Croatia national handball team

Croatia
Information
Nickname	Kauboji (Cowboys)
Association	Croatian Handball Federation
Coach	Slavko Goluža
Most caps	Petar Metličić
Most goals	Mirza Džomba
Ranking	#10 (96 points)
Colours
Home Away
Results
Summer Olympics
Appearances	3 (First in 1996)
Best result	1st, 1996, 2004
World Championship
Appearances	8 (First in 1995)
Best result	1st, 2003
European Championship
Appearances	9 (First in 1994)
Best result	2nd, 2008, 2010
Infobox last updated on: Unknown.

Medal record
Competitor for  Croatia
Men's Handball
Olympic Games
Gold	2004 Athens	Team Competition
Gold	1996 Atlanta	Team Competition
World Men's Handball Championship
Gold	2003 Portugal	Team Competition
Silver	2009 Croatia	Team Competition
Silver	2005 Tunisia	Team Competition
Silver	1995 Iceland	Team Competition
European Championship
Silver	2010 Austria	Team Competition
Silver	2008 Norway	Team Competition
Bronze	1994 Portugal	Team Competition

The Croatian national handball team is a handball team that represents Croatia in the international matches and has been playing since the country's independence in the early 1990s. The team is controlled by the Croatian Handball Federation.

Results at international tournaments

Despite of its relatively short history, the Croatian team has already made some significant results at the international tournaments. During the 1990s they placed third at the 1994 European Championship and second at the 1995 World Championship before eventually winning the gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

After these successes they have been going through the time without such good results until they eventually made their comeback by winning the 2003 World Championship. The new generation was led by Ivano Balić, who is considered to be the best handball player in the world. In 2004 they were fourth at the European Championship, but won second gold medal at the Summer Olympics later that year. In the Olympic tournament they didn't lose any single game. After these results it was logical that they were one of the favorites of the 2005 World Championship, but lost to Spain in the final match.

In 2006 the team finished fourth at the European Championship, where they have qualified for the semifinals by winning the group in the main stage, but were subsequently defeated by France in the semifinals and Denmark in the third place match.

In 2007 World Men's Handball Championship held in Germany Croatia finished 5th despite losing only one game against France in Quarter Final game. Croatia was seen by many as the team who played best handball in the tournament.

In 2008 European Championship Croatia won the silver medal losing the final against Denmark. In the group stage Croatia had many problems with injuries of key players and was heavily defeated by Denmark. In the last game in group stage they played draw with the host Norway and advanced in the Semi-finals were they defeated France.

In 2009 World Mens Handball Championship held in Croatia, Croatia won the silver medal losing the final against France. Before the final defeat against France, Croatia had won nine games in a row.

World Championship record

• 1993 - Did not qualify
• 1995 - 2nd place
• 1997 - 13th place
• 1999 - 10th place
• 2001 - 9th place
• 2003 - Champion
• 2005 - 2nd place
• 2007 - 5th place
• 2009 - 2nd place
• 2011 - 5th place

European Championship record

• 1994 - 3rd place
• 1996 - 5th place
• 1998 - 8th place
• 2000 - 6th place
• 2002 - 16th place
• 2004 - 4th place
• 2006 - 4th place
• 2008 - 2nd place
• 2010 - 2nd place

Olympics record

• 1992 - Couldn't participate in qualifications
• 1996 - Champion
• 2000 - Did not qualify
• 2004 - Champion
• 2008 - 4th place

Teams on the Olympics

During Yugoslavia

Until 1991, Croatia participated in Yugoslavian national team:

• At the 1972 Olympics, Yugoslavia won gold, and following Croatian staff participated: players Hrvoje Horvat, Albin Vidović, Zdravko Miljak, Miroslav Pribanić, Zdenko Zorko, Dobrivoje Selec and coach Vlado Štencl.
• At the 1976 Olympics, Yugoslavia was fifth, and following Croatian staff participated: players Hrvoje Horvat, Zdravko Miljak, Željko Nimš, Zvonimir Serdarušić, Zdenko Zorko and coach Ivan Snoj.
• At the 1980 Olympics, Yugoslavia was sixth, and following Croatian staff participated: players Pavle Jurina and Stjepan Obran.
• At the 1984 Olympics, Yugoslavia won gold, and following Croatian staff participated: players Mirko Bašić, Pavle Jurina and Zdravko Zovko.
• At the 1988 Olympics, Yugoslavia won bronze, and following Croatian staff participated: players Mirko Bašić, Boris Jarak, Alvaro Načinović, Goran Perkovac, Iztok Puc, Zlatko Saračević and Irfan Smajlagić.

As independent Croatia

• At the 1992 Olympics, Croatia didn't participate.

• At the 1996 Olympics, Croatia won gold.
  • The team was: Vladimir Jelčić, Goran Perkovac, Irfan Smajlagić, Božidar Jović, Alvaro Načinović, Vladimir Šujster, Bruno Gudelj, Nenad Kljajić, Iztok Puc, Zoran Mikulić, Patrik Ćavar, Venio Losert, Valner Franković, Slavko Goluža, Valter Matošević and Zlatko Saračević. Coach was Velimir Kljajić.

• Croatia hasn't qualified for the 2000 Olympics.

• At the 2004 Olympics, Croatia won gold.
  • The team was: Blaženko Lacković, Venio Losert, Valter Matošević, Petar Metličić, Vlado Šola, Ivano Balić, Davor Dominiković, Mirza Džomba, Slavko Goluža, Nikša Kaleb, Denis Špoljarić, Goran Šprem, Igor Vori, Drago Vuković, Vedran Zrnić. Coach: Lino Červar, asst. coaches: Irfan Smajlagić and Zdenko Zorko.

• At the 2008 Olympics, Croatia placed fourth.

Notable players

• Ivano Balić
• Slavko Goluža
• Vlado Šola
• Mirza Džomba
• Petar Metličić
• Valter Matošević
• Patrik Ćavar
• Venio Losert
• Nikša Kaleb
• Igor Vori
• Zlatko Saračević
• Zvonimir Bilić
• Irfan Smajlagić
• Mirko Bašić

Notable coaches

• Lino Červar
• Velimir Kljajić

Current squad

The roster for 2011 World Men's Handball Championship, updated on January 12, 2011.

The team at Euro 2010

No.	Player	Position	Club
1	Marin Šego	Goalkeeper	RK Zagreb
3	Marino Marić	Pivot	RK Zagreb
4	Ivano Balić	Middle Back	RK Zagreb
5	Domagoj Duvnjak	Middle Back	HSV Hamburg
6	Blaženko Lacković	Left Back	HSV Hamburg
7	Vedran Zrnić	Right Half	VfL Gummersbach
8	Marko Kopljar	Right Back	RK Zagreb
9	Igor Vori	Pivot	HSV Hamburg
10	Jakov Gojun	Left Back	RK Zagreb
11	Jerko Matulić	Right Half	RK Zagreb
14	Drago Vuković	Left Back	VfL Gummersbach
16	Ivan Pešić	Goalkeeper	RK Zagreb
21	Denis Buntić	Right Back	CB Ademar León
24	Tonči Valčić	Left Back	RK Zagreb
25	Mirko Alilović	Goalkeeper	CB Ademar León
26	Manuel Štrlek	Left Half	RK Zagreb
28	Željko Musa	Pivot	RK Gorenje
29	Ivan Ninčević	Left Half	Füchse Berlin

See also

• Croatia women's national handball team

External links

• Croatian Handball Federation (Croatian)
• Spanish Handball
• European Beach Handball community
• Handball files download
• Rukomet (Croatian)