Handball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the goal of the opposing team. A standard match consists of two periods of 30 minutes, and the team that scores more goals wins.
Jacobus Petrus "Os" du Randt is a former South African rugby union loosehead prop who retired as the most-capped forward in the history of the Springboks. For most of his career, he played in the domestic Currie Cup for the Free State Cheetahs, though he spent one season with the Blue Bulls. In Super Rugby, he represented the Free State Cheetahs when South Africa sent its top Currie Cup teams to the competition instead of franchised sides, later represented the Cats franchise, spent one season with the Bulls before returning to the Cats, and still later played for the Cheetahs. He ended his career as one of the last remaining international-level players from the amateur era of the sport and the last active member of the 1995 World Cup-winning squad. His final match was the 2007 Rugby World Cup final, which the Springboks won, with Du Randt playing the entire 80 minutes. He is one of 43 players who have won the Rugby World Cup on multiple occasions, remarkably 24 of whom are South Africans.
Sportin Germany is an important part of German culture and their society. In 2006 about 28 million people were members of the more than 87.000 sport clubs in Germany. Almost all sports clubs are represented by the German Olympic Sports Federation.
The France national handball team is supervised by the French Handball Federation, and represents France in international matches. It is the first handball team to have held all three titles twice, and the only national team in its sport to hold six world titles and a total of eleven medals at the World Men's Handball Championship. With a total of five medals, including three gold in 2008, 2012 and 2021, France is also the most successful Handball team at the Summer Olympics. As of January 2024, they are the defending European Champions.
Peter Rost is a former German Team handball player; today he works as a coach and an official in this sport. His biggest success was winning the Olympic gold medal as the captain of the national team of East Germany in Moscow in 1980.
The Denmark men's national handball team is controlled by the Danish Handball Association and represents Denmark in international matches. They are the team with the fourth most medals won in European Championship history on the men's side behind Sweden, France and Spain, with a total of seven medals. Two of these are gold medals, two silver (2014,2024) and four bronze medals.
The Germany national handball team is the country's national men's handball team and represents Germany in international tournaments in men's handball and is one of the most successful handball teams in the world, having won three World Championships and two European Championship.
Ólafur Indriði Stefánsson is an Icelandic former handball player who, for many years was the captain of the Iceland men's national handball team but announced his international retirement after the 2012 London Olympics. His position was right back. At his peak he was considered to be one of the very best handball players in the world.
Bogdan Brunon Wenta is a Polish politician and handball coach and former Polish and German handball player. He has been a member of the Poland men's national handball team in 1981–1994 and Germany men's national handball team in 1997–2000, a participant of the Olympic Games Sydney 2000, five-time Polish Champion, and former head coach of Poland. He has been one of the best handball player in the history of Polish handball. Between 2014 and 2018 he was a Member of the European Parliament for the Polish Civic Platform. In 2018, he was elected as Mayor of Kielce, having run from his own committee with the endorsement of the Civic Platform.
Péter Kovács is a former Hungarian international handball player and handball coach.
Nikola Karabatić is a French former professional handball player. He is regarded as one of the greatest players in handball history.
Lasse Svan Hansen is a Danish retired handballer, who last played for SG Flensburg-Handewitt and the Danish national team He was admitted to the Danish sports hall of fame in 2024. and in the European Handball Federation Hall of Fame in 2023.
Guðjón Valur Sigurðsson is an Icelandic retired handball player and current coach of VfL Gummersbach. A captain of the Iceland men's national handball team, Guðjón Valur broke the world record for most goals scored in international men's handball in 2018. He won silver with the Icelandic handball team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, as well as bronze at the 2010 European Championship.
The Finnish men's national handball team is the national men's handball team of Finland and is controlled by the Finnish Handball Association. Finland has participated in the finals of an international prestigious tournament just once, which happened at the 1958 World Men's Handball Championship in East Germany. There was no qualification at all for the competition in question. In addition, the Finnish national team participated in the 1955 final tournament of handball played outdoors with 11-man teams.
László Marosi is a Hungarian former handball player, currently the president of the Tatabánya KC club. He participated at the 1988 Summer Olympics, where the Hungarian national team placed fourth, and at the 1992 Summer Olympics, where the team placed seventh. He also represented Hungary on two World Championships in 1986 and 1990 and won a silver medal on the first one.
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 was the third time that the World Championship was hosted in the Middle East And North Africa, after Egypt in 1999 and Tunisia in 2005.
The IHF Men's Handball World Championship has been organized indoor by the International Handball Federation since 1938.
Sead Hasanefendić is a Croatian handball coach who is the head coach of ThSV Eisenach. He is of Bosnian descent.
Nikolaj Bredahl Jacobsen is a Danish professional handball coach and former handball wing player and currently the coach of the Danish national team. He was named World Coach of the Year in 2019 and 2021 by IHF. He is the first manager for a national team to win three world championships in a row (2019-2023).
Péter Hornyák is a Hungarian handball player for Balatonfüredi KSE and the Hungarian national team.
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