IHF Badge of Merit

The IHF Badge of Merit is awarded by International Handball Federation to individuals who made an extraordinary contribution to the development of handball.

Levels

The Badge of Merit is awarded at three levels: Bronze, Silver and Gold.

IHF Gold Badge of Merit

The Badge of Merit in Gold is awarded to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution and/or given many years’ service to the sport of handball within the IHF. It therefore recognises, in particular, many years’ successful work within an IHF organ and/or a creative impetus for the development of handball.

The Badge of Merit consists of the Council’s insignia with half garland in gold. It is awarded by the IHF Council at the recommendation of the IHF Executive Committee, of the continental federations or of the member federations.

Recipients of IHF Gold Badge of Merit

Year Recipient Country Notes
1974 Paul Högberg  Sweden IHF President (1971–1984)
1974 Aurelio Chiappero  Italy Secretary General of Italian Handball Federation
1976 Henrique Feist  Portugal Founder of Portuguese Handball Federation
1976 Dr. Mohamed Fadali  Egypt IHF Council Member (1970–1976) and President of Egyptian Handball Federation
2000 Bob Elphinston  Australia
2000 Gilbert Felli  Belgium Sports Director at International Olympic Committee
2000 Rudi Glock  Germany IHF Treasurer (1988–2000)
2000 Pere Miro  Spain Director of Olympic Solidarity in International Olympic Committee
2000 Dr. Nabil Salem  Egypt President of African Handball Confederation (1973–1978; 1993–1996), IHF Vice-President
2000 Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud  Saudi Arabia Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia
2002 Alberto de San Roman y de la Fuente  Spain IHF Vice-President
2002 Otto Schwarz  Switzerland IHF Council Member, Chairman of IHF COC
2002 Babacar Fall  Senegal Posthumously Awarded; President of African Handball Confederation (1978–1993)
2002 Sheikh Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah  Kuwait Posthumously Awarded; President of African Handball Confederation (1974–1990), IHF Vice-President
2002 Dr. Peter Buehning Sr.  United States President of Pan-American Team Handball Federation (1977–1980; 1987–1996), IHF Council Member (1987–1996)
2009 André Amiel  France President of French Handball Federation (1996–2008)
2009 Cristian Gațu  Romania President of Romanian Handball Federation
2009 Jesus Lopez Ricondo  Spain
2009 Luis Santos  Portugal
2009 Surinder Mohan Bali  India Secretary General of Handball Federation of India
2009 Shaul Selzer  Israel President of Israel Handball Association
2009 Aleksandar Dimitric  Australia President of Oceania Handball Federation (1993–1997) and Australian Handball Federation
2009 Vladimir Maksimov  Russia Former Handball at the 1976 Summer Olympics and Head Coach of Russia men's national handball team
2009 Muhammad Shafiq  Pakistan President of Pakistan Handball Federation
2009 Mihajlo Mihajlovski  North Macedonia President of Macedonian Handball Federation

IHF Silver Badge of Merit

The Badge of Merit in Silver is awarded to individuals who have worked with merit for many years within the sport of handball and/or have made a particular contribution to the organisation of IHF competitions.

The Badge of Merit consists of the Council’s insignia with half garland in silver. It is awarded by the Council at the recommendation of the continental federations, of the member federations, of the IHF Commissions or of the Head Office.

Recipients of IHF Silver Badge of Merit

Year Recipient Country Notes
1996 Robert Rosner  Austria
1996 Edmund Leser  Austria
1998 Aziz Derouaz  Algeria
2000 Erik Elias  Sweden Chairman of IHF PRC (1984–1996)
2000 Prof. Dr. Hans-Georg Herrmann  Germany IHF Council Member (1988–1996)
2000 Konstanrin Kotona  Albania

IHF Bronze Badge of Merit

The Badge of Merit in Bronze is awarded to individuals who made an extraordinary contribution to the development of handball within their national and/or continental federation.

The Badge of Merit consists of the Council’s insignia with a half garland in bronze. It is awarded by the continental federations at the request of their committee or the member federations. Every year, the IHF Council establishes a quota for such awards. The final date for the submission by the continental federations of their list of awards to the Head Office is 30 October of each year. This list is also sent to the Council for information.