International Handball Federation facts for kids

Quick facts for kids International Handball Federation
Sport	Handball
Other Sports	Beach handball Wheelchair handball
History
Preceding organisations	International Amateur Athletic Federation (1926–1928) International Amateur Handball Federation (1928–1946)
Year of formation	12 July 1946; 78 years ago (1946-07-12)
Demographics
Membership size	209 members
Affiliations
Other affiliation(s)	International Olympic Committee Association of Summer Olympic International Federations
Governance
President	Hassan Moustafa
Honorary president	Erwin Lanc
Headquarters
Address	Peter Merian-Strasse 23, P.O. Box CH-4002, Basel
Country	Switzerland
General director	Amal Khalifa
Official language(s)	English, French and German
Main organ	IHF Congress IHF Council
Finance
Company status	Active
Operating income	CHF 7.24 million or US$ 7.84 million (in 2022) CHF 2.10 million or US$ 2.28 million (in 2023)
Sponsors	Gerflor Hummel International Sportfive Molten Corporation
Regions
Africa Asia Europe North America and Caribbean Oceania South and Central America

The International Handball Federation (IHF) is the main group that controls and organizes handball and beach handball around the world. It's like the boss of international handball!

The IHF is in charge of the biggest international handball events. This includes the IHF World Men's Handball Championship, which started in 1938. They also organize the IHF World Women's Handball Championship, which began in 1957.

The IHF was created in 1946 to manage international handball games. Its main office is in Basel, Switzerland. Today, 209 national handball groups are members of the IHF. Each country's handball group must also be part of one of the six regional groups. These regions are Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and Caribbean, Oceania, and South and Central America. Hassan Moustafa from Egypt has been the President of the IHF since November 26, 2000.

History of the IHF

The IHF was started on July 12, 1946. This happened at the Palace Hotel in Copenhagen, Denmark. Representatives from eight countries helped create it. These first members were Denmark, Finland, France, Norway, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, and Switzerland.

The first president of the IHF was Gösta Björk from Sweden. In 1950, Hans Baumann from Switzerland took over as president.

In 1954, the first Men's World Championship was held in Sweden. Six national teams played in this tournament. Then, in 1957, the first IHF World Women's Handball Championship took place in SFR Yugoslavia. Nine national teams competed there.

Handball also became an Olympic sport thanks to the IHF. Men's handball was first played at the Munich 1972 games. Women's handball joined later at the Montreal 1976 games.

How the IHF Works

Rules and Leadership

The IHF has its main office in Basel, Switzerland. It is set up under the laws of Switzerland.

The most important group in the IHF is the IHF Congress. This is a meeting where representatives from every member country's handball group come together. Each country, no matter its size, gets one vote. The Congress meets every two years, usually after the IHF World Men's Handball Championship.

The Congress makes big decisions about the IHF's rules and how they are used. Only the Congress can change the IHF's main rules. They also look at reports, decide if new countries can join, and hold elections. The Congress chooses the IHF President, the General Secretary, and other members of the IHF Council.

The IHF Council is led by the President. It makes important decisions when the Congress is not meeting. The Council has 18 people: the President, 5 Vice Presidents, and 12 other members. This group decides which country will host the World Championship.

The President and General Secretary are the main leaders of the IHF. They manage the daily work of the organization. Hassan Moustafa is the current president. He was chosen in 2000.

Six Regions and Many Countries

The IHF works with six big groups of countries, called continental federations. These groups organize championships for their continents every two years. These are the African Handball Confederation, Asian Handball Federation, European Handball Federation, North America and the Caribbean Handball Confederation, Oceania Continent Handball Federation, and South and Central America Handball Confederation. Besides games between national teams, these groups also arrange international games for club teams.

Until 2017, there were only five continental groups. But on January 14, 2018, the IHF Council split the Pan-American group into two: the North America and the Caribbean Handball Confederation, and the South and Central America Handball Confederation. This change was approved by the IHF Congress.

IHF Presidents

No.	Name	Country	Term
1.	Gösta Björk	Sweden	11 July 1946 – 9 September 1950
2.	Hans Baumann†	Switzerland	9 September 1950 – 9 February 1971
Interim	Paul Högberg	Sweden	9 February 1971 – 23 August 1972
3.	Paul Högberg	Sweden	23 August 1972 – 25 July 1984
4.	Erwin Lanc	Austria	25 July 1984 – 26 November 2000
5.	Hassan Moustafa	Egypt	26 November 2000 – present

† Hans Baumann passed away while in office on February 9, 1971, due to illness.

IHF Executive Committee

This is the IHF Executive Committee for the years 2021 to 2025.

Role	Name
President	Hassan Moustafa
1st Vice-president	Joël Delplanque
Treasurer	Anna Rapp
Executive members	Narcisa Lecușanu
	František Táborský
Managing director	Amal Khalifa

IHF Council

The IHF Council is the main group that makes decisions for the IHF. It works between the big meetings of the IHF Congress. The current Council is serving from 2021 to 2025.

IHF Commissions

The IHF has different commissions, which are like special teams. Each team focuses on a different part of handball.

Commission	Leader
IHF Commission of Organising and Competitions	Per Bertelsen
IHF Playing Rules and Referees Commission	Per Morten Sødal
IHF Commission of Coaching and Methods	Dietrich Späte
IHF Medical Commission	To Be Decided
IHF Commission for Development	Tomislav Grahovac
IHF Athletes' Commission	Karolina Kudłacz-Gloc
IHF Arbitration Commission	Lovro Badzim
IHF Arbitration Tribunal	Zoran Radojičić
IHF Ethics Commission	Hussein Moustafa Fathy

• Italics means the person is temporarily leading the commission.

IHF Tournaments

The IHF organizes many exciting tournaments for different types of handball and age groups.

Handball

• IHF World Men's Handball Championship
• IHF World Women's Handball Championship
• IHF Men's Junior World Championship (for younger men)
• IHF Women's Junior World Championship (for younger women)
• IHF Men's Youth World Championship (for even younger boys)
• IHF Women's Youth World Championship (for even younger girls)
• IHF Emerging Nations Championship (for developing handball countries)
• IHF Inter-Continental Trophy
• IHF Confederations Cup (this is a suggested tournament)

Beach handball

• IHF Beach Handball World Championship
• IHF Youth Beach Handball World Championship
• IHF Beach Handball Global Tour

Wheelchair handball

• IHF Wheelchair Handball World Championship

Club handball

• IHF Super Globe (for men's club teams)
• IHF Women's Super Globe (for women's club teams)

Multi-sport events

• Handball at the Summer Olympics
• Handball at the Youth Olympic Games (this event no longer happens)
• Beach handball at the World Games
• Beach handball at the World Beach Games
• Beach handball at the Youth Olympic Games

Current Champions

International Champions

Here are the teams that currently hold the top titles in international handball tournaments:

Competition	Men's Champion	Women's Champion
World Cup	DEN (2023) (3)	France (2023) (3)
Handball Olympic Tournament	FRA (2020) (3*)	France (2020) (1)
Emerging Nations Championship	CUB (2023) (1)	—
Junior World Championship	Germany (2023) (3)	Norway (2022) (2)
Youth World Championship	Spain (2023) (1)	South Korea (2022) (1)
Handball Youth Olympic Tournament	Slovenia (2014) (1*)	South Korea (2014) (1*)
IHF Inter-Continental Trophy	Cuba (2023) (1*)	Bulgaria (2017) (2)
Club World Cup	SC Magdeburg (2023) (3)	1º de Agosto (2019) (1*)
Beach Handball World Championship	Croatia (2022) (3)	Germany (2022) (1)
Youth Beach Handball World Championship	Croatia (2022) (1*)	Spain (2022) (1*)

Continental Champions

These are the current champions in the different regions around the world:

	Africa	Asia	Europe	Oceania	Pan-America
Senior Men's	EGY (2024) (9)	QAT (2024) (6)	FRA (2024) (4)	AUS (2014) (8*)	ARG (2018) (7)
Senior Women's	Angola (2022) (15*)	South Korea (2022) (16*)	Norway (2022) (9*)	Australia (2016) (7*)	Brazil (2017) (10*)
Men's Continental Games	ANG (2019) (1)	QAT (2022) (3)	—	AUS (2006) (2*)	ARG (2023) (3*)
Women's Continental Games	Angola (2019) (7*)	Japan (2022) (1)	—	New Caledonia (2007) (1*)	Brazil (2023) (7*)
Junior Men's	Egypt (2022) (13*)	Japan (2022) (1)	Spain (2022) (3)	Australia (2022) (5*)	Brazil (2017) (6*)
Junior Women's	Angola (2023) (11*)	South Korea (2023) (16*)	Hungary (2023) (3)	New Caledonia (2023) (2*)	Brazil (2018) (9*)
Youth Boys	Egypt (2022) (7*)	South Korea (2022) (3*)	Spain (2022) (2)	French Polynesia (2022) (2*)	Argentina (2017) (8*)
Youth Girls	Egypt (2023) (5*)	Japan (2023) (1)	France (2023) (2)	New Caledonia (2023) (3*)	Brazil (2018) (12*)
Boys' Continental Youth Games	—	Qatar (2013) (1*)	Germany (2023) (3*)	—	—
Girls' Continental Youth Games	—	South Korea (2013) (1*)	France (2023) (2)	—	—
Men's Club	Al-Zamalek SC (2019) (12*)	Al-Kuwait SC (2022) (1)	SC Magdeburg (2022–23) (4)	University of Queensland (2023) (1)	H. Taubaté (2018) (5*)
Women's Club	1º de Agosto (2019) (6)	Kaysar Club (2019) (2*)	Vipers Kristiansand (2022–23) (3)	University of Technology Sydney (2023) (1)	EC Pinheiros (2017) (1*)
Men's Beach Handball	—	Iran (2022) (1)	Hungary (2023) (1)	New Zealand (2022) (1)	Brazil (2018) (7*)
Women's Beach Handball	—	Vietnam (2022) (1)	Germany (2023) (3*)	Australia (2022) (5*)	Brazil (2018) (4*)
Men's Youth Beach Handball	—	Iran (2022) (1*)	Sweden (2021)	Australia (2017) (1*)	Brazil (2017) (1*)
Women's Youth Beach Handball	—	Thailand (2022) (1*)	Hungary (2021)	American Samoa (2017) (1*)	Argentina (2017) (1*)

• * = Record titles

Member Federations

The IHF has 209 national handball federations as members. These are grouped into different categories.

Category A

These are some of the member countries in Category A:

Category B

These are some of the member countries in Category B:

Category C

These are some of the member countries in Category C:

• ✝ means a member that is not currently active

Associated Members

These groups are connected to the IHF but are not full members:

Regional Members

These are members from specific regions:

IHF Awards

The IHF gives out special awards to people and groups. These awards recognize their great work in helping handball grow.

Some of these awards include:

• Hans Baumann Trophy (this award changed its name in 2015 to the IHF President's Development Award)
• IHF Badge of Merit
• IHF Certificate of Merit
• IHF Cup of Honour and certificate
• IHF Hall of Fame
• IHF Honorary President and Honorary Members
• IHF Olympic Order
• IHF Plaque of Merit
• IHF President's Development Award
• IHF Referee's Badge of Honour
• IHF Referee's Diploma of Honour
• IHF Ring of Honour
• IHF World Coach of the Year
• IHF World Player of the Year

IHF Partners

The IHF works with different companies to help support handball.

See also

In Spanish: Federación Internacional de Balonmano para niños