South American power games are threatening the future of international handball in Greenland. Earlier this year, the Panamerican Team Handball Federation (PATHF) suddenly downgraded Greenland from full to associate membership. The International Handball Federation (IHF) says PATHF is wrong but has done little to solve the problem, and without access to international tournaments, Greenland is rapidly loosing sponsor support and fears development may be set back by 15 years.

Tibetans are increasingly using sports as a means of resisting the Chinese occupation of Tibet. So far it has led to diplomatic headaches in India where authorities have tried to stop sport events for Tibetans, and in Switzerland the president for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) must figure out what to do about a letter from a new National Olympic Committee for Tibet.

The Panamerican Team Handball Federation (PATHF) is not likely to win prizes this year for fair play and transparent decision-making. In contravention of the rules of the International Handball Federation (IHF), PATHF has downgraded Greenland from full to associate membership without any warning - and now teams from Greenland can no longer qualify for participation in World Championships.

Swimmers, boxers, tri-athletes, rowers and many other athletes from Gibraltar can play their sports internationally. Football players can not. And despite a clear ruling to the contrary from the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the football federation in Gibraltar (GFA) does not expect to gain full membership of UEFA at the UEFA congress in January.

Gibraltar must wait longer than anticipated for membership of UEFA. UEFA’s Executive Committee has decided to postpone the decision to grant Gibraltar membership after opposition from Spain. The Spanish football association claims that Gibraltar’s football stadium is built on disputed land under Spanish sovereignty.

Gibraltar – the tiny British overseas territory below Spain – should be given the opportunity to become a member of UEFA, the European football governing body. So rules the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the face of many years resistance from Spain that has tried to block the application for a long time.

FIFA and the German football association, the DFB, have not prevented a tournament featuring countries rejected by FIFA to be played in the week before the World Cup.

It is very difficult for autonomous regions to become independent members of the IOC. Nevertheless, the two Danish autonomous regions, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, have now been given an unusual opportunity to present their arguments for independent membership directly to the IOC.