History
Handball first arrived in Kosovo in the late 1940s, and by 1948 there were several registered clubs starting to compete in informal domestic competitions. By 1951, indoor handball was introduced. Two years later, in 1953 Kosovo Handball Federation was founded, under the auspices of the Yugoslav Handball Federation.
In 1979, whilst part of the former Yugoslavia, Kosovo hosted the 1979 Women's Junior World Handball Championship.
Following the breakdown of Yugoslavia and subsequent independence of Kosovo as a nation, Kosovo Handball Federation began operating independently.
In 2014, six years after Kosovo declared independence, the European Handball Federation (EHF) recognised Kosovo as a full member state and immediately the Kosovo national handball team started competing in international competition.
After a difficult start, Kosovo’s national team has started to gain notoriety in international competition. After twice winning the bronze medal in the international IHF Trophy for emerging nations, the team is no longer considered an emerging nation.
Following a lengthy campaign in the 2020 European Men's Handball Championship qualification where Kosovo defeated Israel and drew Poland, the team won a direct spot in the second phase of the upcoming 2022 qualification tournament.
Most recently, at the 2021 World Men's Handball Championship – European Qualification tournament, Kosovo drew with Italy and defeated Georgia to take the second place, behind Romania, in the qualifying group.
The European Men's Handball Championship is the official competition for senior men's national handball teams of Europe and takes place every two years since 1994, in the even-numbered year between the World Championship. In addition to crowning the European champions, the tournament also serves as a qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games and World Championship. The most successful team is Sweden who have won four titles. Spain, however, have won most medals.
The European Women's Handball Championship is the official competition for senior women's national handball teams of Europe, and takes place every two years. In addition to crowning the European champions, the tournament also serves as a qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games and World Championship. As of December 2018, the only teams that have ever won the championship are Norway, Denmark, Hungary, Montenegro and France (once).
Taip Ramadani is an Australian handball coach, who is currently the head coach of the Kosovo men’s national team. He was appointed to this position in April 2016.
The Montenegro women's national handball team is the national team of Montenegro. It is governed by the Handball Federation of Montenegro and takes part in international handball competitions.
The International Handball Federation (IHF) is the administrative and controlling body for handball and beach handball. IHF is responsible for the organisation of handball's major international tournaments, notably the IHF World Men's Handball Championship, which commenced in 1938, and the IHF World Women's Handball Championship, which commenced in 1957.
The women's handball tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics is being held from August 9 to August 23, at the Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium and National Indoor Stadium in Beijing. Twelve nations are represented in the women's tournament.
The Faroe Islands national handball team is the national handball team of Faroe Islands and is controlled by the Handball Federation of the Faroe Islands.
Sport in Kosovo has a long tradition and plays a prominent role in the society. Popular sports in Kosovo are among others football, basketball, volleyball, handball, and rugby. Whereas, major individual sports include wrestling, judo, swimming, boxing, karate and skiing.
The 2015 World Men's Handball Championship was the 24th staging of the World Men's Handball Championship, organised by the International Handball Federation (IHF). The final tournament was held for the first time in Qatar, from 15 January to 1 February 2015. The Qatari bid was selected over those of Norway, Poland and France after a vote by the IHF Council on 27 January 2011, in Malmö, Sweden. This is the third time that the World Championship was hosted in the Middle East And North Africa, after Egypt in 1999 and Tunisia in 2005.
Croatia competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, from 27 July to 12 August 2012. This was the nation's sixth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics.
Sweden competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, from 25 July to 12 August 2012. Swedish athletes have competed at every edition of the Summer Olympic Games in the modern era, except for the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis. The Swedish Olympic Committee sent a total of 134 athletes to the Games, 55 men and 79 women, to compete in 20 sports. For the second consecutive time in its Olympic history, Sweden was represented by more female than male athletes.
Denmark competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, from 27 July to 12 August 2012. The National Olympic Committee and Sports Confederation of Denmark sent the nation's second largest delegation to the Games after the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. A total of 113 athletes, 63 men and 50 women, competed in 17 sports, although two additional athletes played as team reserves. Handball was the only team-based sport in which Denmark was represented in at these Olympic games.
The handball tournaments at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro was held from 6 to 21 August at the Future Arena in the Barra Olympic Park.
The 2021 IHF World Men's Handball Championship will be the 27th event hosted by the International Handball Federation to be held in Egypt from 13 to 31 January 2021.
The Kosovo women's national handball team represents Kosovo in international women's handball and is controlled by the Handball Federation of Kosovo. The national handball team started competing in international competition in 2015, following Kosovo's full status recognition from the International Handball Federation (IHF).
The IHF Emerging Nations Championship is a men's handball tournament organized by the International Handball Federation since 2015, directed to play with emerging teams. Its first edition was held in Kosovo from June 20 to 26.
The 2015 IHF Emerging Nations Championship was the first edition of the IHF Emerging Nations Championship, organised by the International Handball Federation (IHF). The tournament was held in Pristina and Gjakova, Kosovo, from 20 to 26 June.
The 2022 EHF European Men's Handball Championship will be the 15th edition of the tournament and the second to feature 24 national teams. It will be co-hosted in two countries – Hungary and Slovakia – from 13 to 30 January 2022.
The 2019 IHF Emerging Nations Handball Championship was the third edition of the IHF Emerging Nations Championship held in Georgia under the aegis of International Handball Federation from 7 to 16 June 2019.
The 2022 European Men's Handball Championship qualification is a handball competition organised by the European Handball Federation (EHF) to determine 20 of the 24 men's national teams competing in the 2022 European Men's Handball Championship final tournament. They will join the other four teams already qualified: Hungary and Slovakia, as final tournament co-hosts, and Spain and Croatia, who finished in the top two positions in the previous championship.
