January 20, 2020 -  Could Croatia co-host the Handball World Championship in 2025? Maybe, and with the help of Denmark and Norway. 

HRT reports that three great handball nations have come up with the idea of hosting the World Championship together. It will be a competition that will go down in history as the first to feature 32 national teams. The nomination was presented in Vienna, in the middle of the European Handball Championship, after Croatia defeated Germany.

In this deal, Croatia is ready to take on four groups before the competition, one major group, two quarterfinals and one semifinal. Denmark and Norway would share the rest.

The president of the Croatian Handball Federation, Tomislav Grahovac, points out that Croatia does not have enough funds to organize such a big competition by themselves.

“We think that both Denmark and Norway represent the world superpowers in addition to Croatia, and that for the first time, it would be the organization of such a great competition in cooperation between the Scandinavian countries and the countries from Central Europe and Southeastern Europe, however we position ourselves. This is something new and as the Croatian Handball Federation strives to be the first, and especially at the front of all new things in handball, co-hosting this World Championship is also one of the first steps towards organizing major competitions and such collaborations,” says Grahovac.

It is no secret that Croatia already has four halls prepared for this kind of competition: Arena Zagreb, Arena Split, Arena Varaždin, Žatika in Poreč and the novelty is a hall in Dubrovnik that is yet to be built.

Presentations such as this one in Vienna have also taken place over the last few days in Malmö, where Denmark played, and Trondheim, where Norway played its European Championship matches.

The final host decision will be known in about a month.

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.

After defeating Montenegro 34:22 on Friday, Croatia overcame Italy in their second match of the HEP Croatia Cup 28:20.

As part of the final preparations for the World Cup, which will be held from January 10 to 27, 2019, in Denmark and Germany, the Croatia handball team will perform in Poreč at the HEP Croatia Cup tournament, against the national teams of Montenegro and Italy, reports HRT on January 2, 2019. 

“Our goal was to select these opponents. They are teams that do not belong at the very top of the world and European handball, and they will not be at the upcoming World Cup, but they can still serve us well for these extra games, especially for the players from the Bundesliga who only joined us in the final stage of preparations,” Croatia national team coach Lino Červar said at a press conference held in Poreč on Wednesday. Červar added that at this stage, he would not let the players put too much of a burden on themselves or wear themselves out, to ensure they are at their best when he needs them most. 

"Montenegro is a team that is always ready to compete, while Italy has changed the leadership of the Federation and started to work hard, as confirmed by their juniors who are in Group A of World handball. The Italians began sending their prospective players to France to develop them further and will surely be a good rival for us,” said Červar, who thanked the city of Poreč for the excellent conditions.

"The hotel offers a fantastic gym, which is ideal for our preparations, provides us with intimacy and the ability to train without any harassment. We always find peace and tranquility in Poreč, which is very important for these big competitions,” added Červar, noting that the Croatia national team has held their preparations in Poreč for many major competitions, and always came back with good results.

"We hope that it will be this way this time too, although we are aware that it will not be easy," concluded Červar.

Poreč mayor Loris Peršurić thanked the Croatian Handball Federation, for recognizing Poreč as an excellent host which urged them to bring the team to the Istrian city to prepare for the upcoming World Cup. 

The Croatia team will stay in Poreč until January 8, when they leave for Zagreb. From January 9, Croatia will fight in Munich for the World Cup. 

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page. 

Croatia handball is getting ready for the World Cup!