactions, there is in many cases still no sufficient transparency. Hence, we demand a neutral financial control, combined with a publication duty, as it is usual in general for economic companies and federations
– apparently there is also not enough transparency concerning the IHF funds spent for the presidents personal matters, in connection with the expenses compensations without documents of proof
– the research of "Spiegel Online“, a famous paper in Germany, about the whereabouts of 1.6 millions CHF, supposed to be on an account in France, remains to date without exact clarification.
– President Moustafa apparently takes decisions without consulting the council. This could possibly be looked as not statuts-compliant, among other things the exclusion of Oceania’s eligible Mr. V. Winitana from participating in the councils meeting in
Herzogenaurach, or even to act as secretary general. The secretary general elected by the congress, is apparently forbidden by the president itself, to enter his own office
– the value of the athlete's commission, installed by decision of the congress does not have, until today within the IHF its recognition. Until today no meeting took place because the president of IHF did not give his permission. The president communicates exclusively with the federations
– there are still no insurances for the athletes and the promised equalization of the time schedule of the events, has not yet occurred. This all leads to a huge overloading of the players, with dangerous health consequences. This entails that the federations and their clubs have to deal with financial losses, as well as long-chronological health failures of their players
– the behaviour in the matter of anti-doping regulations of the WADA endangers the handball sport to loose its Olympic status, maybe even for 2016
– the president, as well as the treasurer currently intervened in the referees nominations during the Olympics in Bejing (statements from the legacy of passed away Alexander Kozhukhov)
– the president of the IHF has promised during a press conference, which took place in the office of the IHF in Basel in February, 2009, a full transparency concerning all the reproaches against him. The carrying out is missing till today.

All these points prevent massively an improvement of the high-class standard, which we see as absolutely necessary, namely in the national federations, as well as in the continental areas. We, the athletes, simply form the basis for the exercise of our sport and to its marketing world wide.

In view of these lacks of transparency and the worldwide discussions linked to it, we would like to request all responsible officials of the handball sport, on the next IHF congress, which takes place from the 4th to the 7th of June, 2009 in Cairo, to express to

Jean Kaiser candidate for president

their trust and vote for him, so that the handball sport can enter a new, clean and prosperous era.

With our signatures we stand for „ clean handball “!

Jackson Richardson
World Handball Player, 1995

Erhard Wunderlich
German century Handballer

Zlatko Portner
World Champion with Yugoslavia, 1986

The IHF Presidential election will be held at the IHF Congress, June 4-7, 2009 in Cairo Egypt.

[b]The Candidates for President[/b]
– Hassan Moustafa (Egypt) Current President
– Jean Kaiser (Luxembourg)
– Gudmundur Ingvarsson (Iceland) (Withdrawn)

The following articles and commentary are related to the candidates. If you would like to submit an article or commentary please send an email to editors@teamhandballnews.com

3 June 09: Commentary: Will Handball minnows seize the opportunity at the IHF Congress?: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.770
3 June 09: Jean Kaiser outlines plans for world-wide Handball development: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.769
1 June 09: Karabatic and Schwarzer endorse Kaiser; Richardson expresses support on YouTube: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.767
30 May 09: Commentary: Why Hassan Moustafa should be re-elected as IHF President: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.766
28 May 09: Associated Press: Officials push for ouster of handball president: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2009-05-28-1980126860_x.htm
27 May 09: Christer Ahl: Agreements between the IHF President and Asian President opened the way for the fraud in Olympic Qualifying: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.763
26 May 09: Christer Ahl: Fundamental IHF problems cannot be resolved without new leadership: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.762
24 May 09: Jean Kaiser further outlines plans for IHF: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.760
23 May 09: IHF Sec Gen Muehlematter makes case for re-election: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.759
18 May 09: Essay Contest: Why Hassan Moustafa should be re-elected for another term as IHF President: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.754
16 May 09: Jean Kaiser: Candidate for IHF President (Questionnaire Response): https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.752
13 May 09: Commentary: Yes, We Can (Part 2): https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.751
11 May 09 : IHF to New Candidates: No Time for Introductions at Congress: https://teamhandballnews.com/news-i750-4.html
6 May 09: Jackson Richardson Endorses Kaiser for Presidency: https://teamhandballnews.com/news-i746-4.html
3 May 09: Commentary: Yes, We Can (Influence the outcome of the IHF Election): https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.743
30 March 09: Commentary: IHF Memo Misleads and Fails to Address Key Issues: https://teamhandballnews.com/news720.html
27 March 09: IHF Memo Fires Back at Sec Gen Muehlematter and GCH’s Butzek: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.719
11 March 09: IHF Releases Full Candidate Lists for 2009 Elections/Moustafa and Roca Propose Funding for “Less Gifted” Federations: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.704
2 March 09: Commentary: IHF Council misses its chance for an “I am Spartacus” moment: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.698
23 February 09: Group Club Handball: Moustafa Conduct Puts Handball's Olympic Status in Danger: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.695
19 January 09: VIDEO: German News Show Reports on IHF Accounting Irregularities:
https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.677
14 January 09: HBL President Witte: Handball Olympic Status in Jeopardy: https://teamhandballnews.com/news670.html
10 January 09: “Campaign Committee for Clean Handball” Sends Missive on IHF Corruption: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.666
20 August 08: Commentary: An Improbable Run that Almost Never Happened: https://teamhandballnews.com/news573.html
15 July 08: Analysis: Asian Olympic Handball Qualification: Details of the Fiasco: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.535
17 January 08: Who is Erik Eggers? https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.438
20 December 07: AIPS: Heated press conference leads to IHF back-flip on Asian Handball Olympic qualification tournament decision: http://www.aipsmedia.com/index.php?page=news&cod=1730&tp=n
18 December 07: Asian Olympic Qualification results ruled null and void; Restaging of the entire tournaments planned: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.427
4 December 07: VIDEO: Korean News on Olympic Qualification: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.422
3 September 07: Asian Men’s Olympic Qualification (Kuwait Beats Host Japan while Koreans Express Outrage Over Referee Bias): https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.380

The IHF has sent a memo to the Presidents of National Federations as a response to media reports criticizing the IHF’s handling of administration, financial matters and doping issues. In the memo the IHF provides its own narrative of the General Council meeting where Secretary General Peter Muehlematter was asked unanimously by the IHF council to resign. Additionally the memo implies that the Group Club Handball (GCH) General Manager, Gerd Butzek, has an axe to grind with the IHF and is thus spreading false information.

The text of the Letter is below:

Basle, 27th March 2009

To the Members of the Council,
To the Member Federations

Dear President, Dear handball friend,

It is not customary for us to address you directly on IHF matters. However, as a number of those we have met recently have asked us questions about reports and articles published in the press over the last few months, we find it necessary to keep you informed of the situation that now prevails concerning the governance of handball worldwide.

Already at the time of the Women’s World Championship 2007 some German papers and magazines had published attacks against the IHF, its President and its Treasurer. The source of this information was not known then and the Council, meeting in Paris in December 2007, expressed its approval to the way IHF business was conducted by those in charge.

Again, on the occasion of the Men’s World Championship 2009, held in Croatia, attacks against the IHF appeared in the German and Swiss press, thus partly deflecting attention from a very successful competition to focus on rumours concerning the governance of handball worldwide. This time it was clear that the Secretary General of the IHF was the source of the false information conveyed to the media.

As a consequence, it was decided that the Council of the IHF, meeting in Zagreb on the last week-end of the World Championship, would devote as much time as necessary to a clarification of the situation.

For four hours the Secretary General had the opportunity to present all the arguments and documents he wished, to prove his point that the IHF executives were not properly fulfilling their duties particularly in the fields of
– Financial matters,
– Administration,
– Anti-doping policy,
– Staff management.

The former managing director of the IHF was called in to attend this four-hour session as most of the facts and situations happened when he held office. Mr. Mühlematter produced a file of documents and, in his presentation, concentrated mainly on financial issues.

The Council members first expressed their deepest regrets that the Secretary General of the IHF should have chosen to go to the press to express his grievances without ever mentioning them in an official IHF meeting. Second, they rapidly realized the misleading nature of the documents presented. In particular, it appeared that only the expense side of certain financial transactions was made available, thus creating an impression that was completely reversed as soon as the corresponding income side was shown.

The Council members repeatedly asked the Secretary General to produce at least one financial document that would prove convincing – this was never done. Concerning financial questions, it was finally underlined that the accounts of the IHF were regularly checked by internal auditors, by a professional supervisory firm and presented on the occasion of every IHF Congress and that none of them had ever found any fault.

Though no oral presentation was given by Mr. Mühlematter on administrative issues, the Council members underlined the misleading nature of the documents they had been supplied with. Once again only partial information was provided and totally taken out of context.

At the end of this four-hour session, the Council considered that the allegations conveyed in the press were unfounded and that they had seriously damaged the image of handball and that of the IHF. They therefore invited Mr. Mühlematter to offer his resignation. This was refused, as in the IHF Bylaws no provision exists that makes it possible for the Council to force a member into resignation.

A motion was then produced by the Council expressing condemnation of the action conducted by the Secretary General and stating the above-mentioned facts. In the ensuing vote the President and the Treasurer abstained, being considered as targets of the attacks launched by the Secretary General, they could not pass judgement on themselves. The final result was one vote against the motion (Mühlematter), all other votes in favour.

After this meeting, when it seemed that the situation had been clarified and after the Council had clearly expressed its disapproval of the method of communication used by the Secretary General, Mr. Mühlematter gave an interview to a Swiss television channel where he once again expressed unfounded accusations against the IHF and presented himself as the “white knight” of international handball.

Among the accusations that have been fed to the press, the one concerning doping is potentially extremely damaging and we also wish to supply you with information on this point.

Basically, the IHF was accused of not fulfilling its obligations concerning anti-doping measures and quite understandably, journalists, during the Men’s World Championship kept asking us questions about this issue.

It must be absolutely clear that the IHF is fully committed to a clean sport and to the global anti-doping strategy prevailing worldwide. This commitment finds its financial translation in the 2008 budget whose line concerning anti-doping amounts to 45000 CHF.

There is, however, a technical difficulty that concerns all team sports and which the IHF is currently trying to overcome. In partnership with the IOC, ASOIF and WADA and upon our express request, we are trying to design a control system applicable to team sports and that respects the athletes’ individual liberty. This approach on our part is the clear sign of our commitment to a worldwide struggle against doping and in favour of a clean sport and we very much regret that on this question again, totally wrong information should have been supplied to the press by the Secretary General.

In addition to the above-mentioned, it seems that the IHF Secretary General is collaborating with Mr. Gerd Butzeck, former member of the IHF Commission for Promotion and Public Relations, who was dismissed from the IHF due to infringement. Mr. Butzeck in his position as the General Manager of the Group Club Handball EEIG, raised accusations in a press release, most of which are similar to those groundless ones brought up by the IHF Secretary General during the IHF Council meeting in Zagreb (CRO) and which had been rejected by the Council.

The General Manager of the Group Club Handball EEIG planned to form a private handball league and got into conflict with the European Handball Federation. The IHF is deeply frustrated about such harmful initiative and supports the European Handball Federation against this gentleman. Both Mr. Mühlematter and Mr. Butzeck are in direct contact with journalists in Germany, France and Denmark to publish their false information.

A number of you have strongly recommended that the IHF should take advantage of the Swiss law that makes it possible for an association to make one of its responsible office-bearers leave office having caused damage to the association. We have no doubt that we are clearly placed in such a situation. However, we consider that we should stick to our Bylaws and let the Congress decide how it wants world handball to be governed.

As you may imagine, this is not a pleasant letter for us to write. We, nevertheless, have the feeling that it was our duty to keep you informed of the situation prevailing inside the Executive Committee of the IHF. We can assure you that our sport has shown its worth to the world again on the occasion of the World Championship in Croatia, and we have no doubt that, on the basis of our joint efforts, it will continue its fantastic progress in the years to come.

Dear President, dear friend, we thank you for your attention and send you our best regards.

Dr. Hassan Moustafa, President, International Handball Federation
Tor Lian, Vice-President IHF, President EHF
Sheikh Ahmed Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, Vice-President IHF, President AHF
Mansourou A. Aremou, Vice-President IHF, President CAHB
Manoel Luiz Oliveira, Vice-President IHF, President PATHF

—————————
Editor’s note: These previous stories at Team Handball News are related to the subject memo:
Group Club Handball: Moustafa Conduct Puts Handball's Olympic Status in Danger:
https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.695
Commentary: IHF Council misses its chance for an “I am Spartacus” moment: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.698

Earlier today IHF President Hassan Moustafa abruptly withdrew his bid to become President of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF). According to “Around the Rings”, Moustafa was concerned that the voting process lacked transparency and confidentiality in that voters were allowed to vote at their seats instead of 1 by 1 at the podium. Incumbent President, Denis Oswald was elected with 19 votes, 2 no votes and 5 abstentions.

In Olympic related news, the ASOIF and others are ratcheting up their rhetoric that the USOC receives too great a share of the sponsorship and TV rights for the Olympic Games.

Around the Rings: “Oswald Wins Re-election, USOC Under Fire by Summer Federations”:
http://www.aroundtherings.com/articles/view.aspx?id=31791

Jaume Fort, the European Handball Player’s Union President and the IHF Athlete’s Commission Spokesperson, has requested a formal meeting with IHF President Hassan Moustafa to discuss issues which currently concern handball athletes. The issues include player transfer regulations, athlete representation and the recent allegations of match fixing. To date the IHF has not responded to several requests for dialogue.

A text of the most recent letter (sent on March 13th) is below:

Dear Mr. Moustafa,

I am writing as a member of the European Handball Players Union (EHPU) and the IHF Athletes’ Commission. We would like to ask you on behalf of the players for a formal meeting to discuss several issues which currently concern handball players. (In the attached document you will find some examples). At the same time, we want to take this chance to remind you that the players are willing to play an active role in the process of building the future of our sport and therefore we encourage you to use both the EHPU and the IHF AC to hear the players’ voice. It’s not only the need for social dialogue but also the will to contribute in a constructive way to the good development of handball.

Needless to say, we are very worried about the recent rumours that have questioned the spirit of fair play in the world of handball.
We look forward to a successful working relationship in the future.

Sincerely yours,

Jaume Fort
EHPU President
IHF AC Spokesperson

The referenced attachment, which is a more detailed letter sent to the IHF on January 30th is in the extended post

The International Handball Federation
Mr. President Dr. Hassan Mustafa
Barcelona the 30th of January 2009
cc.: EHF.

Hearing on the Bylaws and regulations of the IHF.
Dear sirs,

European Handball Players Union (EHPU) welcomes warmly the fact that IHF will go through their regulations to see if anything ought to be changed. As representing 1000 top players from 30 countries in the world(France, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Tunisia, Hungary, Serbia, Latvia, Germany, Algerian, China, Korea, Macedonia, Brazil, Argentina, Croatia, Bosnia, Poland, Egypt, Russia, Morocco, Czech republic, Holland, Congo, Ukraine, Slovenia, Senegal and Portugal)

In the following the EHPU will comment on the key topics of the IHF regulation from a legal point of view. It shall be stressed that EHPU finds it important that the players participate in the change of IHF bylaws. The EHPU is willing and able to take part in the different working commissions for this purpose. These comments do not pretend to be exhaustive.

[b]Re. the Bylaws [/b]
[u]Art 12.1 The Executive Committee [/u]
The article states that the Executive Committee rules in all cases in which member federations violate the IHF Bylaws.
It is in contradiction to fundamental legal principles of law having a body consisting of politicians to judge in legal cases. EHPU request the IHF to delegate this power to an independent body consisting only of members with legal education and knowledge of sport.

In addition the article does not secure the minimum legal rights of the defendant. For example the article leaves no room for the defendant to be heard before the decision is made, nor ensures that all members who shall be part of the decision making have legal capacity.

[u]Art 37 The Arbitration Bodies[/u]
In general the fees are too large, and will hinder the parties to lodge relevant complaints. There are no objective reasons for such high fees.

[b]Re the IHF Legal Provision[/b]
[u]Art 8 [/u]
It is in contradiction to European Law to hinder parties to challenge IHF Appeal Body decisions in the civil courts. The article should be abolished.

[u]Art 26 [/u]
The members of the Arbitration Committee and Tribunal shall only “demonstrate their capability to perform the specific function by means of their specialist knowledge and experience”. It should be mandatory that the judges have a legal education in order to safeguard that decisions comply with European and Swiss Sports- and Civil Law principles.
Re The Transfer Regulations
Firstly the EHPU refers to the enclosed note regarding the illegal Transfer Fees. Secondly the EHPU wants to point out the following points in the Transfer Regulations that we think would improve the transfer of players in world handball.

[u]Article 4.[/u] The EHPU wants to keep the rule that if the club or national federation has not responded within 30 days the player is free to transfer at no cost. Otherwise the player can be bound forever. If it is important enough for the clubs/federation to make a say against a players transfer the club/federation must do so within 30 days. The clubs and federations are in these cases familiar with the regulations and we are talking about the players right to change employer.

[u]Article 7[/u] should state as clear as the FIFA Rules of Transfer that Fee may not be collected. The Transfer Fees do not respect the Treaties article 39 and are therefore illegal. The IHF cannot legally keep a system that prevent handball players from exercising their sport, clearly undermines the purpose of the Associations set out in the Bylaws, and is in breach with Community Law. The Football Association applies the same purpose as the IHF without having to charge a Transfer Fee.

[u]Article 8[/u] does not ensure that national federations are obliged to handle a dispute within e.g. 5 or 6 weeks. Article 8-cases can de facto be pending for several months, which is not in the interest of neither clubs nor federations or players.
At the moment it is up to the national federations to handle contract disputes. The EHPU requests the IHF to introduce a Transfer System that applies fully to community law. The EHPU requests the IHF to seek inspiration in the FIFA Transfer Regulations that are sanctioned by the EU Commission. Key points should be the incorporation of the Webster Decision by CAS, a right for the contracting parties to terminate the contract by just cause and sporting just cause. In addition the IHF should introduce a fully capable Body to handle disputes arising in international transfers, with the right to appeal to the CAS.
In addition to this system, the IHF should instruct its member federations to implement procedural rules handling contract disputes with in reasonable time which is approximately 2 months.

[u]Article 16 and 17[/u]. There are no objective reasons for binding a player for 12 months as a professional player taking reference to the high Transfer Fees. If the Fees in some manner are to be kept within world handball, the player should be obliged to pay an additional sum if he/she within 12 months from the expiry of his/hers contract concludes a new contract.

[u]Article 26[/u] states that international treaties shall apply. Does it mean that the Treaty takes precedence over the Transfer Regulations if the Transfer Regulations are incompatible with the Treaty? Why has the IHF not yet instructed the EHF to respect the EU Treaty article 39.

[u]Education compensations.[/u] IHF should provide EHF to change regulations so that there is no education compensation for youth players. Every year several youth players have no other option but to end their handball career because of these regulations. If a country has a very strong league with a lot of foreigner players, younger local players in that country have to look for an opportunity to get competition at the right level in another country. When they want to go back their home country, they often can’t play in the best league at home, thus having to play in the second league, where clubs have no money to pay for education compensation to the clubs of origin. As a result, the player can’t play handball for a 12 month period. To avoid this, it should be possible to make a special fee without connecting it to the players transfer, like the system used by Swedish ice hockey, where the clubs pay each year a certain amount of money to a fund and after the season the funding will be handed out to the clubs that have trained players to a higher level.

[b]Re. Regulations for Players Agents [/b]
There are no international regulations about Players Agents in the handball world. The EHPU requests the IHF to introduce Regulations safeguarding that the Player Agents in world handball meet the same basic standards of counselling on different matters like in the football regulations. The only thing to be changed from the football regulations on Players Agents is that there should be no time limit for procedure in a case against a Player Agent because of bad counselling.

Best regards,

European Handball Players Union
Jaume Fort Mauri, President
Jeròme Fernandez, Vice-President

Here’s some top level analysis as to how each of the Continental Federations performed at the Men’s World Championships in Croatia. The data includes 2009 performance and as a comparison their performance data from 2007 is in parentheses.

2007 World Championship Continental Analysis: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.266

[b]Europe [/b]

Europe’s record vs. the Rest of the World: 42-0-4 (28-1-1 )
Average Match Final Score: 33.5 – 22.1 (34.2 – 23.1)
Average Match Goal Differential: +11.4 (+11.1)

Ranking: The 14 European nations captured spots 1-11, 13, 15 and 16

European dominance continues to be the story at the Men’s World Championships. In 46 matches, Europe came away the victor 42 times. The 4 losses were

South Korea 24 – Spain 23
Brazil 32 – Serbia 30
Tunisia 25 – Macedonia 24
Egypt 31 – Russia 27

This 91% win rate is a slight drop form 2007’s 93%, and a few non European sides have shown that they can compete against Europe’s best. It’s still pretty clear, though, that this is a European game.

A closer look at the other Continental Federations

[b]Africa[/b]

Record vs. Europe: 2-0-11 (1-0-13)
Average Match Final Score: 23.8 – 30 (24.9 – 33.5)
Average Match Goal Differential: -6.2 (-8.6)

Record vs. Rest of the World (non-Europe): 8-0-0 (7-0-3)
Average Match Final Score: 29.4-24.9 (31.5 – 27.5)
Average Match Goal Differential: +4.5 (+4)

Ranking: Egypt- 14th , Tunisia- 17th, Algeria- 19th
Africa again failed to have a team advance to the Main Round. Egypt and Tunisia, however, have clearly shown that they can compete with the Europeans. Most of those games were close and they pulled off two victories (Tunisia vs. Macedonia and Egypt vs. Russia). Tunisia also played without Wissem Hmam and if he had played they might very well have advanced to the Main Round and competed for a semifinal spot. Algeria was less competitive against the Europeans, but contributed to Africa’s dominance against the other continents. All told, Africa went a perfect 8-0-0 against the other continents. Granted, the way the schedule worked out no African team played South Korea, but it’s safe to say that Egypt or Tunisia woud have been competitive against the Koreans. So Africa is clearly the 2nd best continent in the world for Handball

[b]Asia[/b]

Record vs. Europe: 1-0-14 (0-1-6)
Average Match Final Score: 22.5 – 32.5 (24.9 – 35.9)
Average Match Goal Differential: -10 (-11)

Record vs. Rest of the World (non-Europe) 3-0-7 (5-0-6)
Average Match Final Score: 24.3- 25.8 (29.9 -29.9)
Average Match Goal Differential: -1.2 (0)

Ranking: South Korea- 12th , Kuwait- 22nd, Saudi Arabia- 23rd

South Korea was easily the best non-European team in the tournament. Their surprising victory over Spain was the shock of the tournament and it propelled them into the main round. It was their only victory over a European side, but they acquitted themselves well in every match. They scared the host Croatian (a 26-27 loss) and even hung tough with France before falling behind for a 9 goal loss. Notably, this performance was accomplished with a relatively young side and with players that for the most part are based in Korea. This contradicts the premise that in order to be competitive you need to have your top players based in Europe.

The other two representatives, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia were less impressive. They were not competitive against the European sides and their only two wins were narrow victories over Australia. As things currently stand Asia can pretty much be defined as South Korea and everybody else.

[b]Pan America[/b]

Record vs. Europe: 1-0-12 (0-0-6)
Average Match Final Score: 23.1 – 34.8 (20.5 – 29.6)
Average Match Goal Differential: -11.7 (-9)

Record vs. Rest of the World (non- Europe): 6-0-6 (4-0-4)
Average Match Final Score: 27.3 – 25.9 (29.3 – 30.5)
Average Match Goal Differential: +1.4 (-1.2)

Ranking: Argentina- 18thth , Cuba- 20th , Brazil- 21st

Pan America’s performance can best be described as “average”. Like the other continents they didn’t fare well against the Europeans. And when they played the other also-rans they had a .500 record for the second World Championship in a row. Argentina kept all their matches respectable and fared well in the President’s cup. Brazil had a more up and down experience as evidenced by their two goal victory over Serbia and their 18 goal lost to Norway. An inexperienced Cuban side had a similar performance to the other 3rd PATHF representatives in recent World Championships. Not competitive against the Europeans, but respectable against the rest of the world.

[b]Oceania[/b]

Record vs. Europe: 0-0-5 (0-0-3)
Average Match Final Score: 14 – 42.4 (16-43)
Average Match Goal Differential: 28.4 (27)

Record vs. Rest of the World (Non-Europe): 0-0-4 (0-0-3)
Average Match Final Score: 19 – 28.5 (23.3-33.3)
Average Match Goal Differential: 9.25 (10)

Ranking: Australia- 24th

Australia was Oceania’s lone representative at the WC again and came away with similar results. Defeats against the European powers ranged from 20 (vs. Romanian) and 35 vs. (vs. Slovakia). In competition against other continents Australia fared better and lost by only 3 and 4 to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia respectively. Considering Australia introduced several new players holding ground from 2007 is somewhat of a moral victory. Beating European sides won’t happen anytime soon, but victories against Asian sides could be a possibility next time around.

Match Scores grouped by Continents are in the Extended Post

[b]Africa vs. Europe[/b]
Algeria 19 Macedonia 32
Algeria 28 Russia 29
Algeria 20 Germany 32
Algeria 22 Poland 39
Egypt 22 Serbia 30
Egypt 17 Denmark 26
Egypt 20 Norway 30
Egypt 31 Russia 27
Egypt 24 Spain 28
Tunisia 25 Macedonia 24
Tunisia 27 Poland 31
Tunisia 31 Russia 36
Tunisia 24 Germany 26

[b]Africa vs. Rest of World[/b]
Algeria 29 Brazil 28
Algeria 34 Cuba 27
Algeria 30 Saudi Arabia 27
Egypt 25 Brazil 22
Egypt 26 Saudi Arabia 18
Tunisia 28 Saudi Arabia 21
Tunisia 34 Brazil 33
Tunisia 29 Argentina 23

[b]Africa vs. Africa [/b]
Egypt 31 Tunisia 30
Algeria 28 Egypt 22
Tunisia 36 Algeria 25

[b]Asia vs. Europe[/b]
Kuwait 21 Croatia 40
Kuwait 27 Romania 34
Kuwait 19 Sweden 30
Kuwait 17 Spain 47
Saudi Arabia 13 Denmark 32
Saudi Arabia 23 Norway 39
Saudi Arabia 15 Russia 34
Saudi Arabia 29 Serbia 38
South Korea 21 France 30
South Korea 31 Macedonia 32
South Korea 24 Spain 23
South Korea 26 Croatia 27
South Korea 27 Hungary 28
South Korea 20 Slovakia 23
South Korea 25 Sweden 31

[b]Asia vs. Rest of World[/b]
Kuwait 24 Brazil 27
Kuwait 23 Cuba 26
Kuwait 25 Argentina 26
Kuwait 27 Australia 24
Saudi Arabia 27 Algeria 30
Saudi Arabia 21 Tunisia 28
Saudi Arabia 18 Egypt 26
Saudi Arabia 24 Brazil 26
Saudi Arabia 23 Australia 19
South Korea 31 Cuba 26

[b]Asia vs. Asia[/b]
South Korea 34 Kuwait 19

[b]Pan America vs. Europe[/b]
Argentina 26 France 33
Argentina 20 Hungary 31
Argentina 26 Romania 30
Argentina 25 Slovakia 27
Argentina 19 Spain 31
Cuba 20 Croatia 41
Cuba 20 Spain 45
Cuba 28 Romania 39
Cuba 14 Sweden 41
Brazil 21 Norway 39
Brazil 32 Serbia 30
Brazil 27 Denmark 40
Brazil 22 Russia 25

[b]Pan America vs. Rest of World[/b]
Argentina 36 Australia 16
Argentina 26 Kuwait 25
Argentina 23 Tunisia 29
Cuba 27 Australia 17
Cuba 27 Algeria 34
Cuba 26 Kuwait 23
Cuba 26 South Korea 31
Brazil 27 Kuwait 24
Brazil 26 Saudi Arabia 24
Brazil 33 Tunisia 34
Brazil 28 Algeria 29
Brazil 22 Egypt 25

[b]Pan America vs. Pan America [/b]
Argentina 30 Cuba 23

[b]Oceania vs. Europe[/b]
Australia 12 Slovakia 47
Australia 20 Romania 40
Australia 10 Spain 42
Australia 11 France 42
Australia 17 Hungary 41

[b]Oceania vs. Rest of World[/b]
Australia 24 Kuwait 27
Australia 19 Saudi Arabia 23
Australia 16 Argentina 36
Australia 17 Cuba 27