The Croatia national handball team (Croatian: Hrvatska rukometna reprezentacija) represents Croatia at international handball competitions and is governed by the Croatian Handball Federation (HRS). Since 1991 Croatia has won 15 medals at main international competitions, the biggest being winning the gold medal at the Olympic Games twice and one World Championship title, and played in the final of the European Championship three times.[1][2] The Croatian national team's victory at the 1996 Olympics is often credited as one of the biggest upsets in the history of handball.[3] The Croatian national team have also won a so-called "international double", winning the gold medal at the World Championship (2003) and the Olympics (2004).
History of handball in Croatia and Yugoslavia (1904–1991)
Handball in Austria-Hungary (1904–1918)
The word handball in the Croatian region was first used by Franjo Bučar in 1904 to describe the German game Schleuderball in the journal Sokol. The earliest documented forms of playing handball in these areas appear in 1911 at the gymnasium of Pazin, which is, among other things, due to the programs for education in Istria, as part of the then-Austrian coast, coming from the education center in Graz. At the time, handball was included in high school programs closing ceremony in Croatia. The type of handball was a form of Czech handball and was adopted by the Osijek and Vukovar students from Prague.[4]
Between the two world wars (1918–1941)
In the early beginnings of Croatian handball, venues played both field handball and handball. Students were mostly attracted to field handball as it was played on existing football fields, while handball was played on makeshift courts.[5] During the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the first public handball match in the Croatian region and the wider neighborhood was played at a high school in Varaždin on 29 May 1930 under the guidance of physical education teacher Zvonimir Šuligoj. Since that game and until 1950, field handball was played exclusively in public in Croatia and Yugoslavia on football fields with eleven players on each side. The first handball courts in Yugoslavia was opened at a high school in Zagreb on 1 June 1935.[6]
The establishment of Croatian Handball Federation and the first Croatian national team (1941–1945)
At the beginning of World War II, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia disintegrated. Most of the territory inhabited by Croats became part of the newly formed Independent State of Croatia (NDH) on 10 April 1941. As part of the new state, the Croatian Handball Federation (HRS) was established for the first time in history on 2 October 1941 in Zagreb.[7] The place of foundation is recorded to be at the Croatian Sports home in Jurišićeva, Zagreb. HRS is the umbrella organization of handball in the ISC coordinated the work of a dozen clubs and until 1944 organized national championships. The first Croatian handball team was established shortly after the formation of the NDH, with the first practice-match training held on 12 October 1941 under the guidance of head coach Dragutin Pehe. The team's first and only international match was played on 14 June 1942 against Hungary in Budapest, where they lost 0:9. The field handball match was played in front of 30,000 spectators at the then-NEP Stadium (since 2002 Ferenc Puskás Stadium) and was a prelude to the meeting of the Croatian and Hungarian football teams.[8] Under the direction of the coach Ante Škrtić, the players for Croatia were Vlado Abramović, Irislav Dolenec, Žarko Galetović, Zvonko Leskovar, Todor Marinov, Viktor Medved, Krešo Pavlin, Vlado Šimanović, Stjepan Širić, Josip Žitnik, goalkeeper Branko Kraljand, who was considered the best Croatian player on the field, and reserve goalkeeper Zdenko Šurina. HRS stopped functioning in 1944 due to the world war.[9]
Following the end of World War II in 1945, the territory of the Independent State of Croatia was included in the newly established SFR Yugoslavia and work immediately began on rebuilding the handball sport in Yugoslavia. That same year, the Committee for handball Gymnastics Association Croatian was founded, while the Committee for handball Gymnastics Association of Yugoslavia was established in May 1948. HRS was restored on 19 December 1948, in which, in accordance with the national policy of the new Yugoslav state, the name was changed to the Croatian Handball Association (RSH). Handball Federation of Yugoslavia (RSJ) was established on 17 December 1949 in Belgrade by pooling national and provincial associations, and it became a member of the International Handball Federation (IHF) in 1950.[10]
Since the end of World War II and until the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991, the best Croatian handball players in field and team handball were selected to play for the national team of Yugoslavia. As part of the national team, Croatian players competed at 17 major competitions and won seven medals, including two Olympic gold medals and one World Championship gold medal. During this period, the team also won five gold medals in five appearances at the Mediterranean Games (1967, 1975, 1979, 1983 and 1991), two gold and one bronze medal at the World Cups held in 1971, 1974 and 1984 in Sweden, two bronze medals at the handball Super League held in 1981 and 1983 in Germany, and a silver medal at the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle.
At the World Junior Championship in 1987 in Rijeka, a nucleus generation of players that would define the 1990s for the Croatian national team came to light. Alvaro Načinović, Iztok Puc, Vladimir Jelčić and others were instrumental in helping Yugoslavia win the championship, and their talent and knowledge were later incorporated as seniors in the Croatian national team's first success after independence of the country.[12]
Taking fourth place at the 1990 World Championship in Czechoslovakia the Yugoslav national team was placed among the nine best teams of the tournament, which acquired them the right to participate in the upcoming 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Because of the war and the disintegration of Yugoslavia, this team was disqualified, and should it was supposed to be specified who will replaced them in the games. Since the Croatian Olympic Committee (COC) was provisionally recognized on 17 January 1992 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and since Croatia had already on 22 May 1992 become a member of the United Nations, Croatian handball players had conditions to perform at the Olympic Games in 1992.[44] This unfortunately did not happen. Although Croatia in terms of game was handball superpower, it was decided that Yugoslavia would be replaced by Iceland at the games as they finished tenth at the 1990 World Championship.[45] Adverse effects of certain officials in the IOC prevented even the option of maintaining an additional qualifying tournament like the one held for the Croatian basketball players. Croatia also missed the 1993 World Championship in Sweden, because the World Championship in 1990 was an elimination tournament for this championship.
The following years, in spite of the short history of the country brought the Croatian team very significant results in important competitions. Croatia won its first official competition at the Mediterranean Games in 1993 in Languedoc-Roussillon, France, Croatia won gold. At the first ever European Championship in 1994 held in Portugal the team was led by Zdravko Zovko they won their first medal at this first major international competition. The group stage ended with Croatia finishing behind then powerful Russians, but in front of the French, led by the famous Jackson Richardson. In the semi-finals, the Swedes were better and Croatia played the third place match and won in a dramatic match against Denmark. Sweden won the tournament demolishing the Russians in the final with 13 points.[46] A year later at the 1995 World Championships in Iceland Croatia relatively went easily from group stage to the quarter final where there was brought a rarely seen drama. Tunisia was defeated after penalty shootout. Then the team beat Egypt in the quarter finals and Sweden men's national handball team in the semi-finals. In the final they the French were too big an obstacle for Zovko guys won their first Croatian World Championship silver medal.[47] Sweden won the bronze defeating Germany. The next year at the European Championship in 1996 in Spain, Croatia, was led by Abas Arslanagić. Croatia lost took fifth place with victory over the Czech Republic where the match was led by Vladimir Nekić because Arslanagić quit after Croatia failed to enter the semi-finals. The championship was won by Russia.[48]
Željko Kavran, the Chairman of the Croatian Handball Federation 1995–2008.
Gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics
On the second Olympics in which Croatian athletes performed under the banner of the Croatian flag and won their first gold medal. This was won by the athletes who were least expected to win it, handball players. They were sent off to Atlanta without hope, because at the European Championship in 1996 they had finished in a weak fifth place, and relations in the national team were bad. Coach Abas Arslanagić quit during the end of the European championship and the national handball selection was filled with confrontation and fights. 38 days before the Olympic Games, the team was taken over by coach Velimir Kljaić, whose statement: "Will go back swimming if we don't win a medal" no one took seriously.
Before the Olympics there were still problems. Preliminary matches didn't offer much optimism. A few days before the start of the handball tournament a friendly encounter with Algeria was not played to the end. The Croatian players left the court because the Algerians went too far with their abusive playing and hurt three players, Goran Perkovac, Slavko Goluža and Nenad Kljaić.[49]
The opening match of the Olympic games against Switzerland was tough. A victory was achieved in an already lost match. The Swiss led by as much as 6 goals, but then the goal was kept safe with a superb save from Venio Losert who just during the Olympic Games celebrated his 20th birthday. Making it a minimal victory, scoring in the 55th second before the end of the match, Patrik Ćavar brought a stellar victory.
The next two matches against Kuwait and hosts United States were easy victories. This was followed by the decisive encounter to enter the semi-finals, where there were only the two first-placed teams from each group.
The match with the then current Olympic and European champions Russia had a shocking finale. The Russians were leading by four points, but the Croats were arriving. The last minute was not for the faint of heart, but from the Russian roulette though the Croats came out as winners. One her of this triumph for the semi-finals was Valter Matošević. 40 seconds before the end of the match, when the result was 24:24, he defended a penalty shot from Torgovanov. Another hero was Božidar Jović, who just 3 seconds before the siren rang scored the winning goal.[50]
The last match in the group was with the Swedes. This was the one in which yoneou could choose an opponent in the semi-finals, but Kljun omitted Patrik Ćavar, Iztok Puc, Zlatko Saračević and Irfan Smajlagić from the match. Croatia was defeated with nine goals difference, but without their poker aces there wasn't much to expect. The defeat did not have larger significance, except that it took to save face. In the semi-finals they waited for the French who were World Champions. Croatian handball showed the best possible way to respond to defeat in the final of the 1995 World Championship in Iceland. Engaged and disciplined, Croatian players did a great job and ensured the silver medal the same brightness as did the water polo team.[51]
In the grand finale again Croatia faced the Swedes. In the semi-finals they defeated Spain, who later won the bronze medal. It was a great generation that only needed an Olympic gold medal to complete their collection. They probably hoped that Croatia was not with those who were missing against Sweden would not much raise the quality that they could be threatened. In the end their plans were foiled, and the Vikings failed to win. After starting 0: 1 followed by a brilliant game from the players Kljaić chose and the series of 6:1. The defense was solid and impenetrable and the attack varied and deadly. Perkovac great led his boys and Božidar Jović was the revelation of the tournament. Worried only in the final Zlatko Saračević was not playing properly, but Kljaić brought the perfect replacement, Zoran Mikulić. Although the Croatians twice led with seven goals difference, the second half offered drama. Swedes switched to defense 4–2 which created big problems. Decreased the difference and 6:30 minutes before the end came at just hit behind. Croatian handball players still in those crucial minutes they had never trembled hands.[52]
Thirty seconds before the end of the line player Nenad Kljaić scored a crucial goal for the final 27:26 and brought a glorious victory. With the sound of sirens was created indescribable celebration and parquet Georgia Dome in front of 25,000 visitors in the hall and millions of TV viewers, which is today known caterpillar gold handball. It was the biggest win in the history of Croatian sport. The handball players were not yet aware of this gold they had placed around his neck President of the Croatian Olympic CommitteeAntun Vrdoljak, who previously predicted 6 Atlanta medal and otherwise announced "As running from the day he was born" at Zagreb's main square. Still not running, but the handball players after returning from Atlanta to thousands of fans being greeted at the airport and on Jelačić Square. And they did the famous caterpillar crawl.[53]
After winning the Olympic gold medal on 4 August 1996 it was followed by a slow decline in the Croatian national team and the change of generations in which the handball players were far from winning a medal. It started when Croatia was knocked-out in the round of 16 of the World Championships. In Japan in 1997, Croatia was knocked out by Spain 31:25 and was ranked in 13th place. In Egypt1999 they were knocked-out by Yugoslavia 30:23 leaving Croatia in 10th place. In France2001 the national team would lose in the next round after two extra time (4×5 minutes) stopped Ukraine 37:34 (29: 29/33: 33) finishing in 9th place. At the European Championships in 1998, 2000 and 2002 finished in 8th, 6th and 16th place. Croatia in 2000 hosted the European Championship, they had high expectations from this tournament but they weren't fulfilled. After the defeat from Slovenia in the match for fifth place Croatia took only 6th place and failed to qualify for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. The national team is also lost its ability to defend the gold from Atlanta in Sydney.
First Červar era (2002–2010)
Once the team reached bottom with their results, being ranked last or in 16th place at the 2002 European Championship, in March 2002 the Federation entrusted Lino Červar and with him the team that suffered a seven-year drought medal in two years was created into the world champions and Olympic winners. In the period between these two gold medals Croatia is still ranked 4th place at the European Championships in 2004 in Slovenia. With Červar in charge Croatia would be at the top of the handball world.[54]
With the arrival of Lino Červar and a maturing exceptionally talented new generation including a young Ivano Balić, the revival of the national team culminated at the 2003 World Championship. The start of the competition was disastrous. Croatia lost in their first match to Argentina who was at the time a punching for serious national teams in official competitions. Although the first half led with 5 goals, but 14 minutes before the end of the match conceded 6 goals. At the end of the match, Croatian handball players fired five successive attacks, and Mirza Džomba 20 seconds before the end missed the equalizer. How Croatian players badly played that match was proven by the fact they missed 6 penalty shots. During halftime of the second match against another underdog Saudi Arabia Croatia was losing with 2 differences and was playing desperately. Yet the team found strength to win this match.[56] The turning point was marvelous – the group's dramatic victories in the end against giants Russia, France and Hungary securing first place to the second part where the Croats were convincing against Egypt and Denmark. In semi-finals the match went into overtime (4×5 minutes) defeating the Spaniards 39:37 (26: 26/31: 31) and in the grand final they outscored Germany 34:31 and won their first title of world champions and wrote surely one of the most beautiful story's in the history of Croatian sport.[57]
In January 2004 Croatia played at the 2004 European Championship in Slovenia. They got to the semi-finals where they were knocked out by the hosts 25:27. They finished in fourth place losing the third place match to Denmark 27:31.
In Summer 2004 the Olympics were held in Athens. The national team continued its dominating play and were undefeated in all eight matches played. They defeated Iceland, Slovenia, South Korea, Russia, Spain, Greece and Hungary before getting to the final. In a dramatic final Croatia defeated Germany 26–24 and with the title of world champions they won the Olympic gold. In the last 5 minutes of the match went a goal ahead for Croatia, and then Nikša Kaleb who had not scored no goal with 3 consecutive goals sealed a great victory. The gold was an even greater success considering the fact that Croatia traveled to Athens without their best line player Renato Sulić who was recovering from a car accident, without important defense player Tonči Valčić and without Patrik Ćavar who was ill.[58]
Following the Croatia's worst performance at the international scene since 2002, Goluža was sacked as the coach and replaced by his assistant Željko Babić. Babić had a difficult job ahead of 2016 European Championship. Croatia at the time hadn't won a medal in 3 years, last time being a bronze medal at the 2013 World Championship. With many older, more experienced players leaving the team due to retirement, the team needed youngsters to take over. With Marko Kopljar as the captain, 2013 World's best Handball player Domagoj Duvnjak and others like Ivan Čupić, Zlatko Horvat, Jakov Gojun, Mirko Alilović who had many years of experience co-leading the team in the previous years and many newbies such as Marko Mamić and Luka Cindrić, the future was seen with a lot of potential but also questions. The tournament for Croatia started out with a difficult win over Belarus, a surprising loss to Norway and an easy win over Iceland. In the main round Croatia stomped over Macedonia (34-24) but suffered a big loss against old rivals France (32-24). Croats were basically out of the tournament. The only way for Croatia to go through to the semifinals was if Norway wins the match against the World, European and Olympic Champions France and then Croatia would have to win against hosts Poland by 11 goals or 10 goals if Craotia scores 35 goals or more. It was seen as a mission impossible, but Norway offered them that possibility with a surprising win over France.
In the final match in the Main Round against Poland, Croatia was leading by 5 goals at half time (15-10), then Croatian blitzkrieg happened in the first 10 minutes of second half. Croatia conceded their first goal in the second half in 40th minute while scoring 8 and basically ending the possibility that Poland goes through (since they needed to lose less than 5 goals for the semis). Things were looking incredible, Poland made a small comeback with a 5-0 goal series (30-13 - 30-18), but in the end it didn't help. Croatia won the match with an incredible and historic 14 goal difference (37-23) when the magical number was 11. The match in Croatia was remembered as "Čudo iz Krakova" (Miracle from Krakow). Croatia kicked hosts Poland out of the tournament together with France, while Norway topped the group. Croatia lost the semifinal match for the third tournament in a row against Spain but secured a bronze medal against Norway which started a rivalry with the Norwegians in the years to come. Even though there was doubts about the new era of Croatian handball, the future was bright again.
Following the successful European Championship, next on the schedule was the Qualifications for the 2016 Olympics. In the qualifiers, Croatia qualified by losing to Denmark, winning against Bahrain and winning again against Norway, continuing their rivalry. Olympics started out poorly for Croatia, they lost the first game unexpectedly to Qatar, but won all the other matches including against Denmark and France to secure Top spot in the group. In the quarter-finals, Poland got revenge on Croatia (for the Euros defeat few months prior) by defeating them and removing the chance for Croatia to get a semi-final spot for the first time since 2000. Denmark won the tournament in the final against France. Few months after the unsuccessful Olympics, Croatia was preparing to play at the 2017 World Championship in France. Expectations were high and the team was ready for new challenges with a new Captain, Domagoj Duvnjak. In the Preliminary Round, Croatia only lost 1 out of 5 matches against Germany, while in the Round of 16 defeated Egypt and Spain in the Quarter-Finals. In the semi-finals they played Norway once again and this match solidified their big rivalry with the Norwegians. Croatia had a chance to win the game, it was 22-22 and 60 minutes of the match have passed but Croatia had a penalty for the win. Zlatko Horvat famously missed the penalty, the match went into extra time and Croatia lost another semi-final match. But the Croatians troubles were not over, because in the third-place match against Slovenia they had everything in their hands, leading by a big 5 points at half-time, but the big Slovenian turnaround happened and Croatia dramatically lost the bronze medal. Babić was fired a few days after the match due to the failure in the tournament.
Second Červar era (2017–2021)
Following the unsuccessful 2017 World Championship where Croatia finished 4th, Babić was fired from his position as the coach of the Croatian team and after 7 years Lino Červar was brought back shortly afterwards in march. Červar had a huge responsibility on his hands since the first tournament he would be leading Croatia to was the 2018 European Championship where Croatia were the hosts. For the tournament he brought back the pivot expert Igor Vori to the team after 3 years of being absent from the team following his semi-retirement due to injuries after the 2015 World Championship. The tournament started well for the Croats with 2 wins against Serbia and Iceland but also a loss in the cruical match against Sweden who would later become vice champions. In the Main Round they won matches against Belarus and Norway but lost against France and missed out their first European semi-final since 2002. They secured the fifth place in a match against Czech Republic. A year later the tournament started even more amazing with 5 straight wins, most notably against Spain but in the main round got defeated surprisingly by Brazil and then hosts Germany and were out of the tournament. They defeated France and secured the fifth place match (which they lost against Sweden) and qualification for the 2020 Olympics.
At the 2020 European Championship expectations were pretty low for the Croats since by then they haven't won a medal in any major competitions since 2016. Just like the previous year, the Croats defeated the first 5 teams in the first 5 matches, the last one being Germany after an amazing comeback where the Germans were ahead for the majority of the game, even winning (16-11) but Croatia's winning mentality made sure they would be the ones to walk out with two points. The win qualified them for the first semis in 3 years, kicking Germany out of the tournament and getting revenge for the year prior. Before the semis Croatia won one more match against Czech Republic and drew against Spain. In the semis they defeated Norway after extra time, got revenge for the 2017 World Championship semi-final defeat and reached their first European Final since 2010. In the final they lost against Spain (22-20), secured a silver medal and the Captain Domagoj Duvnjak was announced as the MVP of the tournament.
What followed at the 2021 World Championship is something nobody could've predicted. Completely opposite of the year prior, Croatia went into the tournament with the highest expectations, after all they were European vice-champions. Already in the first match they drew against Japan and it didn't look good. Two wins against Angola and Qatar secured them the Main Round where they defeated Bahrain, shockingly lost against Argentina and got humiliated by Denmark (38-26). They were not only out of the tournament and not only they finished 15th (their worst result in any international competition since 2002) but the coach Lino Červar announced his departure from the team right before the final match in the group against Denmark and left the team in shambles. Červar leaving, senior players retiring and young players being needed, he future was uncertain.
Second series of poor results (2021–2024)
After a debacle at the 2021 World Championship where Croatia finished 15th (their worst result at the international scene since 2002) Lino Červar stepped down as the coach and got replaced by his assistant coach Hrvoje Horvat Jr.. His first task was to qualify Croatia for the 2020 Olympics. Croatia played 3 matches against France, Portugal and Tunisia, won the matches against Portugal and Tunisia, lost against France and because of the goal difference Portugal went through and Croatia didn't. They failed to qualify for their second Olympics in history. After a failure of not qualifying for the Olympics, Croatia also failed to make a promising result at the 2022 European Championship (8th place) and the 2023 World Championsip (9th place). Hrvoje Horvat Jr. stepped down as the coach after only 2 years and got replaced by a former Croatian Handballer Goran Perkovac. At the 2024 European Championship where the tournament started out amazing with a historic (39-29) victory against Spain he also failed to make a good result, in fact it was Croatia's worst result at the European Championships since 2002. Soon after the tournament ended Croatian Handball Federation made a decision to part ways with Perkovac.
Sigurðsson era (2024– )
Following a series of disappointing results at international scene at the European Championships (2022, 2024), the World Championships (2021, 2023) and the failure of not qualifying for the 2020 Olympics the change was needed. Croatian Handball Federation decided to bring in a more experienced coach, that ended up being Dagur Sigurðsson, the first foreign coach Croatian team ever had which stirred some discussion in the Croatian media.
Sigurðsson was brought in February 2024 and already had a difficult road ahead of him, he needed Croatia to qualify for the 2024 Olympics. On that road were 3 matches against Austria, Germany and Algeria in March 2024. He led them to three wins and qualified the team for their first Olympics since 2016. All looked good but at the actual event Croatia had their worst ever Olympics since their independence. They won only 2 out of 5 matches. Won matches against Japan and Germany, lost against Slovenia and received a humiliating loss against Sweden (38-27). They lost their final match against Spain and were kicked out of the tournament.
After a disappointing result at the Olympics, Sigurðsson was under even more pressure to prove he was the right man for the job notably since the next tournament was (partially) held at home, the 2025 World Men's Handball Championship. Croatia needed a good result especially in front of their own crowd. The tournament started out very well with two great wins against Bahrain and Argentina but the third match saw them lose a crucial match against Egypt (28-24). The loss saw it difficult for them to go through to the quarter-finals (but not impossible) since they would need to defeat all three of their opponents, one being Cape Verde, another being the contenders for the top spot in the group, Iceland and the final being a fourth best placed team at the Olympics, Slovenia. First game was an easy win against Cape Verde by 20 points, and then what followed was an incredible comeback to the tournament. Two crucial wins against Iceland and Slovenia kicked Iceland out of the tournament and saw themselves topping the group with 8 points, same as Egypt and Iceland but with a better goal difference. Croatia reached their first playoff match in any international competition in 5 years and the enthusiasm but also the confidence in this young team was slowly being brought back in Croatia, both in the Arena Zagreb but also in front of the screens at home.
The quarter-finals were one for the ages, a difficult match against Hungary was nearly lost, until a 55th minute when Croatia made a 5-0 series (31-30) and won the match with an incredible last second goal by Marin Šipić. The goal saw them reaching their first semi-finals at the World Championship since 2017. In the other quarter-final match France were sent to the semis in a similar way with a winning goal by Luka Karabatić being scored in the last 250 milliseconds of the match. The time was for another famous El Clasico between the old rivals France. In the semi-finals Croatia played their best game of the tournament and won in an incredible semi-final match (31-28) which saw them placed in the final of the tournament. They lost in the final against Denmark (32-26), but sadness wasn't around much cause they earned their first medal at the World Championship since 2013 and their first medal since 2020. The tournament ended Domagoj Duvnjak's incredible 18 year international career and his role as the captain of the national team after 8 years, Igor Karačić and Ivan Pešić also retired respectfully. Mario Šoštarič was declared the best right wing of the tournament and Ivan Martinović the best right back, Martinović also became the captain following Duvnjak's retirement.
Before the tournament in January, the Croatians played two qualifying matches for the 2026 European Championship. They won against Luxembourg and Belgium, and after the aforementioned tournament they defeated Luxembourg and Belgium again in the return matches together with the Czech Republic in Brno and Zagreb. It was their best qualifications since 2012.
Rivalries
Croatia has developed several handball rivalries. Their most played rivalry is against France called "El Clasico", which is often considered to be one of the biggest modern handball rivalries since the end of the Cold War. Croatia has played 3 finals against France (1995, 2009, 2010), lost all 3 and 7 semifinals winning 4 (1996, 2005, 2008, 2025) and losing 3 (2006, 2008, 2012) and two quarter-finals winning once (2013) and losing once (2007). The most painful defeat against the French was in 2009, when the French took the world gold medal from them in the middle of Zagreb, and that's when the rivalry took on greater significance.
Their other rivalries include Spain, Denmark and neighbors Slovenia and Serbia. Against Spain they lost 2 finals (2005, 2020), played two semi-finals winning one (2003) and losing one (2016) and they played three matches for the bronze medal, winning one (2012) and losing two (2008, 2014). Against Denmark they also lost two finals (2008, 2025), and played three matches for the bronze medal winning once (1994) and losing twice (2004, 2006). Against Slovenia they lost semi-final in 2004, bronze medal match (2017) and won a bronze medal match (2013). Against Serbia they lost the semi-finals in 2012 in Belgrade.
Another rivalry was with the Norwegians that peaked in the mid to late 2010s. At almost every major championship, the Croatians played with them, including three important medal matches and one qualifying match for the 2016 Olympic Games. The first matches against the Norwegians were in the qualifying group for the 2016 European Championship. The Croatians lost the first match (27-26), while they won the second (31-25). Both teams qualified for the championship. The first major game against the Norwegians was at the 2016 European Championship in the group stage, which the Norwegians won (34-31), at the same championship, the Croatians took revenge on them in a more important match for the bronze medal (31-24). A few months after the Euros, the Croatians won against them again in the group stage of the 2016 Olympic Games qualifiers (27-21). The most painful defeat against the Norwegians occurred in the semi-final match of the 2017 World Championship in France, in which the Croatians had a penalty to win, which they did not score, and then the Norwegians won the game after extra time (28-25). A year later, at the 2018 European Championship the Croats inflicted another defeat on them in the Group Stage (32-28). The 2019 World Championship was the first championship and/or qualifiers since 2014 in which the two national teams did not play together. And finally, in the semi-final match of the 2020 European Championship, the Croats took revenge for the semi-final defeat in 2017, in which they defeated them in a similar way after extra time (29-28). That victory for the Croats closed an era of Croatian and Norwegian handball and the mini-rivalry that the two national teams had, because after that, the two teams have not played a match together at a major championship to this day.
Players that played for Croatian National Handball Team after the breakup of Yugoslavia and collected 100+ caps combined for Yugoslavian and Croatian National Handball Teams.
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1st (1996, 2004)
1st (2003)
2nd (2008, 2010, 2020)
