Mikkel Hansen

Mikkel Hansen
Hansen playing for Paris Saint-Germain in 2016
Personal information
Born	(1987-10-22) 22 October 1987 (age 37) Helsingør, Denmark
Nationality	Danish
Height	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)
Playing position	Left back
Youth career
Years	Team
1997–2000	Helsingør IF
2000–2005	Virum-Sorgenfri HK
Senior clubs
Years	Team
2005–2008	GOG Håndbold
2008–2010	FC Barcelona
2010–2012	AG København
2012–2022	Paris Saint-Germain
2022–2024	Aalborg Håndbold
National team 1
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2007–2024	Denmark	276	(1387)
Medal record Representing   Denmark Olympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro Team 2024 Paris Team 2020 Tokyo Team World Championship 2019 Denmark/Germany 2021 Egypt 2023 Poland/Sweden 2011 Sweden 2013 Spain European Championship 2012 Serbia 2014 Denmark 2024 Germany 2022 Hungary/Slovakia
1 National team caps and goals correct as of 11th August 2024

Mikkel Hansen (born 22 October 1987) is a Danish former professional handball player. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

Widely regarded as the greatest handball player of all time. Hansen has won the IHF World Player of the Year a record-tying three times. ^[4] He played as a left back for most of his career, but towards the end of his career he transitioned to play more as a centre back/playmaker.

He was inducted into the EHF Hall of Fame in 2024. ^[5]

Career

Hansen in 2008

He was voted as the IHF World Player of the Year in 2011, 2015 and 2018 by the International Handball Federation. ^[6]

He joined FC Barcelona Handbol in June 2008. He previously played for Danish Handball League club GOG, with whom he won the Danish championship in 2007. On 2 June 2010, he returned to Denmark to play for AG København after two years of playing in Spain. After two years and two championships, the club folded in 2012 with Hansen joining the newly formed French team PSG Handball. He played for PSG for ten seasons before going back to Denmark and Aalborg Håndbold.

Mikkel Hansen is an Olympic Champion, a World Champion, and European Champion with the Danish national team, winning the 2016 title in Rio de Janeiro, the 2019 title in Denmark, and 2012 title in Serbia. He was also selected into the All-Star team of the tournament as the best left back. ^[7] In 2011, he was a part of the Danish team that finished second in the World Championships in Sweden. He was the tournament's overall top goal scorer.

In 2019, he led Denmark to their first-ever World Championships win. He became the top scorer and MVP of the tournament. Later, that same year, he was named the best in the world for the third time of his career.^{[ citation needed ]}

In 2021, he yet again won the World Championship with Denmark and was selected both as the best left back and as MVP.

In the 2020 Olympics, where Denmark got a silver medal, he was again chosen as the best left back, and he became the top goal scorer with 61 goals. ^{[8] [9]} With those 61 goals, he broke the record of most scored goals in one men's olympic handball tournament. ^[10] During the tournament, he also became the number one goal scorer ever in the men's handball olympics, with a total of 165 goals. ^[11]

In April 2024 Hansen announced his retirement from handball during the following summer ^[12]

Personal life

His father, Flemming Hansen  [ de ], played for the Danish national handball team, where he played 120 national team matches, scored 240 goals, and participated in the 1984 Summer Olympics. ^{[13] [14]}

He married Stephanie Gundelach in 2020. The couple have two sons, Eddie Max born in January 2019, and Vince born in May 2021. ^[15]

Individual awards

• IHF World Player of the Year – Men: 2011, ^[16] 2015, ^[17] 2018 ^[18]
• Handball-Planet – Best World Handball Player: 2016, ^[19] 2019, ^[20] 2021 ^[21]
• Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Olympic Games: 2016 ^[22]
• Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the World Championship: 2013, 2019, 2021 ^[23]
• Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the LNH Division 1: 2016
• Top Goalscorer of the Olympic Games: 2020
• Top Goalscorer of the World Championship: 2011, 2019
• Top Goalscorer of the EHF Champions League: 2012, ^[24] 2016
• Top Goalscorer of the LNH Division 1: 2015, 2016
• All-Star Left back of the Olympic Games: 2016, 2020 ^[25]
• All-Star Left back of the World Championship: 2011, 2021 ^[23]
• All-Star Left back of the European Championship: 2012, ^[26] 2014, ^[27] 2018, 2022 ^[28]
• All-Star Left back of the EHF Champions League: 2017, ^[29] 2019, 2021 ^[30]
• All-Star Playmaker of the EHF Champions League: 2014, 2015, ^[31] 2020
• His player number 24 becoming a retired number at Aalborg Håndbold ^[32]
• Danish Handball Cup MVP 2011 ^[33]

Major tournament statistics

Hansen (right) playing for Denmark against Russia at the 2010 European Men's Handball Championship

Hansen playing for Denmark at the 2013 World Men's Handball Championship

Hansen (left) playing for Denmark against France in 2016

Legend
Tnmt	Tournament	GP	Games played	Gls	Goals
Sh	Shots	G%	Goal percentage	7G	7-meter goals
7S	7-meter shots	As	Assists	AG	Assists and Goals
St	Steals	Bl	Blocks	2M	2 Minute Suspensions
RC	Red Cards	Pl	Placement of National Team	Bold	Career high
	Led the Tournament		Tournament MVP		On All-Star Team

As of conclusion of 2024 European Men's Handball Championship ^{[34] [35] [36]}

Tnmt	GP	Gls	Sh	G%	7G	7S	As	AG	St	Bl	2M	RC	Pl
2008 OG	7	22	42	52	0	0	5	27	1	0	0	0	7th
2009 WC	8	40	69	58	6	7	29	69	1	1	2	0	4th
2010 EC	7	34	65	52	0	0	11	45	0	0	4	0	5th
2011 WC	10	68	121	56	0	0	34	102	5	9	5	0	2nd
2012 EC	8	45	89	51	0	0	30	75	4	2	1	0	1st
2012 OG	6	28	55	51	0	0	28	56	3	5	4	0	6th
2013 WC	7	22	49	44	0	0	20	42	8	2	2	0	2nd
2014 EC	8	39	60	65	0	0	49	88	1	4	2	0	2nd
2015 WC	9	39	67	58	0	0	49	88	2	3	9	0	5th
2016 EC	7	33	57	58	1	2	38	71	4	2	2	0	6th
2016 OG	8	54	87	62	15	17	23	77	1	1	1	0	1st
2017 WC	6	26	40	65	7	7	19	45	1	2	0	1	10th
2018 EC	8	43	79	54	13	16	24	67	3	1	6	1	4th
2019 WC	10	72	108	67	24	30	37	109	0	0	1	0	1st
2020 EC	3	19	29	66	6	7	13	32	0	0	1	0	13th
2021 WC	7	48	69	70	14	17	26	74	2	0	0	1	1st
2020 OG	8	61	100	61	31	36	31	92	2	1	0	0	2nd
2022 EC	7	48	69	70	24	29	26	74	1	0	1	0	3rd
2023 WC	9	41	60	68	18	25	36	77	0	1	1	0	1st
2024 EC	8	35	49	71	26	29	14	49	0	0	0	0	2nd

Honours

Club

• French Championship :
  • Winners: 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022
  • Runners-up: 2014
• Coupe de France
  • Winners: 2013–14, 2014–15, 2017–18, 2020–21, 2021–22
  • Runners-up: 2012–13, 2015–16
• Coupe de la Ligue
  • Winners: 2015–16
• Trophée des Champions
  • Winners: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019
  • Runners-up: 2017
• Danish Championship :
  • Winners: 2007, 2011, 2012, 2024
  • Runners-up: 2006, 2008, 2023
• Danish Cup :
  • Winners: 2005, 2010, 2011
  • Runners-up: 2007, 2008, 2023
• Danish super Cup:
  • Winners: 2022
• Spanish Championship :
  • Runners-up: 2009, 2010
• ASOBAL Cup :
  • Winners: 2010
  • Runners-up: 2009
• Spanish Supercup :
  • Winners: 2009, 2010
• Spanish Cup :
  • Winners: 2009, 2010
• EHF Champions League
  • Runners-up: 2016–17, 2023–24
  • Third place: 2011–12, 2017–18, 2019–20
• IHF Super Globe
  • Runners-up: 2016

International

• Olympics :
  •  Gold: 2016, 2024
  •  Silver: 2020
• World championship :
  •  Gold: 2019, 2021, 2023
  •  Silver: 2011, 2013
• European championship :
  •  Gold: 2012
  •  Silver: 2014, 2024
  •  Bronze: 2022

International goals

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Result	Competition
1358.	27 July 2024	Paris, France	France	36–31	2024 Summer Olympics
1359.
1360.
1361.
1362.
1363.
1364.	29 July 2024		Egypt	30–27
1365.
1367.	31 July 2024		Argentina	38–27
1368.
1369.	2 August 2024		Hungary	28–25
1370.
1371.
1372.
1373.
1374.	4 August 2024		Norway	32–25
1375.	7 August 2024	Lille, France	Sweden	32–31
1376.
1377.
1378.
1379.
1380.
1381.	9 August 2024		Slovenia	31–30
1382.
1383.
1384.
1385.
1386.	11 August 2024		Germany	39–26
1387.

See also

• List of handballers with 1000 or more international goals

References

1. "Danish National Team Roster". DHF . Retrieved 2 May 2015.
2. EHF profile
3. "Mikkel Hansen". PSG Handball. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
4. Browne, Ken (31 January 2021). "Mikkel Hansen - Best handball player of all time?".
5. "New legends of the game inducted into EHF Hall of Fame". European Handball Federation . Retrieved 28 January 2025.
6. "Heidi Løke and Mikkel Hansen World Handball Players of the Year 2011". International Handball Federation. 1 March 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
7. "All Star Team announced". EHF EURO official website. 29 January 2012. Archived from the original on 1 February 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
8. "Tokyo 2020 Men's All-Star Team". IHF. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
9. "Individual statistics - Goalscorers" (PDF). IHF. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
10. "France Seal Record Third Olympic Gold Medal". IHF. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
11. "Mikkel Hansen er den mest scorende OL-spiller nogensinde". sport.tv2.dk (in Danish). 30 July 2021. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
12. "Mikkel Hansen stopper karrieren til sommer". DR (in Danish). 3 April 2024. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
13. "Mikkel går i farmands fodspor". sporten.dk. 10 June 2008.
14. "HERRE A-LANDSHOLDSPILLERE – FLEMMING HANSEN". håndbold.info. Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
15. "Mikkel Hansen er blevet far igen" (in Danish). ekstrabladet.dk. 22 May 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
16. "Heidi Løke and Mikkel Hansen World Handball Players of the Year 2011". International Handball Federation. 1 March 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
17. "They did it again – Hansen and Neagu IHF World Handball Players of the Year 2015". International Handball Federation. 9 June 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
18. "Neagu and Hansen named 2018 World Players of the Year". International Handball Federation. 18 March 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
19. "Mikkel Hansen is WORLD HANDBALL PLAYER 2016". Handball-Planet.com. 9 June 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
20. "HANDBALL-PLANET.COM: Mikkel Hansen is NBSC World Handball Player 2019". Handball-Planet.com. 21 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
21. "Mikkel Hansen is HP World Handball Player 2021 powered by Nexe Grupa". Handball-planet.com. 24 March 2022. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
22. "Men's All-star Team". International Handball Federation. 21 August 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
23. "Egypt 2021 All-star Team". ihf.info. 31 January 2021.
24. "EHF Champions League 2011/12 – Top 50 scorers". European Handball Federation. ehfcl.com. Archived from the original on 11 October 2011. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
25. "Tokyo 2020 Men's All-Star Team". IHF. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
26. "All Star Team announced". EHF EURO 2012 official website. 29 January 2012. Archived from the original on 1 February 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
27. "All Star Team announced". EHF EURO 2014 official website. 26 January 2014. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
28. "MVP Gottfridsson leads seven-nation All-star Team". eurohandball.com. 30 January 2022.
29. "Revolution in the All-star team: five debutants and none of last year's names". ehfcl.com. 1 June 2017.
30. "Barça All-star Team favourites; Landin and Hansen top votes". eurohandball.com. 11 June 2021.
31. "All-star team vote reaches new heights with 44,000 fans". ehfcl.com. 29 May 2015. Archived from the original on 15 July 2015.
32. "Nummerfredning".
33. "Tidligere pokalfightere". tophaandbold. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
34. "Denmark – Players, Team and Season Information". European Handball Federation. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
35. "IHF Top Scorers Statistics World Championships". International Handball Federation. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
36. "IHF Top Scorers Statistics Olympics". International Handball Federation. Retrieved 20 January 2024.

External links

• Mikkel Hansen at the International Handball Federation
• Mikkel Hansen at the European Handball Federation
• Mikkel Hansen at Olympedia
• Mikkel Hansen at Olympics.com
• Mikkel Hansen at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics