The International Handball Federation (IHF) President Dr Hassan Moustafa created the IHF COVID-19 Task Force on 14 May.
The task force consists of Joël Delplanque (IHF 1st Vice-President), Anna Rapp, (IHF Treasurer), Per Bertelsen, (IHF Commission of Organising and Competitions Chairman), Amal Khalifa (IHF General Director) and Patric Strub (IHF Competitions Director).
With COVID-19 impacting not only the IHF financially, but also the income of National Federations and clubs around the world, the IHF Executive Committee voted in favour of allocating the following funds:
- For both 2021 Senior World Championships – the IHF Men’s World Championship (Egypt) in January, and the 2021 IHF Women’s World Championship (Spain) in December:
- Advancement of the qualification bonus paid to qualified National Federations
- Advancement of the down payment of the host fee to the organisers
- Increase the players compensation by 50% at both events, transferred through National Federations to clubs
- To financially support those National Federations which do not benefit from the above mentioned on a case-by-case basis, according to their activities
- Continued commitment to financial and practical support for all National Federations through the various developmental projects of the IHF
Despite the negative financial impact on the IHF income caused by the COVID-19 crisis, the IHF is still able to support its Member Federations thanks to the IHF’s healthy financial situation.
The IHF will now contact National Federations individually following the announcement, after which Dr Hassan Moustafa expressed his gratitude on behalf of the IHF and the global handball family for those working around the world to help combat COVID-19. He also reiterated that by working together, handball would return more united and stronger than before.
