Hassan Mustafa: This sporting life
Egypt's Mr Handball plays an international role
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photo: Mohamed Wassim "It wasn't an easy job. It required hard work and a lot of time but I didn't care as long as my long term plans would lead to success. At the federation we started with the basics. We formed teams of different ages, created new competitions and held training courses for coaches and referees."
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When, in 2000, he was elected head of the International Handball Federation Hassan Mustafa became the first Egyptian -- and African -- to head an international sports federation. Four years later he was re-elected for a second term, winning 84 of the 134 votes at the 30th International Handball Congress held in El-Gouna earlier this month. His rival, Sweden's Stefan Holmqvist, received just 46 votes.
"I was re-elected because I have shown complete commitment and dedication to the sport and succeeded in fulfilling most of my promises on developing the game world wide," Mustafa said.
Mustafa's story is one that contains many firsts. He is, after all, the only Egyptian sportsman who has been a player, a referee, a coach and an administrator. And it is typical that, as his career progressed, he was invariably the youngest holder of whatever position he occupied.
Hassan Mustafa was born in July 1944 in Sayeda Zeinab, one of the oldest districts of Cairo, the youngest of four brothers. He grew up in the neighbourhood playing football in the streets.
"As a child," he says, "I was restless. I liked moving around a lot but I wasn't naughty. I was interested in sports in general. Football was my passion, and it remains so."
Mustafa's introduction to handball began when he started at Al- Mounira secondary school.
"Since being introduced as an Olympic sport -- at the 1936 Berlin games -- handball had been an 11- player team sport. It was similar to football to that extent. Watching it, I realised it was a sport that combined strength, speed and attack. I liked that and began playing on a school level."
After school Mustafa joined the Middle Physical Education Institute in Helwan where, he says, his ambitions grew. He wanted to play on a club level and, as an Ahli fan, he decided to join the Ahli club. Unfortunately he failed his trials so applied to Zamalek club. They accepted him, and for a year he played on the handball team before being dismissed.
Mustafa smiles at the memory.
"I can never forget the incident. I was playing for Zamalek, but I was a fanatic Ahli football supporter. One day I was watching an Ahli- Zamalek football match with some of my Zamalek teammates. We all supported Ahli and so we couldn't hide the fact. We were spotted by Hassan Helmi, who was then president of the club, and he decided that we should be dismissed for disloyalty."
Since Mustafa was already a handball player and a student at the sports institute Ahli accepted him on to its handball team.
The Middle Physical Education Institute ran three-year courses after which students who had scored an average of 75 per cent could continue their studies at the Higher Sports Institute, the current Faculty of Physical Education. Mustafa's average was 74.7 per cent.
"I almost went crazy," Mustafa recalls. "Basically it meant that my sports career would end with my being a physical education teacher at a primary school. I knew that wasn't my destiny."
Mustafa sought the help of every one he could think of. Eventually he was introduced to Marshal Saadeddin Tawfiq, Nasser's head chamberlain. He interfered on Mustafa's behalf, and the budding handball player was allowed to enroll in the second year of the Higher Sports Institute.
Mustafa was in his third year when, in 1967, war broke out. Like many other students he volunteered for the army. He was sent to the Suez Canal, returning to the Institute when the war was over and graduating in 1969.
It was then his professional career began. By the age of 25 he was both a player and a referee.
"At the time it seemed strange. I used to play for Ahli and the national team, and then would referee the game that followed. I always tried to be fair. I don't remember any disputes, with teammates or other players. I was always in control of the game."
Mustafa's career as a player ended following surgery for a knee injury. He was not willing, though, to let this terminate his relationship with the sport. He decided to become a coach. "I wanted to do it right," he says. "I was still young, so I went to Germany and studied for a diploma at the Leipzig Institute."
At 27 Mustafa became the youngest handball coach in the history of Egyptian sports.
In the early 1970s handball was a growing sport, attracting international attention. The rules were overhauled and teams reduced from 11 to seven, making for much faster and exciting matches. The new rules were first applied at the Munich Olympics in 1972.
Mustafa's early days as a coach were interrupted when the Egyptian Federation was suspended for two years by the National Olympic Committee following the withdrawal of the Egyptian team from the African Championships in Tunisia. But Mustafa made good use of the time, forming a new team with an average age of 23.
"I always tried to lead the players by example. There has to be respect between the coach and the players. A good coach needs to be always on the alert. He must deal with incidents as they happen and not give the players a chance to react."
In those early days Mustafa had little time for socialising. Fortunately the table-tennis courts were opposite the handball pitches at the Ahli club. It was over a table-tennis net that Mustafa spied Magda Ezz, Egypt's table tennis champion and well-known ballerina. In 1978 they married.
"It was on a Thursday," Mustafa tells me. "And the following morning I had to leave my bride to lead the Ahli team in a match against Zamalek."
A year later and the couple had a daughter, Haidy.
Mustafa's last season as a coach was in 1984. By then he had grown increasingly interested in administration. He studied for an MA in physical education, and then went on to complete a PhD in sports administration.
His ambition was to nominate himself for the presidency of the Egyptian Handball Federation. Unfortunately the regulations then in force barred coaches from sitting on federation boards. But Mustafa has never been easily deterred.
"It was the year of the Los Angeles Olympics. I went to the games, at my own expense, and met with many international officials. Quite by accident I discovered that the head of the Basketball Federation was a former coach. And that clinched it for me. There was no reason why coaches should be barred from heading federations."
On returning to Egypt Mustafa exercised what must be considerable powers of persuasion. By 1985 he was the youngest ever president of the Egyptian Handball Federation.
The glory days of Egyptian handball had passed two decades earlier. In 1965 Egypt beat Tunisia to win the African Championship. But since then it had been all downhill. The sport was dominated by Tunisia and Algeria, with Egypt trailing a long way behind.
Mustafa determined to change all that.
"It wasn't an easy job. It required hard work and a lot of time but I didn't care as long as my long term plans would lead to success. At the federation we started with the basics. We formed teams of different ages, created new competitions and held training courses for coaches and referees."
Six years later, in 1991, Egypt hosted the African Handball Championships. After 26 years Egypt regained the title, beating Tunisia in front of 35,000 spectators, including President Mubarak, a record crown for a handball match.
"It was the first time the president had attended a match other than football. It was a great honour for us. The players were thrilled," Mustafa recalls.
Egypt's was entering a winning streak. In the same year the national team won the silver medal at the Mediterranean Games.
Handball became hugely popular in Egypt. But Mustafa was not content to rest on his laurels. He was still aiming high, not for himself but for the sake of the sport. He wanted Egypt to count among handball's most successful nations. And it did not take long. The following year Egypt's handball team qualified for the Olympic Games for the first time. While the team failed to make as big a splash as they had hoped at the Barcelona Games Mustafa scored a personal success. The International Handball Federation's (IHF) Congress, held at the sidelines of the competition, elected him head of the Coaching and Methods Committee. He was the first Egyptian, Arab and African to be elected to an international federation.
By 1993 Egyptian handball had scored a number of remarkable successes. Egypt won the World Junior Championship while the senior team was placed sixth in the World Men's Championship in Iceland. At the Atlanta Olympics Egypt was also placed sixth. At the Sydney Olympics in 2000 they slipped a place, finishing seventh. Yet still, it remains an impressive performance.
What goes up, though, tends to come down. After a decade of success Egypt's performance began to deteriorate and Egypt dropped out of the world's top ten for the first time in ten years following the World Championships in Portugal in 2003. Worse was to come. At this year's Athens Olympics Egypt failed to win a single match.
Mustafa was blamed by both the media and officials. He was accused of dedicating his time to the IHF at the expense of the game in Egypt. Some even called for him to resign as president of the Egyptian Handball Federation.
"You can't go on winning all the time," says Mustafa in his own defence. "I never neglected or ignored my duties as president of the Egyptian Federation. Sport is a matter of winning and losing. There are times when depression seems to prevail among players and coaches. There are ups and downs in everything, and it will take time to get back on track. We are now forming a new team and I am confident that the trend will be reversed at the World Championships in Tunisia next January."
Mustafa has held several posts in addition to his presidency of the Handball Federation. He was the secretary-general of the Egyptian Olympic committee from 1992-2000, vice-president of the Arab Handball Federation between 1992 and 1996 and chairman of the same federation's coaches committee between 1992 and 2000. He has served as chairman of the NOC scientific committee, of the NOC planning committee, was secretary-general of the Olympic Centre and president of the Mediterranean Handball Association.
They are positions that have afforded him an overview of Egyptian sport. "You can't win without good planning," he says. "That's the way to success. But most of our officials aren't aware of the importance of administration. People care more for their seats on the federations' boards than they do about the performances and achievements of players.
"I have drawn up an eight year strategy to develop handball world wide," Mustafa reveals, wearing his IHF hat.
"Together with my colleagues we will focus on issues of marketing. Money is needed, certainly if we are to help individual federations to develop. To that end we are conducting negotiations with new sponsors and we have already signed several contracts.
"We have already discussed, with national federations and potential sponsors, how to make the game more attractive. And nothing is out of bounds when it comes to these discussions. Amending the rules, anything, we talk about it," he says.
Supporting national federations remains a top priority. Many have been exempted from the arrears owing to the IHF, and financial aid is available to struggling federations.
The IHF also organises continental challenge competitions "in order to help countries that do not participate in major international events to take part in competitions."
A new scoreboard, which will make the lives of referees much easier, is also being developed. The aim is to allow the scoreboard to display data that would be of interest to live and television audiences.
Among the achievements of which Mustafa is proud is the introduction of six languages to the IHF, which now conducts its business in English, French, German, Spanish, Russian and Arabic. The translation service was launched at the IHF Congress in St Petersburg in 2002.
Surprisingly Egypt does not have a women's handball team. Yet Mustafa has paid great attention to women's events at the IHF, increasing the money allocated to Women's World Championships to the point that it is now the same as the men's competition. He is also pushing the IOC to increase the number of women's teams at the Olympic Games.
"I am still negotiating with the IOC to increase the number of women's teams from 10 to 12 like the men's competition. And at the IHF we are also thinking of creating a commission for women's handball."
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