Der Spiegel reveals generous salaries and honorariums for top IHF officials

Posted on by

[i]Der Spiegel[/i] has posted a new story providing more detail concerning salaries and honorariums for top IHF officials: http://www.spiegel.de/sport/sonst/0,1518,679098,00.html

The following is a direct translation of the article that appears on Der Spiegel's internet site:

“IHF president Moustafa gets an increase of 1,567 percent

The total annual ‘expense allowances’ for the top officials in the International Handball Federation (IHF) will, according to information obtained by [i]Der Spiegel[/i], increase from 204,000 Swiss Francs per year to 1,325,000 per year. The increase for President Hassan Moustafa is particularly drastic.

The top officials of the IHF allow themselves a magnificent compensation for their services. This becomes clear in a document from the IHF Council that had until now been kept secret; the Council is the forum for the 17 IHF top officials. According to this document, when the Council met last December in Nanjing, China, they arranged for themselves an increase in the expense allowances from an aggregate of 204,000 Sw.Frs. to 1,325,000 Sw.Frs.

The most grandiose increase concerns the president: 1,567 percent. The Egyptian Hassan Moustafa, who last summer was re-elected in his position until 2013, will now get 500,000 per year instead of 30,000.

The Council members also allow themselves an increase in their daily allowances – instead of 250 Sw.Frs. per day, when they are on duty for the IHF, they will now receive 400. For Moustafa this adds up to a six-digit amount, as he last year claimed to have been on duty for the IHF during 280 days.”

* * *

Note: The current exchange rate is $1 = .929 Swiss Francs

[i]THN[/i]: it is possible that [i]Der Spiegel[/i] will offer additional information in its printed version which appears on Monday. We will hold off on any commentary in the meantime. For the sake of a better understanding of the different forms of monetary compensation inside the IHF, the readers may wish to refer to an earlier article: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.932

Some clarifications may, however, be useful regarding the report in [i]Der Spiegel[/i]:
What is referred to as ‘expense allowance’ may be more appropriately regarded as an honorarium, an annual lump sum in lieu of salary, given that the elected officials are volunteers and not employees.
As reported in the article linked above, the Council approved a request from president Moustafa to become a full-time employee of the IHF. In other words, the 30,000 Sw.Frs. was an honorarium, while the 500,000 is a salary, so technically it is a comparison of ‘apples and pears’. On the other hand, if the president previously was already on duty 280 days per year, then perhaps Der Spiegel is implicitly asking how much more the IHF could get for its money when now hiring the president as an employee at a salary of 500,000.

The ‘daily allowances’ mentioned by [i]Der Spiegel [/i]are really best seen as ‘pocket money’. Expenses related to meals, hotels and travel are taken care of separately by the IHF. Also, these allowances are normally paid only when someone is on duty away from home, for instance, at a World Championship, conference or meeting. In other words, if the president will now be de facto residing in Basle, it is not clear if he really should/will receive the daily allowance for the many days when he will be present at Headquarters.

Algeria Men and Cote d’Ivoire Women qualify for 2011 World Championship

Posted on by

The 3rd place matches are complete at the 2010 African Championships. In the Men’s game, Algeria easily defeated the Democratic Republic of the Congo 30-22. They will join Egypt and Tunisia who will play for 1st and have already qualified for the Men’s World Championship in Sweden (Jan 2011)

In the Women’s match, Cote d’Ivoire defeated Algeria 32-28. They will join Angola and Tunisia who will play for 1st and have already qualified for the Women’s World Championship in Brazil (Dec 2011)

African Championship Website: http://www.handball2010.com/2010/index.php?pg=hb5

Video from semifinal (Algeria vs. Egypt) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56JzYlTmb0I

Africa – Men: Favorites Egypt and Tunisia win semifinals and qualify for World Championship

Posted on by

In today's semifinal, Egypt had to struggle to prevail against their Algerian rivals, 26-24. One of the deciding factors was an unusually large number of successful fastbreaks. By contrast, Tunisia had a very easy time against the much less experienced opponents from the Dem. Rep. of Congo, with a final result of 37-22. This means that Algeria, just like on the women's side, will need to win tomorrow's bronze game to qualify for the World Championship. However, judging from today's results, they must be seen as heavy favorites to ensure a 'North African triple'. Angola beat Morocco 30-24 in the 5th place game.

Japan grabs the remaining World Championship slot in overtime thriller!

Posted on by

After an intensive fight that went into overtime, the Japanese team managed to win the bronze medal game and thus secured their participation in the 2011 World Championship.
The final result was 33-30, following 27-27 after 60 minutes. The hero of the match was Daisuke Miyazaki, who scored 12 goals. He plays professionally for Alcobendas in the Spanish league.

The Asian Championship final, with two teams that had already secured their World Championship tickets, was won by Korea over Bahrain with the score of 32-25. One must assume that the Bahrainis were nevertheless happy with their performance, having qualified for the World Championship for the first time ever.

Congratulations to the medal winners and WCh qualifiers, Korea, Bahrain and Japan; and congratulations to Asian handball, after an event carried out in a positive atmosphere and with good sportsmanship. The refereeing was [u]not[/u] an issue this time!

The overall final ranking is: [b]1. Korea, 2. Bahrain, 3. Japan,[/b] 4. Saudi Arabia, 5. Qatar, 6. Syria, 7. Iran, 8. Lebanon, 9. China, 10. Iraq, 11. U.A.E., 12. Jordan.

Achieving a ‘common line’ — what can one learn from other fields

Posted on by

My recent comments about the refereeing at EURO 2010 suggested that one of the problems this time involved a distinct lack of a ‘common line’ among the referee couples, something that both the coaches and the referee supervisor clearly see as an important issue. Of course, the coaches in a sense always have a similar issue, when they want to ensure that all the players on their team are synchronized regarding the tactics to be used, both generally and in specific game situations. After all, players are likely to have a mind of their own…

So it may have some relevance to examine the experience with achieving a ‘common line’ also in a totally different field. People who know me well are aware that I am not just a ‘handball fanatic’. I have many other interests, and perhaps the main one involves classical music and opera; no, do not worry, not as performer, just as an enthusiastic listener. Therefore, it seemed like a very nice opportunity when some time ago I was able to have a chat with a well-known symphony conductor. He wants to be ‘anonymous,’ but I can reveal that he is from a handball country and he is sports-minded. Thus he was able to appreciate the significance of my questions, when I asked him about ensuring a ‘common line’ from the members of an orchestra that he is conducting.

As he noted, a ‘common line’ for an orchestra obviously does not just mean following the same music sheet but, in particular, it means following the conductor’s intentions and interpretations. And the [u]whole[/u] group has to ‘buy in’, has to be on board with the agreed approach. He wanted to mention five points, three of which are relevant to the preparations or rehearsals prior to a concert (or a game). One applies during the concert/game, and the last one is more related to the feed-back afterwards. I hope you will agree that, not surprisingly, they are very much the same kind of points that a coach or a referee supervisor need to keep in mind; nothing revolutionary, nothing that they may not know already, but still interesting.

The first point is to show that the conductor clearly knows what he/she wants to achieve. One must be prepared to listen and to accept ideas, but one cannot get respect without coming well-prepared and being able to demonstrate one’s knowledge. Being overly democratic and too ready to make compromises or to let the team decide does not work, if you want to emphasize a ‘common line’. The same goes for a group of referees.

Second, it is critical to focus on the big picture first. It is tempting to get caught up in detail after detail, but the approach to those details will not be clear, until and unless the overall goal or tactic is clear. It is especially important to avoid getting into a lot of negative feedback and criticism on minor details during a rehearsal or practice. (A referee supervisor may need to explain how he/she wants the referees to lead a game, before one gets into explaining the specific mistakes that they need to avoid).

The third pre-event point is to remember that, even as you focus on a team approach and a ‘common line’, you still need to treat the orchestra/team members as individuals. Some are more comfortable with the notion that the leader knows best, and are not so willing or capable of articulating any views of their own. Others need to have more of a dialogue, both for the purpose of understanding the message and in order to accept it fully.

During the concert/game, you need to realize that most of the opportunity for serious teaching is already over. Going too far in trying to change course or to rectify problems can easily backfire and make things worse. Certain things can be, and need to be, dealt with as the event goes on, but especially negative feedback, including body language, can often be demoralizing or confusing. (I am not so sure that all coaches will agree on this).

After the game, a team coach or a referee supervisor normally has the opportunity to offer feedback. The conductor noted, with some envy, that for him this tends to be the case only when he is conducting ‘his own’ orchestra, where he is based and where he has more ongoing and managerial responsibilities. When he is a ‘guest conductor’, there often is not an opportunity, except if one tries to do it in a rushed way directly after the event. But he warned against this; he had found that such immediate feedback, at a moment when the adrenaline is still there and when the orchestra members have not yet had time to do their own evaluation, is likely to be wasted. They are not receptive and are not likely to be able to make much use of the feedback.

I will not go back and comment (more than I did above) on how I think that each of these five points apply to a handball coach and to a referee supervisor; I will leave that to each of you, on the basis of your own experience, if you find it useful. Indeed, you may even disagree with some point. Personally, I do find it relevant and useful, and of course I can primarily comment on it from the perspective of a referee supervisor. I think there are some good analogies or comparisons, and I do believe it offers some helpful reminders. As Mozart used to say, “we are all in the same boat.”

Africa – Women: Angola and Tunisia qualify for the World Championship

Posted on by

In today's semifinals in Cairo, the two favored teams won. However, Angola's victory over Cote d'Ivoire with 27-24 was perhaps with a smaller margin than expected. By contrast, Tunisia had a very easy team against Algeria: 36-16. This means that Angola and Tunisia are already qualified for the women's World Championship in Brazil in December 2011. More immediately, they will meet in the African final on Saturday.

The final ticket to the World Championship will also be awarded on Saturday, to the winner of the bronze medal game between Cote d'Ivoire and the surprise of the event, Algeria. Congo beat the host country Egypt with 29-26 in the battle for 5th place, and Cameroon grabbed the 7th place by defeating the Dem. Rep. of Congo by the score of 30-28.

African Championships: Men's and Women's semifinals coming up

Posted on by

It may seem that there have not been too many surprises in the African Championships for men and women. The pre-event favorites are through to the semi-finals, generally without major difficulties. But there have still been some close and exciting games, and there is more to come,

The [u]women's[/u] semifinals will be played on Thursday: [u]Angola-Cote d'Ivoire[/u] and [u]Tunisia-Algeria[/u]; Congo did not make it, despite have had a respectable performance in the recent World Championship. Algeria is the newcomer at this level and has played an attractive handball. Angola has played well despite fielding an unusally large number of new players in comparison with recent events.

The [u]men's[/u] semi-finals will be played on Friday. Following an exciting main round match today, where Tunias and Algeria tied 21-21, [u]Tunisia[/u] came out as group winner and gets the presumably easier road to the final, playing the Democratic Rep. of the [u]Congo[/u]. The other semifinal promises to be an emotional affair, between [u]Egypt and Algeria[/u].

VIDEO: Sensational finish wins Bahrain tickets to Sweden 2011

Posted on by

In today’s semi-final between Bahrain-Saudi Arabia, with 7 seconds left and the game tied 25-25, the Saudis had a free-throw at the 9-meter line. Additionally, they had a 2-man advantage, so they had an excellent opportunity to win instead of having to play overtime! But with 4 seconds left, the Bahraini goalkeeper saved what was intended as the final shot, the ball rebounded out to a Bahraini court player, Saeed Jawhar, who then quickly heaved the ball the length of the court. The Saudi goalkeeper who was some distance in front of the goal couldn’t quite get back in time for the save, so the ball hit the goalpost and deflected into the net, at 29’59 !!! Bahrain won 26-25 and is through to the World Championship next January in Sweden.

VIDEO: Final seconds of Bahrain – Saudi Arabia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGZl3wPy888

Report in Gulf Daily News, Bahrain: http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=271064

The stunned Saudi players now will have try to recharge the batteries for the third place game against Japan on Saturday, when they have one more chance to qualify.

Japan may have made a tactical mistake, trying extremely hard to keep up with the Koreans. They got close several times, but whenever that happened, the Koreans simply put in another gear and easily pulled away again. So the question is, will also Japan have spent their best efforts too soon, in a game where perhaps they did not have a serious chance. Now they also may have a tough time to come back! But it suggests that there will be tremendous fight for the remaining qualfying slot, and the Asian final between Korea and Bahrain may almost become a bit anticlimactic by comparison…

Today’s results:

Semifinal: Saudi Arabia-Bahrain 25-26
Semifinal: Korea-Japan 30-25

5th place: Qatar-Syria 31-30
7th place: Lebanon-Iran 23-35

Yesterday’s results:

9th place: China-Iraq 30-25
11th place: U.A.E.-Jordan 43-36

Check out a free podcast and promote handball

Posted on by

While living overseas my life changed overnight with the discovery of the world of podcasts. I’d always been a fan of talk radio, but France’s version of it left something to be desired. Even if I could actually fully understand it, I really didn’t care about Paris St-Germain and Olympic Marseille. With podcasts, however, I learned I could listen to a multitude of offerings: BBC news reports and documentaries, 60 Minutes, Meet the Press, ESPN radio and Slate Magazine. Plus, they were available anytime and anywhere. Now that I’m back in the States I’m still an avid podcast listener. Sure, there are more radio stations, but I don’t like being a slave to their schedules and annoying advertisements.

One of my favorite podcasts currently is Slate’s, ‘Hang up and Listen’. This weekly sports conversation show typically has 3 segments and lasts about 40 minutes. It’s not your typical show as they delve into topics a little off the beaten path and then spend a little more time on them. And where else do you get Team Handball references from time to time including just this past week in regards to the USOC’s funding of minor sport federations. Of course, this is entirely attributable to the number 1 Handball fan in mainstream journalism, Stefan Fatsis. Fatsis, who used to write for the Wall St Journal and can now be heard regularly on NPR, never misses an opportunity to promote the sport and has written a couple of feature articles, most recently in the NY Times.

NY Times 9 May 09: Team Handball Has It All, Except an American Interest: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/10/sports/othersports/10cheer.html?_r=1&ref=sports

While the show already gets quite a few downloads they would like to bump up their subscription numbers. Subscribing to the podcast via ITunes or downloading the show is entirely free; they just want more subscribers to impress advertisers. Where the promotion of Handball comes in is that they are having a contest to see who can come up with the best story about converting someone into a regular listener. The winner gets to be a guest analyst on the show. This posting is my plea for converts and hopefully we’ll have a windfall of Handball fans that convinces the regular hosts to bring me into their midst for a show.

Slate ‘Hang Up and Listen’ podcast page: http://www.slate.com/id/2243238/
To simply download an episode: ttp://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/media.slate.com/media/slate/Podcasts/Sports/SG10021501_HUAL.mp3
‘Hang Up and Listen’ Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/hangupandlisten

And finally, if you’ve become a convert drop me a short note at john.ryan@teamhandballnews.com so I include you in my submission.

Saudi Arabia- Bahrain and Korea-Japan in the semifinals

Posted on by

In today’s four matches in the main round, most of the anticipated excitement failed to materialize. Only one match was close, namely Qatar-Saudi Arabia. Qatar had the rather impossible task of winning by at least six goals, in order to qualify for the semi-finals. They almost managed to win, but in the end they had to settle for a tie. As Japan crushed a disillusioned Iranian team, this meant that Qatar was out.

In the other group, Bahrain had absolutely no problems with home team, drawing on their experience to win easily. Syria managed to play even with Korea in the first half, mainly by using really dirty methods. In the second half, however, the Koreans pulled away and won convincingly.

The complete results and standings in the Main Round are as follows:

[u]Gr. A.[/u]
Iran – Saudi Arabia 19-26 (8-11)
Japan – Qatar 29-20 (15-10)
Iran – Qatar 21-22 (11-11)
Japan – Saudi Arabia 26-28 (12-15)
Qatar – Saudi Arabia 26-26 (12-13)
Japan – Iran 36-23 (21-11)

[b]1. Saudi Arabia [/b]5 points [b]2. Japan [/b]4 points 3. Qatar 3 points 4. Iran 0 points

[u]Gr. B.[/u]
Syria – Bahrain 31-35 (13-16)
Korea – Lebanon 38-23 (17-11)
Korea – Bahrain 39-25 (19-11)
Syria – Lebanon 32-29 (17-14)
Syria – Korea 25-35 (14-15)
Lebanon – Bahrain 18-36 (8-13)

[b]1. Korea [/b]6 points [b]2. Bahrain [/b]4 points 3. Syria 2 points 4. Lebanon 0 points

In a placement match, Iraq beat Jordan with 30-26; on Tuesday, Iraq will play against China for 9th place, and Jordan-U.A.E. will play for 11th place;

On Wednesday, Qatar and Syria will battle for 5th place, and Iran-Lebanon are playing for 7th place.

The same evening, the semifinals will be: Saudi Arabia-Bahrain and Korea-Japan. The winners qualify for the Asian final and therefore also for the 2011 World Championship. The losers will play for ‘bronze’ and for the final slot in Sweden 2011.

The results until now make it very difficult to have a firm opinion on the outcome of the Saudi Arabia-Bahrain match-up. Neither team has shown real stability, and whoever turns out to be the winner, one could not really talk about a surprise. Korea must be seen as the favorite against Japan, but in this East Asian rivalry one can never be too sure.

VIDEO: 2010 African Championships Highlights

Posted on by

Several videos showing highlights from matches have been posted to the 2010 African Championships Facebook page. If you click on the “Links on” page below and scroll down, you will find the youtube links.

2010 African Championship Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=191134593251&ref=ts
Links on "African Handball Championship (Egypt 2010)": http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=191134593251&share_id=321376672800&comments=1

Commentary: If you haven’t joined the Facebook universe you are definitely missing out on some unique opportunities to share information with fellow handball fans. Join our Team Handball Fans page for updates and networking: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Team-Handball-News/108817968908?ref=mf

Asian Championship: Korea remains undefeated, and Saudis surprise Japan

Posted on by

As expected, the start of the Main Round brought a new level of intensity, with close matches, surprises and nerves both on the court, on the benches and among spectators.

The situation after two of the three Main Round days is:

[u]Gr. A[/u]
Iran – Saudi Arabia 19-26 (8-11)
Japan – Qatar 29-20 (15-10)
Iran – Qatar 21-22 (11-11)
Japan – Saudi Arabia 26-28 (12-15)
Qatar – Saudi Arabia Mon. Feb. 15
Japan – Iran ditto

[u]Gr. B[/u]
Syria – Bahrain 32-35 (13-16)
Korea – Lebanon 38-23 (17-11)
Korea – Bahrain 39-25 (19-11)
Syria – Lebanon 32-29 (17-14)
Syria – Korea Mon. Feb. 15
Lebanon – Bahrain ditto

In a placement match, China beat U.A.E. with 28-25, and will now play for 9th place.

In yesterday’s and today’s matches, the strong comeback of the Saudi team was remarkable, after they failed to win their group in the preliminary round. In fact, the Saudis had a much more comfortable lead against Japan, before they mysteriously lost their momentum. Iran could instead be seen as a negative surprise, although it is true that they were not really tested earlier. Korea has kept ‘steamrolling’, and the Bahraini victory against Syria may turn out to be a key result.

When play resumes on Monday, all eight teams in the Main Round still maintain at least a theoretical chance to qualify for the semi-finals. Conversely, each of the eight teams still runs the risk of missing out on the semi-finals, although it would require an absolute miracle for Korea to fail, considering the very favorable goal difference against Bahrain. The Saudis are in a good position for advancing, and Japan have an edge due to strong goal difference, but the team from Qatar are not out of it. Lebanon would need to rely on Korea to keep winning, and then they would need a 4-goal win against Bahrain to squeeze into the semifinals. All in all, a very exciting finish is coming up when the Main Round concludes in Beirut.

2010 African Championships: Preliminary Round Complete

Posted on by

The Preliminary round is complete at the 2010 African Championships in Egypt. In the Men’s competition Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt dominated their respective pools winning all three of their matches by convincing scores. In Group A, the Democratic Republic of Congo edged Nigeria for 2nd place on goal differential as the two teams had played to a draw on the first day. Angola and Morocco are the other two sides that qualified for the Main Round. The Main Round pools are:

Group I: Tunisia, Angola, Algeria
Group II: Egypt, Democratic Republic of Congo, Morocco

Tunisia and Egypt are the odss on favorites to win their respective groups. If Algeria can take care of Angola a potential Egypt – Algeria semifinal showdown is in the offing.

Men’s Preliminary Groups (Final Standing and table of results): http://www.handball2010.com/2010/file/Position%20Of%20Men.pdf

In the Women’s competition the teams appear to be much more evenly matched. In Group A, Tunisia won all 3 of their matches, but 2nd place Cote d’Ivoire played them close, 31-27. In Group B, Angola which has dominated African competition for several years did not emerge unscathed as 2nd place Congo managed a 25-25 draw against the reigning champion. The Women’s preliminary competition did not eliminate any teams, but only set seeding for the quarterfinals. Those matches are:

Angola vs. Cameroon
Congo vs. Algeria

Tunisia vs. Democratic Republic of the Congo
Cote d’Ivoire vs. Egypt

Women’s Preliminary Groups (Final Standings and table of results): http://www.handball2010.com/2010/file/Position%20Of%20Women.pdf