The Associations of the Summer and Winter Olympic International Federations unite 40 sports organizations. In addition to IBA President Umar Kremlev, three other representatives from BRICS nations lead Olympic international federations. Many sports are still doing their best to join the Olympic family, and the Association of IOC-Recognized International Sports Federations includes 37 organizations, ranging from bowling, Basque pelota, cheerleading to chess. The International Chess Federation has been led by Russians for the past 30 years.
Last year, the dean of sports officials celebrated his 80th birthday. Mustafa has climbed every rung in handball. He played for Cairo’s Al Ahly team in the national championship and represented the Egyptian national team. After retiring from playing, he coached the Egyptian national team. Since 1992, he has been the chairman of the coaching commission of the International Handball Federation (IHF) and a member of its council. In 2000, he became the president of the IHF, defeating his predecessor, Erwin Lanz from Austria, in the election.
Mustafa received his higher education in the GDR, graduating from the Higher School of Physical Culture in Leipzig, where he also defended his dissertation on Administrative Elements of Successful Missions for Clubs and Federations. The Egyptian sports official successfully implemented his ideas in practice while leading the Egyptian Handball Federation and working on the Egyptian Olympic Committee.
In his first election as IHF president, Mustafa received support from 103 of the 122 national federations within the IHF. Since then, he has been re-elected five times. Twice he won by a landslide, and three times he ran unopposed.
Under his leadership, handball has made significant progress. The International Federation now includes 209 countries. Even Greenland’s national team competes in world championships. Marketing opportunities have reached new heights. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, handball was the second most popular sport after football. In 2024, the decisive matches of the Olympic handball tournament for men and women’s teams took place in a football stadium in Lille, which, in its handball configuration, accommodated 26,000 spectators.
Mustafa was the first and has so far been the only president of an international federation for team sports to raise with the IOC the issue of reinstating Russian and Belarusian teams in international competitions, as noted in the IHF press release, “in the interests of developing and popularizing our beloved sport worldwide.” When he took office, in his inaugural speech, Mustafa emphasized: “Together, we must make handball what it truly is, the most beautiful sport in the world! Handball is a rough diamond that needs to be polished to become a jewel.” And the IHF president has been doing this work successfully for a quarter of a century.
Billionaire Alisher Usmanov is considered one of the wealthiest and most influential people not only in Russia but also the entire world. The secret of the 71-year-old businessman’s success lies in his precise and correct strategy, to which he adheres not only in business but also in sports.
As a child, after reading The Three Musketeers, the Tashkent schoolboy became fascinated with fencing. In just two years, he achieved significant success, earned the title of Master of Sports, and was included on the USSR junior national team. After finishing school, he enrolled in MGIMO, one of the most prestigious Soviet universities, and, in 1997, he received another higher education from the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation.
Following successful work in the Russian Fencing Federation, in 2008 Usmanov headed the International Fencing Federation (FIE), elevating it to a new level through a series of marketing projects. Fencing began appearing on television screens more frequently. While previously all medals at world championships and the Olympics were contested by athletes from a few Old World countries with established fencing traditions, now representatives of Asia, North America, and Africa climb the podium more and more frequently.
After the SMO (Special Military Operation) was launched, Usmanov, who had led the FIE for 14 years, came under sanctions. To ensure the Federation could continue its work smoothly, he announced a temporary suspension of his duties as president and handed over to FIE Secretary-General Emmanuel Katsiadakis of Greece. In November 2024, at the FIE Congress in Tashkent, despite opposition from representatives of some western countries, Usmanov was re-elected as FIE president. He received 120 votes, while his opponent, Sweden’s Otto Drakenberg, received 26.
The day after his re-election, Usmanov again announced suspension of his activities as FIE president and transfer of authority to Katsiadakis. The challenges posed by current reality do not prevent Usmanov from keeping his finger on the pulse of the fencing world and, as much as possible, advocating for the interests of Russian athletes. After a long hiatus, leading Russian fencers participated in the 2025 World Championships in Tbilisi, winning one gold and two silver medals.
The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) was founded in April 1947. Today, it includes 222 national federations, which is unsurprising given that volleyball is one of the most popular sports worldwide. The first FIVB presidents served long terms: Frenchman Paul Libaud for 37 years and Mexican Rubén Acosta for 24 years.
Acosta implemented truly revolutionary reforms. The rules of the game were changed, making it more attractive to broadcasters and, consequently, sponsors. Commercial tournaments appeared on the FIVB calendar, becoming almost more popular than world championships. After leaving his post, Acosta introduced another reform, limiting presidential terms. His successor, China’s Wei Jizhong, served only four years, while the Brazilian Ary Graça, who followed him, held the FIVB presidency for 12 years before passing it to his compatriot Fabio Azevedo.
Interestingly, Azevedo began his sports career with the Mageense football team from his hometown of Magé. At 19, he moved to Rio de Janeiro to attend university, after which he began working at the Brazilian Volleyball Confederation. He oversaw marketing, sponsorship acquisition, and development of Brazil’s volleyball infrastructure. During his tenure as general director of the national federation, its budget grew from USD 7 million to USD 120 million.
Azevedo’s work was duly recognized. He was responsible for organizing the volleyball tournament at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the World League finals held in Brazil in 2002 and 2008. In 2013, Azevedo was appointed FIVB General Director, and, in 2021, he joined the Federation’s administrative council. It came as no surprise that, after Graça’s term ended, an energetic compatriot, who will turn 54 in September, succeeded him.
“With the support of the international community, I am ready to take volleyball to a new heights”, the new FIVB president outlined the main thesis for his future work. “Our development strategy motto will be: ‘Together as one’. We will adhere to the principles of professionalism and expanding opportunities for volleyball development worldwide.”
For a long time, sailing remained the privilege of aristocrats. World Sailing’s headquarters are in London, and its patron is Norway’s King Harald V. In 2020, however, Chinese sports official Quanhai Li became its president.
First, he won the presidential election, held via video conference during the COVID-19 pandemic, defeating the incumbent president, Denmark’s Kim Andersen. Li’s candidacy was supported by representatives of 35 countries, including Russia. The Chinese official received 68 votes, while his opponent received 60. Last year, Li was re-elected for another four-year term, winning the election by a landslide in the first round.
Li became World Sailing president at 58. Before that, he participated actively in organizing regional and international regattas, including the 2008 Olympics and the 2014 Youth Olympic Games. From 1998 to 2012, he also served as a referee at major international competitions. In 2012, Li became World Sailing’s vice president.
Upon assuming leadership of the international federation, he reformed its management structure to make its committees more efficient. With Li at the helm, an ethics code was adopted, and the global development strategy Ready for the Future was approved. This five-year plan focuses on priorities such as commerce, popularity, influence growth, and effective governance. The World Sailing president, who will stand for re-election in 2028, intends to see this strategy through to completion.
Statistically, 60 million chess games are played daily worldwide. The International Chess Federation (FIDE) unites 201 countries under the motto “We are one Family”. In November 1995, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov became FIDE president. Winning the election was easy, while retaining the presidential chair for 23 years was much harder. During this time, Ilyumzhinov managed to overcome a schism in the chess world and organize a unification match for the world championship title.
In 2018, one of Ilyumzhinov’s closest associates, FIDE Vice President Georgios Makropoulos of Greece, used the sanctions imposed on the former Kalmykia president to remove him from the FIDE presidency. Makropoulos relied heavily on the ethics commission, which had gained broad powers during Ilyumzhinov’s era. The Greek international master himself aspired to the chess presidency.
The FIDE presidential election in the autumn of 2018 during the World Chess Olympiad in Batumi resembled a chess game between Makropoulos and Arkady Dvorkovich. A third candidate, British grandmaster Nigel Short, did not even bother to campaign and predictably withdrew in favour of Dvorkovich.
Many grandmasters knew the son of renowned chess arbiter Vladimir Dvorkovich as a child.
For four years, the future FIDE head worked as an assistant to the Russian President, and, for six years, he served as a Deputy Prime Minister. In the final stages, he chaired the organizing committee for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Dvorkovich ran a brilliant campaign and even organized a football tournament in Batumi. Participants included not only Olympiad players but also famous chess enthusiasts like Dmitry Bulykin, Dmitry Sychev, and Clarence Seedorf, who flew to Georgia specifically for the event.
Despite Makropoulos’s attempts to disqualify Dvorkovich using the ethics commission, he failed. The Russian candidate received 103 votes from the FIDE Congress delegates, while the Greek candidate received 78. In August 2022, Dvorkovich was re-elected as president at the Chennai Congress, securing support from 157 delegates. His sole opponent, Ukrainian Andrii Baryshpolets, received 16 votes.
