January 28, 2021 - Former assistant coach Hrvoje Horvat will lead the Croatia men's handball team as the head coach after Lino Cervar's resignation. 

HRS reports that through a telephone session, the Croatian Handball Federation Board of Directors accepted the resignation of coach Lino Cervar. At the same time, the Board of Directors received a proposal from the Coordinator for Men's Handball, Lino Cervar, for three candidates to lead the Croatia men's senior national team - Hrvoje Horvat, Slavko Goluža, and Ivano Balić.

After an exhaustive discussion and detailed analysis of each of the offered candidates, it was determined that Ivano Balić, unfortunately, does not have the necessary credentials to act as a coach. Of the two remaining candidates, the Board of Directors, by a majority of votes, with one vote against and one abstention, and the non-declaration of a member who is busy with work obligations, decided to maintain continuity in the work of the national team and decided on Hrvoje Horvat as the coach of the Croatia men's senior national team.

Hrvoje Horvat, the new national team coach, commented on his appointment: 
"Thanks to the Board of Directors for trusting me. I am delighted. I would also like to thank the entire Croatian Handball Federation for these eight years of working with younger ages and Lino Cervar's assistant. Through all these years, I have gathered a lot of experience and knowledge, and I believe that it will help me lead the Croatia men's senior national team. Thanks, of course, to Mr. Lino Cervar for proposing me. I am aware of how much responsibility and obligation it is, but I believe that I can respond to all challenges and successfully lead Croatia."

The Croatia handball team will gather this spring for the critical Olympic qualifying tournament, which will take place in France in March. 

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

January 26, 2021 -  We experienced nothing short of a Croatia handball fiasco on Monday night, which resulted in Croatia's worst placement in World Champs history. Will coach Lino Cervar stick to his resignation?

After losing to Denmark, the Croatia national handball team said goodbye to the World Championship in Egypt. Apart from the debacle in the decisive match for the quarterfinals, Croatia has achieved its worst placement in the World Championship history.

The Cowboys thus finished in 15th place, behind Russia and ahead of Switzerland.

Before this World Championship in Egypt, the worst Croatian ranking at the World Championship was 13th place from the Japan tournament in 1997.

At that tournament in Japan, Croatia lost to Russia 31:20, which was the heaviest defeat for Croatia at the World Championships until now. Croatia lost by 12 goals (38:26) to Denmark on Monday. 

Recall, after the defeat by Argentina, which seriously complicated Croatia's quarterfinal path, coach Lino Cervar resigned in a heated post-match interview. But will he stick to his resignation? Cervar revealed his plans after the Denmark defeat, as reported Gol.hr. 

"I said they were the favorites; they are world champions, especially without our core players who are not here. It was difficult for players who play less to resist Denmark. We played well in the first half, and later we ran out of strength. I want to congratulate our players on their wishes and will," said Lino Cervar and continued:

"I want to say something. When I love someone who loves us, it’s not some merit. We should love those who do not love us. These are people who want to humiliate and minimize us, but I don’t think that’s good. I’ve loved people in my life who hated me, and that’s why I got better. We cannot be better off without mercy; it is important for our future.

In this situation, Denmark was stronger. This is not a failure for me; this is a real situation. I am a little sorry that I hurried with that statement," pointed out Cervar about his resignation and continued:

"You cannot forget about the Croatia that played handball in 2020. You watched the Euro matches where we were the best national team; then we were very prepared. Duvnjak is the best player in Europe; he was sick, he had corona, and the other day he had a fever. Karacic still has that pain, but he wanted to help. Stepancic and Cindric are not there; what did you expect, that the young player from Nexe will be the one to solve it? Martinovic is a great talent, but he is not ready to overthrow Denmark yet; he has to train for a long time. I thought it was better that we went with the younger players to this championship; many national teams have rejuvenated their national team, they were in decline, and today they are moving towards the top. Let's have a little understanding.

I would say to all our clubs and the federation that we have to help the clubs. People think we will win gold here, we have to have a lot of strong clubs that produce new players, new Duvnjaks… It will take a long time for new ones to come; we have a small base," said Lino and ended in a positive tone:

"I will not completely leave handball while my head is working. I look older, but my head is working, sometimes I wish I would play better in defense," said Cervar.

Croatia will gather in March for the Olympic qualifying tournament in France. 

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

January 12, 2021 - Coach Lino Cervar has announced the final Croatia handball player list of 20 players who will travel to Egypt for the World Handball Championships.

The best news is that Igor Karačić is on the list, who was previously dropped due to recovery from injury, reports HRS.

"The players did their best, and of course everyone would like to play in the World Champs, but we had to choose 20. I have to praise the players for their attitude towards the national team, but we already have two wings in that position, and Lovro Mihić understood that it was a logical decision. Šime Ivić has been called up several times and is always in the national team, but we already have two left-handers. At this moment, when we have Cindrić and Karačić, who did not train at full strength today, as well as Duvnjak, who is exhausted, we had to give priority. They have, of course, contributed to our work. Igor Karačić is going with us, he works under a special program, and I think that in the end, when needed, he will do his best," said Červar after the list was published.

Croatia will play against Qatar, Angola, and Japan in the first round of the World Championships. The top three teams from each group go further. Croatia wants to reach the maximum number of points (4) in the first round, as they transfer to the second round. Croatia's first match is on January 15 at 6 pm Croatian time (7 pm local time) against Japan. Two days later, at the same time, Croatia will meet Angola, and on January 19, again at 6 pm, Qatar awaits her.

Due to the coronavirus, the World Handball Federation (IHF) allowed each national team 20 players to compete in Egypt. The World Championships are played in Alexandria. Croatia will leave today by charter from Zagreb.

The World Championships in Egypt will be Croatia's 14th. Croatia has not missed a single World Championship since it became independent, and thus won one gold medal (2003), three silver (1995, 2005, 2009), and one bronze (2013). The bronze medal from Spain from eight years ago is the last Croatian medal at the World Championships.

There is a strong motive for this generation to end this dry spell. Croatia is in seventh place together with Denmark when looking at total medals won. France leads with six world titles, one silver, and four bronze. Croatia has played 111 matches at the World Championships so far and has 82 wins, 4 draws, and 25 losses.

Final Croatia List:

MARIN ŠEGO – MONTPELLIER HB
IVAN PEŠIĆ – MC MESHKOV BREST
MATE ŠUNJIĆ – US IVRY HANDBALL
IVAN ČUPIĆ – RK VARDAR 1961
ZLATKO HORVAT – RK METALURG SKOPJE
MANUEL ŠTRLEK – TELEKOM VESZPREM HC
DAVID MANDIĆ – RK PPD ZAGREB
ŽELJKO MUSA – SC MAGDEBURG
MARINO MARIĆ – MT MELSUNGEN
ILIJA BROZOVIĆ–TSV HANNOVER-BURGDORF
MARIN ŠIPIĆ – RK PPD ZAGREB
LUKA CINDRIĆ–BARCA
DOMAGOJ DUVNJAK–THW KIEL
JANKO KEVIĆ–RK NEXE
IGOR KARAČIĆ -LOMZA VIVE KIELCE
MARKO MAMIĆ–SCDHFK LEIPZIG
HALIL JAGANJAC–RK NEXE
JOSIP ŠARAC – RK CELJE PIVOVARNA LAŠKO
IVAN MARTINOVIĆ–HCHANNOVER-BURGDORF
LUKA ŠEBETIĆ–TREMBLAY EN FRANCE HANDBALL

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

January 2, 2019 -  The Croatia handball team will compete in the European Handball Championship, to be held from January 9 to 26. Coach Lino Cervar finally has the complete squad in Porec ahead of the competition. 

Gol.hr reports that the Croatia men's handball team gathered in Zagreb on Wednesday before heading to Porec where they will hold the last part of preparations for the European Championship, which will be held in Sweden, Norway and Austria from January 9 to 26.

The Croatia squad is finally complete, as the players who compete in Germany have joined. Thus, coach Lino Cervar can finally begin playing the team according to his visions and wishes.

An unfortunate circumstance of these preparations, as well as for the Euros, is that Croatia will not be able to count on the three players with injuries - Lovro Mihic, Fran Mile and Luka Sebetic. Their absence will significantly change Cervar's plans and ideas for the team, especially in the defense.

Namely, two of these three players were to find their place in Croatia’s final team in Graz for the first round of the European Championship. Croatia captain Domagoj Duvnjak said that despite this bit of bad luck, he and Croatia are ready to perform at the Euros. 

"The group looks easier on paper, but it's not like that. I think it's very tough and that we have difficult games. Like every year, I repeat that the first game is the hardest one, and this one is against Montenegro. I'm healthy and I can't wait for it to start,” Duvnjak said.

As part of the third cycle of preparations, the Croatian Cup will be played in Porec, with Bosnia and Qatar participating alongside Croatia. It is these two teams that open the tournament on Friday, January 3, at 6 pm in Zatika. A day later, on January 4, at 4:50 pm, Croatia and BiH will play. The tournament ends on Sunday, January 5, with Croatia and Qatar, which also begins at 4:50 pm.

At the European Championship, Croatia will play in Graz against Montenegro, Belarus and Serbia in the first round.

List of players for the third phase of preparations;

Marin Šego – Montpellier

Matej Ašanin – PPD Zagreb

Zlatko Horvat – PPD Zagreb

Vlado Matanović – Gorenje Velenje

David Mandić – PPD Zagreb

Valentino Ravnić – PPD Zagreb

Željko Musa – Magdeburg

Marino Marić – Melsungen

Marin Šipić – PPD Zagreb

Domagoj Duvnjak – THW Kiel

Marko Mamić – Leipzig

Josip Šarac – Celje PL

Matej Hrstić – PPD Zagreb

Luka Cindrić – Barcelona

Igor Karačić – Vive Kielce

Luka Stepančić – MOL-PICK Szeged

Josip Vekić – PPD Zagreb

Ivan Martinović – Hannover-Burgdorf

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

December 6, 2019 - Croatia handball coach Lino Cervar has announced a list of 28 players who have been officially reported to the European Handball Federation for the 2020 European Championship, hosted by Austria, Norway and Sweden. 

HRT reports that on the road to Graz, where Croatia plays the first round of competition against Montenegro, Belarus and Serbia, the Croatia coach will lead 16 players from this list. Everyone else will be waiting for their chance if someone gets injured or sick during the tournament and can be used at any time.

The first phase of preparations for the European Championship begins on December 17 with a gathering in Zagreb. This is where the players will stay and train until December 23. The lineup for this reunion will be announced at the beginning of the week when the National League matches are over, that is, when we can see the condition of the players and if there are any injuries.

After a short break, the team will reunite on December 26 from December 30. This part of the preparations will be held in Porec.

The final gathering is on New Year's Day itself when the third and final phase of preparations for EURO 2020 begins. Players from the German Bundesliga will join the team in Porec then. As part of the preparations, the Croatian Cup will be held, with Bosnia and Qatar in addition to Croatia.

The preparations in Porec will end on January 7, 2020, followed by a return to Zagreb, from which the team will travel to Graz the next day.

The confirmed players are as follows:

1. ŠEGO MARIN, MONTPELLIER HB

2. AŠANIN MATEJ, HC PPD ZAGREB

3. ŠUNJIĆ MATE, US IVRY HANDBALL

4. CAR MORENO, HC NEXE

5. HORVAT ZLATKO, HC PPD ZAGREB

6. MATANOVIĆ VLADO, HC GORENJE VELENJE

7. VIDA IVAN, HC NEXE

8. MILETA FRAN, HC NEXE

9. MIHIĆ LOVRO, ORLEN WISLA PLOCK

10. MANDIĆ DAVID, HC PPD ZAGREB

11. RAVNIĆ VALENTINO, HC PPD ZAGREB

12. JELINIĆ MARIN, HC NEXE

13. MUSA ŽELJKO, SC MAGDEBURG

14. MARIĆ MARINO, MT MELSUNGEN

15. ŠIPIĆ MARIN, HC PPD ZAGREB

16. BROZOVIĆ ILIJA, HC HANNOVER – BURGDORF

17. DUVNJAK DOMAGOJ, THW KIEL

18. MAMIĆ MARKO, HC LEIPZIG

19. ŠARAC JOSIP, HC CELJE PIVOVARNA LAŠKO

20. HRSTIĆ MATEJ, RK PPD ZAGREB

21. KUDUZ ANTE, DINAMO BUCURESTI

22. GADŽA ANTE, RK PPD ZAGREB

23. CINDRIĆ LUKA, BARCA

24. KARAČIĆ IGOR, PGE VIVE KIELCE

25. STEPANČIĆ LUKA, MOL-PICK SZEGED

26. ŠEBETIĆ LUKA, TREMBLAY EN FRANCE HANDBALL

27. MARTINOVIĆ IVAN, HC HANNOVER – BURGDORF

28. VEKIĆ JOSIP, RK PPD ZAGREB

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

October 11, 2019 - A joint press conference of the men and women’s Croatia handball coaches was held ahead of the meetings against Germany in Zagreb and Hanover.

HRT reports that the women’s handball team will play first at the Arena in Zagreb on October 23, starting at 5 pm, followed by the men’s team at 7:30 pm. Three days later, the teams will meet in Hanover -  the men’s team at 2:30 pm and the women's team at 5:30 pm. 

Lino Cervar is preparing for the European Championships in Austria, Norway, and Sweden, and Nenad Sostaric is expected to continue the qualifications for EURO 2020.

“It is a meeting with a very attractive opponent, and I do not doubt that there will be a lot of support at the Arena. We envisioned this for two purposes - as a controlled gathering, a test of physical and mental abilities, as an extremely difficult Olympic year awaits us. We need to have conversations, familiarize them with the goals. And secondly, we want to see where these players are against a strong rival, as they are constantly with or close to the national team,” Cervar said, explaining: 

“Some are brand new, and we need to expand our base. Those not listed are by no means written off. Part of them opted out due to club or family responsibilities, and some are injured.”

Sostaric pointed out that there were a lot of changes in the lineup compared to the last gathering.

“Some of the handball players are injured, some of them asked for rest. It is a good opportunity for us to see those who play the Croatian Handball League, are constantly part of the roster, but have played little. Germany is one of the best teams in the world. It will be a good check anyway,” Sostaric said.

Both teams will gather in Zagreb at the Panorama Hotel on Monday, October 21, at 1 pm.

Croatia handball team (men's):

1.    Marin Šego – Montpellier HC

2.    Matej Ašanin – PPD Zagreb

3.    Moreno Car – Nexe

4.    Zlatko Horvat – PPD Zagreb

5.    Fran Mileta – Nexe

6.    Vlado Matanović – Gorenje Velenje

7.    David Mandić – PPD Zagreb

8.    Lovro Mihić – Wisla Plock

9.    Marin Jelinić – Nexe

10.    Željko Musa – SC Magdeburg

11.    Marin Šipić – PPD Zagreb

12.    Marino Marić – MT Melsungen

13.    Kristijan Bećiri – PPD Zagreb

14.    Marko Mamić – Leipzig

15.    Domagoj Pavlović – MT Melsungen

16.    Domagoj Duvnjak – THW Kiel

17.    Josip Šarac – Celje pivovarna Laško

18.    Luka Cindrić – Barcelona

19.    Igor Karačić – PGE Vive Kielce

20.    Matej Hrstić – PPD Zagreb

21.    Luka Mrakovčić – PPD Zagreb

22.    Luka Stepančić – MOL Pick Szeged

23.    Ivan Martinović – Hannover – Burgdorf

24.    Nikola Jukić – Chartres

25.    Ivan Slišković – Göppingen

26.    Leon Šušnja – Wisla Plock

Croatia handball team (women’s):

1. Tea Pijević – Lokomotiva

2. Magdalena Ecimović – Podravka Vegeta

3. Lucija Bešen – Sesvete Agroproteinka

4. Paula Posavec – Lokomotiva

5. Korina Karlovčan – Podravka Vegeta

6. Tena Japundža – Lokomotiva

7. Ana Debelić – Podravka

8. Ines Domjan – Koka

9. Sara Šenvald – Lokomotiva

10. Marina Glavan – Lokomotiva

11. Dora Lacković – Osijek

12. Selena Milošević – Podravka

13. Stela Posavec – Lokomotiva

14. Dejana Milosavljević – Podravka

15. Dora Kalaus – Lokomotiva

16. Lea Franušić – Podravka

17. Kristina Prkačin – Lokomotiva

18. Katarina Mrazović – Koka

19. Lea Vukojević – Zrinski

Call ups:

1. Mara Budić – Dugo Selo

2. Andrea Šimara – Lokomotiva

3. Nataša Miočinović – Umag

4. Josipa Kašelj – Lokomotiva

5. Josipa Mamić – Bjelovar

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

The European Men’s Handball Championship next January will be the first major competition in handball history to be held in three countries. The draw for the highly anticipated tournament was held on Friday, which saw the Croatia handball team grouped with rivals they know well, reports Gol.hr on June 28, 2019.

The Croatian men's handball team will fight in Group A of the European Championships, which will take place from January 9 to 26 next year in Austria, Sweden and Norway. Croatia’s group includes Belarus, Montenegro and Serbia, with all games held in Graz, revealed the draw in Vienna on Friday.

For the first time, the European Championship will include 24 teams, which will be divided into six groups with four teams in the first round, with the two top teams from each group continuing to the second round.

If Croatia continues in the competition, in the second round, they will move to Vienna to meet against the two first-place teams from Group B, which includes Czech Republic, Northern Macedonia, Austria and Ukraine, and Group C, which boasts Spain, Germany, Latvia and the Netherlands.

The two best teams from both groups of the second round will secure a place in the semifinals.

Both semifinals and the final will be played in Stockholm.

Recall, at the last Euros in January 2018 in Split, Croatia took fifth place. The title was won by Spain, who defeated Sweden in the final, while the bronze went to France.

So far, Croatia has won five medals at European Championships, two silver (2008 in Norway and 2010 in Austria) and three bronze medals (1994 in Portugal, 2012 in Serbia and 2016 in Poland).

? Men’s #ehfeuro2020 Final Tournament Draw: #dreamwinremember pic.twitter.com/0Mxh5JOi2u

— EHF EURO (@EHFEURO) June 28, 2019

Group A (Graz): Croatia, Belarus, Montenegro, Serbia

Group B (Vienna): Czech Republic, Northern Macedonia, Austria, Ukraine

Group C (Trondheim): Spain, Germany, Latvia, Netherlands

Group D (Trondheim): France, Norway, Portugal, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Group E (Malmo): Denmark, Hungary, Iceland, Russia

Group F (Gothenburg): Sweden, Slovenia, Switzerland, Poland

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

The Croatia handball team ended their Euro 2020 qualifiers on Sunday against Belgium in Poreč, though the game meant little as Croatia already secured first place in their group. Thus, coach Lino Červar was able to give the young players in his squad a chance, reports Gol.hr on June 16, 2019. 

“The young players who play less have shown strong will, vigor and determination. Of course, I am happy, and I have to congratulate them, they have done their best so that we have endured this difficult cycle,” said the Croatia handball team coach Lino Červar after defeating Belgium (28:19) in the final qualifying round for the 2020 European Championship. Recall, the 2020 Euros will be held in Austria, Sweden, and Norway in January next year.

Croatia also secured the first place in the group and a place in the European Championship in the second to last round against Switzerland. 

Thanks to that result, Červar allowed the younger players to show what they are worth against Belgium. Fortunately, their power wasn’t questioned at any moment - Croatia was already up six goals at half-time and ended the game +9. 

The most effective players for Croatia were David Mandić and Luka Mrakovčić who scored five goals, Josip Bozic-Pavletić who scored four, and Ivan Sršen and Tin Kontrec who scored three goals, while Filip Ivić had 11 saves.

“For the end of the season, we all got a good chance. We played well in difficult conditions. We have given our best and deserved the victory for Croatia,” said Mandić. 

Mrakovčić added: “I think we used the opportunity well. We were well prepared for this encounter, we had a tight defense and worked well in the attack and that was our recipe. I think that we showed a real game and that we did what we came to Poreč to do, and that was a victory.” 

"We have given our maximum and we did not underestimate Belgium. For the national team, you always push and give one hundred percent. I congratulate everyone, thank you to the wonderful audience that cheered for us from the first to the last minute," said Ivić.

Thus, for the second time, Croatia has completed a qualifying round. without a defeat. This has so far only been achieved by Slavko Goluža who finished the qualifying round for the 2012 Euros with all six wins.

Lino Červar recorded a draw against Serbia.

Croatia will play in its 14th European Championship next year. The ‘Cowboys' are the only national team, along with France and Spain, that has not missed any European Championship.

So far, Croatia has won five medalsat the European Championships - two silver (2010, 2008) and three bronze (2016, 2012, 1994).

The European Championship draw will be held on June 28 in Vienna, and the Croatian national team will be one of the top seeds in the draw.

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

The Croatia handball team is looking forward to two qualifying matches against Serbia for the European Championship in 2020. However, the news for Croatia coach Lino Červar is anything but good just one week before the games in Belgrade and Zadar. 

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.