Kuwait men's national handball team

Kuwait
Information
Nickname	Al Azraq (The Blue)
Association	Kuwait Handball Association
Coach	Aron Kristjánsson
Most caps	Mohamed Messaoudene
Colours
1st 2nd
Results
Summer Olympics
Appearances	2 (First in 1980 )
Best result	12th (1980, 1996)
World Championship
Appearances	9 (First in 1982 )
Best result	15th (1982)
Asian Championship
Appearances	17 (First in 1977 )
Best result	1st (1995, 2002, 2004, 2006)
Last updated on Unknown.

Kuwait men's national handball team

Medal record
Asian Games
	2006 Doha	Team
	1998 Bangkok	Team
	2002 Busan	Team
	2022 Hangzhou	Team

The Kuwait national handball team is controlled by the Kuwait Handball Association. It is highly regarded as one of the most successful national handball teams in Asia and the Arab World. Kuwait has enjoyed great handball success at both the national and club level. The sport is widely considered to be the national icon of Kuwait, although football is more popular among the overall population. Kuwait's golden decade existed from the late 1990s to the late 2000s. Kuwait is also the founding member of the Asian Handball Federation, the Asian Championship and Club Champions League.

On 15 September 2015, the International Handball Federation suspended Kuwait Handball Association. ^[1]

Results

Summer Olympics

• 1980 – 12th place
• 1996 – 12th place

World Championship

• 1982 – 15th place
• 1995 – 20th place
• 1999 – 19th place
• 2001 – 23rd place
• 2003 – 20th place
• 2005 – 22nd place
• 2007 – 18th place
• 2009 – 22nd place
• 2025 – 27th place

Asian Championship

Year	Round
Kuwait 1977	Fourth place
China 1979	Third place
South Korea 1983	Third place
Jordan 1987	Third place
China 1989	Third place
Japan 1991	Eighth place
Bahrain 1993	Runners-up
Kuwait 1995	Champions
Japan 2000	Withdrew
Iran 2002	Champions
Qatar 2004	Champions
Thailand 2006	Champions
Iran 2008	Runners-up
Lebanon 2010	Suspended
Saudi Arabia 2012	Eighth place
Bahrain 2014	Seventh place
Kuwait 2020	Eighth place
Saudi Arabia 2022	Seventh place
Bahrain 2024	Fourth place

**Gold background color indicates that the tournament was won.
Red border color indicates tournament was held on home :soil.

***Following the IOC decision to suspend the NOC of Kuwait which came in force on 1 January 2010, the International Handball Federation decided to suspend handball in Kuwait in all categories.

Asian Games

• New Delhi 1982 – 4th
• Seoul 1986 – 4th
• Hiroshima 1994 – 4th
• Bangkok 1998 – Silver Medal
• Busan 2002 – Silver Medal
• Doha 2006 – Gold Medal
• Incheon 2014 – 5th
• Hangzhou 2022 – Bronze Medal

Team

Current squad

Roster for the 2025 World Men's Handball Championship. ^{[2] [3]}

Head coach: Said Hadjazi

No. Pos. Name Date of birth (age) Height App. Goals Club 5 CB Abdullah Al-Khamees (1992-06-23) 23 June 1992 (age 32) 1.86 m 54 42 Kuwait SC 6 RW Saleh Ali (1990-09-28) 28 September 1990 (age 34) 1.73 m 45 67 Kuwait SC 7 LW Abdulaziz Al-Shammari (1992-08-08) 8 August 1992 (age 32) 1.81 m 32 35 Kuwait SC 18 P Mohammad Al-Sanea (1996-05-21) 21 May 1996 (age 28) 1.87 m 7 14 Qadsia SC 19 RB Mohammad Al-Hendal (1997-10-19) 19 October 1997 (age 27) 1.88 m 17 30 Al-Fahaheel SC 20 RW Mishaal Al-Harbi (1992-06-08) 8 June 1992 (age 32) 1.74 m 37 35 Kuwait SC 22 GK Hasan Safar (1998-12-07) 7 December 1998 (age 26) 1.87 m 25 2 Kuwait SC 23 LB Saif Al-Dawani (2002-04-17) 17 April 2002 (age 22) 1.89 m 25 63 Kuwait SC 24 LB Mohammad Radhei (1996-07-02) 2 July 1996 (age 28) 1.93 m 26 24 Kuwait SC 37 CB Saleh Al-Raghaib (2005-08-26) 26 August 2005 (age 19) 1.79 m 15 28 Burgan SC 44 P Mohammad Ghadnafar (1996-06-25) 25 June 1996 (age 28) 1.91 m 12 13 Burgan SC 49 LB Fawaz Mubarak (1998-08-19) 19 August 1998 (age 26) 1.95 m 15 18 Al-Arabi SC 66 CB Abdulaziz Salmeen (1999-05-31) 31 May 1999 (age 25) 1.74 m 19 26 Qadsia SC 72 P Abdulrahman Al-Shammari (2002-09-16) 16 September 2002 (age 22) 1.94 m 15 31 Kazma SC 79 RB Ali Jaafar (2002-12-07) 7 December 2002 (age 22) 1.79 m 13 34 Al-Arabi SC 80 GK Abdulaziz Al-Thafiri (1993-07-11) 11 July 1993 (age 31) 1.89 m 32 1 Kazma SC 84 LW Haider Dashti (2000-12-05) 5 December 2000 (age 24) 1.92 m 26 34 Al-Salmiya SC 97 GK Mohammad Buyabes (1997-06-09) 9 June 1997 (age 27) 1.92 m 18 0 Burgan SC

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National coaches

• Velimir Kljaić
• Tonči Drušković 2014–2016

References

1. "IHF suspends Kuwait Handball Association". ihf.info. 15 September 2015.
2. @KHAkuwait (3 January 2025). "قـــائمة #ازرق_اليد المشاركة في كأس العالم الـ29 للرجال والتي ستقام في كرواتيا - النرويج - الدنمارك خلال الفترة من 14 يناير الى 2 فبراير" (Tweet) (in Arabic) – via Twitter.
3. "Team Roster Kuwait" (PDF). ihf.info. 14 January 2025. Retrieved 14 January 2025.

External links

• Official website
• IHF profile