Official formation and first competitions (1991–1996) On 30 May 1990, Croatia began the process of creating the independent state, and soon established the modern
Croatian handball team. The first international match of the Croatian handball team was played on 14 January 1991 in
Zagreb, in
Kutija Šibica. It was a friendly match with Japan which ended in a draw 23:23. The team was coached by
Josip Milković with assistant coach
Lino Červar and the players were
Patrik Čavar,
Tonči Peribonio,
Vlado Šola,
Ivica Obrvan,
Nenad Kljaić,
Iztok Puc,
Ratko Tomljanović,
Bruno Gudelj,
Željko Zovko,
Stjepan Obran,
Tomislav Farkaš,
Robert Ipša,
Ivo Glavinić and
Goran Stojanović. The dissolution of
Yugoslavia that followed,
Croatia gained full independence on 8 October 1991 the Croatian Handball Association (RSH) in 1992 restored the original name of the
Croatian Handball Federation (HRS), and on 10 April 1992 became a member of the
International Handball Federation (IHF), and 23 July 1992 members of the
European Handball Federation (EHF). Taking fourth place at the
1990 World Championship in
Czechoslovakia the
Yugoslav national team was placed among the nine best teams of the tournament, which acquired them the right to participate in the upcoming
1992 Olympic Games in
Barcelona. Because of the
war and the disintegration of Yugoslavia, this team was disqualified, and should it was supposed to be specified who will replaced them in the games. Since the
Croatian Olympic Committee (COC) was provisionally recognized on 17 January 1992 by the
International Olympic Committee (IOC), and since
Croatia had already on 22 May 1992 become a member of the
United Nations, Croatian handball players had conditions to perform at the
Olympic Games in 1992. This unfortunately did not happen. Although Croatia in terms of game was handball superpower, it was decided that Yugoslavia would be replaced by
Iceland at the games as they finished tenth at the
1990 World Championship. Adverse effects of certain officials in the
IOC prevented even the option of maintaining an additional qualifying tournament like the one held for the
Croatian basketball players. Croatia also missed the
1993 World Championship in
Sweden, because the World Championship in 1990 was an elimination tournament for this championship. The following years, in spite of the short history of the country brought the Croatian team very significant results in important competitions. Croatia won its first official competition at the
Mediterranean Games in 1993 in
Languedoc-Roussillon,
France, Croatia won gold. At the first ever
European Championship in 1994 held in
Portugal the team was led by
Zdravko Zovko they won their first medal at this first major international competition. The group stage ended with Croatia finishing behind then powerful
Russians, but in front of the French, led by the famous
Jackson Richardson. In the semi-finals, the
Swedes were better and Croatia played the third place match and won in a dramatic match against
Denmark.
Sweden won the tournament demolishing the
Russians in the final with 13 points. A year later at the
1995 World Championships in
Iceland Croatia relatively went easily from group stage to the quarter final where there was brought a rarely seen drama.
Tunisia was defeated after penalty shootout. Then the team beat
Egypt in the quarter finals and
Sweden men's national handball team in the semi-finals. In the final they the
French were too big an obstacle for
Zovko guys won their first Croatian World Championship silver medal. Sweden won the bronze defeating Germany. The next year at the
European Championship in 1996 in
Spain, Croatia, was led by
Abas Arslanagić. Croatia lost took fifth place with victory over the
Czech Republic where the match was led by
Vladimir Nekić because Arslanagić quit after Croatia failed to enter the semi-finals. The championship was won by
Russia. •
Bronze medal at
European Championship 1994 in
Portugal •
Silver medal at
World Championship 1995 in
Iceland •
Fifth place at
European Championship 1996 in
Spain , the Chairman of the Croatian Handball Federation 1995–2008.
Gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics On the second Olympics in which Croatian athletes performed under the banner of the Croatian flag and won their first gold medal. This was won by the athletes who were least expected to win it,
handball players. They were sent off to
Atlanta without hope, because at the
European Championship in 1996 they had finished in a weak fifth place, and relations in the national team were bad. Coach
Abas Arslanagić quit during the end of the European championship and the national handball selection was filled with confrontation and fights. 38 days before the
Olympic Games, the team was taken over by coach
Velimir Kljaić, whose statement: "Will go back swimming if we don't win a medal" no one took seriously. Before the Olympics there were still problems. Preliminary matches didn't offer much optimism. A few days before the start of the
handball tournament a friendly encounter with
Algeria was not played to the end. The Croatian players left the court because the Algerians went too far with their abusive playing and hurt three players,
Goran Perkovac,
Slavko Goluža and
Nenad Kljaić. The opening match of the
Olympic games against
Switzerland was tough. A victory was achieved in an already lost match. The Swiss led by as much as 6 goals, but then the goal was kept safe with a superb save from
Venio Losert who just during the Olympic Games celebrated his 20th birthday. Making it a minimal victory, scoring in the 55th second before the end of the match,
Patrik Ćavar brought a stellar victory. The next two matches against
Kuwait and hosts
United States were easy victories. This was followed by the decisive encounter to enter the semi-finals, where there were only the two first-placed teams from each group. The match with the then current Olympic and European champions
Russia had a shocking finale. The Russians were leading by four points, but the Croats were arriving. The last minute was not for the faint of heart, but from the
Russian roulette though the Croats came out as winners. One her of this triumph for the semi-finals was
Valter Matošević. 40 seconds before the end of the match, when the result was 24:24, he defended a penalty shot from
Torgovanov. Another hero was
Božidar Jović, who just 3 seconds before the siren rang scored the winning goal. The last match in the group was with the
Swedes. This was the one in which yoneou could choose an opponent in the semi-finals, but
Kljun omitted
Patrik Ćavar,
Iztok Puc,
Zlatko Saračević and
Irfan Smajlagić from the match. Croatia was defeated with nine goals difference, but without their poker aces there wasn't much to expect. The defeat did not have larger significance, except that it took to save face. In the semi-finals they waited for the French who were World Champions. Croatian handball showed the best possible way to respond to defeat in the final of the
1995 World Championship in
Iceland. Engaged and disciplined, Croatian players did a great job and ensured the silver medal the same brightness as did the
water polo team. In the grand finale again Croatia faced the
Swedes. In the semi-finals they defeated
Spain, who later won the bronze medal. It was a great generation that only needed an Olympic gold medal to complete their collection. They probably hoped that Croatia was not with those who were missing against Sweden would not much raise the quality that they could be threatened. In the end their plans were foiled, and the
Vikings failed to win. After starting 0: 1 followed by a brilliant game from the players Kljaić chose and the series of 6:1. The defense was solid and impenetrable and the attack varied and deadly. Perkovac great led his boys and
Božidar Jović was the revelation of the tournament. Worried only in the final
Zlatko Saračević was not playing properly, but Kljaić brought the perfect replacement,
Zoran Mikulić. Although the Croatians twice led with seven goals difference, the second half offered drama. Swedes switched to defense 4–2 which created big problems. Decreased the difference and 6:30 minutes before the end came at just hit behind. Croatian handball players still in those crucial minutes they had never trembled hands. Thirty seconds before the end of the line player
Nenad Kljaić scored a crucial goal for the final 27:26 and brought a glorious victory. With the sound of sirens was created indescribable celebration and parquet
Georgia Dome in front of 25,000 visitors in the hall and millions of TV viewers, which is today known caterpillar gold handball. It was the biggest win in the history of Croatian sport. The handball players were not yet aware of this gold they had placed around his neck President of the
Croatian Olympic Committee Antun Vrdoljak, who previously predicted 6 Atlanta medal and otherwise announced "As running from the day he was born" at
Zagreb's main square. Still not running, but the handball players after returning from
Atlanta to thousands of fans being greeted at the airport and on
Jelačić Square. And they did the famous caterpillar crawl.
A series of poor results (1996–2002) After winning the Olympic gold medal on 4 August 1996 it was followed by a slow decline in the Croatian national team and the change of generations in which the handball players were far from winning a medal. It started when Croatia was knocked-out in the round of 16 of the
World Championships. In
Japan in
1997, Croatia was knocked out by
Spain 31:25 and was ranked in 13th place. In
Egypt 1999 they were knocked-out by
Yugoslavia 30:23 leaving Croatia in 10th place. In
France 2001 the national team would lose in the next round after two extra time (4 × 5 minutes) stopped
Ukraine 37:34 (29: 29/33: 33) finishing in 9th place. At the
European Championships in
1998,
2000 and
2002 finished in 8th, 6th and 16th place. Croatia in 2000 hosted the
European Championship, they had high expectations from this tournament but they weren't fulfilled. After the defeat from
Slovenia in the match for fifth place Croatia took only 6th place and failed to qualify for the
2000 Olympic Games in
Sydney. The national team is also lost its ability to defend the gold from
Atlanta in
Sydney.
World Champions and Olympic Winners Once the team reached bottom with their results, being ranked last or in 16th place at the
2002 European Championship, in March 2002 the
Federation entrusted
Lino Červar and with him the team that suffered a seven-year drought medal in two years was created into the world champions and Olympic winners. In the period between these two gold medals Croatia is still ranked 4th place at the
European Championships in
2004 in
Slovenia. With Červar in charge Croatia would be at the top of the handball world. With the arrival of
Lino Červar and a maturing exceptionally talented new generation including a young
Ivano Balić, the revival of the national team culminated at the
2003 World Championship. The start of the competition was disastrous. Croatia lost in their first match to
Argentina who was at the time a punching for serious national teams in official competitions. Although the first half led with 5 goals, but 14 minutes before the end of the match conceded 6 goals. At the end of the match, Croatian handball players fired five successive attacks, and
Mirza Džomba 20 seconds before the end missed the equalizer. How Croatian players badly played that match was proven by the fact they missed 6 penalty shots. During halftime of the second match against another underdog
Saudi Arabia Croatia was losing with 2 differences and was playing desperately. Yet the team found strength to win this match. The turning point was marvelous – the group's dramatic victories in the end against giants
Russia,
France and
Hungary securing first place to the second part where the Croats were convincing against
Egypt and
Denmark. In semi-finals the match went into overtime (4 × 5 minutes) defeating the
Spaniards 39:37 (26: 26/31: 31) and in the grand final they outscored
Germany 34:31 and won their first title of world champions and wrote surely one of the most beautiful story's in the history of Croatian sport. In January 2004 Croatia played at the
2004 European Championship in
Slovenia. They got to the semi-finals where they were knocked out by the hosts 25:27. They finished in fourth place losing the third place match to
Denmark 27:31. In Summer 2004 the
Olympics were held in
Athens. The national team continued its dominating play and were undefeated in all eight matches played. They defeated
Iceland,
Slovenia,
South Korea,
Russia,
Spain,
Greece and
Hungary before getting to the final. In a dramatic final Croatia defeated
Germany 26–24 and with the title of world champions they won the Olympic gold. In the last 5 minutes of the match went a goal ahead for Croatia, and then
Nikša Kaleb who had not scored no goal with 3 consecutive goals sealed a great victory. The gold was an even greater success considering the fact that Croatia traveled to
Athens without their best line player
Renato Sulić who was recovering from a car accident, without important defense player
Tonči Valčić and without
Patrik Ćavar who was ill.
Continuation of the Červar Era (2005–2010) After excellent results at the
2003 World Championship and the
2004 Olympics, Croatia was considered one of the candidates for the title at the
2005 World Championship in
Tunisia. As in previous years, the team once again showed its quality and reached the semi-finals with little difficulty. An excellent semi-final performance against traditional customers
France earned Croatia a place in the final and a duel against the then very strong
Spain. Although an uncertain match was expected,
Spain surprisingly easily and convincingly won the title, scoring as many as 40 goals against Croatia. The final 6 difference hides the fact that the Spanish had a lead of as much as +13 with fourteen minutes to go. At the
2006 European Championship in
Switzerland, the Croatian national team again reached the semi-finals. Unfortunately, they were denied a place in the final by the new great generation of French handball, for whom this was their first major competition. In the match for the bronze medal, the
Danish team was more motivated than Croatia, leaving Croatia without a medal. At the
2007 World Championship in
Germany, the Croatian handball team won their first seven games, and then another great
French team was defeated in the quarterfinals. In an uncertain match with few goals, the quality of the French defense was decisive. After that, Croatia defeated
Spain and
Russia in the playoff for 5th to 8th place, and with nine wins and one loss, won 5th place. Many journalists and handball players emphasized that Croatia played the best and most attractive handball of all the participating teams. In the semifinals, the French fell into the German home court trap and lost 32:31 in a difficult match after extra time, although they were the better team. Demoralized and disappointed, the French did not have the strength for another bronze medal, and were defeated by the
Danes. The French are particularly angry at this defeat due to the officiating, which was clearly on the side of the German hosts and which caused
Michaël Guigou's goal 30 seconds before the end of the game to be disallowed, preventing the French from getting back into the game.
Germany won the championship by defeating
Poland. A year later, at the
2008 European Championship in
Norway, Croatia played the hosts in the last round of the second group stage. It was a match that directly decided which of the two teams would advance to the semi-finals. In a tough and difficult match, the Croats somehow managed to pull off the necessary draw and advance. The team reached the final against
Denmark by defeating the strong
France in a dramatic semi-final with a goal difference.
Denmark had one of its best teams ever at this championship. In the second group stage of the same championship, they inflicted a shocking defeat on Croatia with a 10-goal advantage, so they were also the favorite in the final. The Croats surprisingly took a 4-0 lead at the start of the final match, but they were still unable to maintain the same rhythm for 60 minutes against a better opponent, and in the end they lost by 4 goals. At the
2008 Olympic Games in
Beijing, Croatia defeated
Denmark in the quarterfinals, but lost again to the better-performing
France in the semifinals. In the third-place match, a more motivated
Spain left Croatia without a medal. At the
2009 World Championship held in
Croatia, the national team had nine consecutive victories leading up to the final. In the last match of the second round of the group stage, when the semi-finalists were already known, Croatia defeated France 22:19. The French played with a reserve team in that match and saved their energy for the final of the championship. The Croats also did not play with full commitment, although they were motivated to win that match in front of their home crowd. After Croatia's victory over
Poland in the semi-finals, France was once again the dangerous team in the final. Although Croatia was a slight favorite due to its home field and the full
Zagreb Arena, the French ran out with the best lineup and did not show that they did not have the status of favorites. Croatia had a 12:11 advantage at half-time, but in the second half the French showed their strength and took the lead after an uncertain 15 minutes. The French defense was so well-positioned that at one point the Croatian players played for more than 10 minutes without scoring a goal. They often failed to get a quality shot on goal, and even when they did, it was usually saved without major problems by goalkeeper
Thierry Omeyer. The French increased their lead through counterattacks, which were mainly carried out by the fast wings
Luc Abalo and
Michaël Guigou. The final score was 24:19 for France. At the
2010 European Championship in
Austria, Croatia won the silver medal. The final between
France and Croatia was another rematch of the duel between the two best handball teams. Croatia reached the final with a semi-final victory over
Poland. The course of the game in the final was the same as in the
2009 World Championship final. In the first half, Croatia slightly dominated while the french played solidly and slowly. Croatia had a 2-point lead towards the end of the half, but two quick goals by
Nikola Karabatić brought the French back into the game. Thus, the half ended in a draw. The same story was told in the second half. The French continued their solid play, and with excellent defense, goalkeeper
Omeyer's saves and quick counterattacks by
Abalo and
Guigou, they quickly took the lead. The final score was 25:21 for the French, and they added their third major international gold medal in a row to their collection. By winning this gold, the French became the first handball team in the history of sports to be simultaneously world, European and Olympic champions. Shortly after the tournament ended
Lino Červar gave his resignation and left the team after long 8 years.
Goluža era (2010–2015) After the departure of the trophy-winning coach
Lino Červar,
Slavko Goluža took over the Croatian handball team in 2010 and at his first major competition, the
2011 World Championship in
Sweden, he won 5th place. The national team showed its worst performance since the
2002 European Championship and for the first time since
2002, it was not among the top 3 teams in the world in terms of quality of play. Defeats against the then very strong
Denmark and the host
Sweden, and a draw with
Serbia, left Croatia without a semi-final. Croatia remained third in its group in the second phase, and
Denmark qualified for the semi-finals as first in the group and
Sweden as second. Croatia eventually defeated
Iceland in the match for 5th place. At the
2012 European Championship in
Serbia, Croatia reached the semi-finals with less difficulty. In the semi-finals,
Serbia defeated Croatia on the wings of the home crowd and with the help of great motivation, based not only on neighborhood and sporting, but also historical and political reasons. In the bronze medal match, Croatia defeated the
Spaniards. At the
2012 London Olympics, Croatia easily and convincingly defeated all 5 opponents in the group with an average of 8.2 goals per game.
South Korea was defeated by 10 goals,
Serbia by 8,
Hungary by 7,
Denmark by 11, and
Spain by 5. Croatia played brilliantly in the group matches. They finished their attacks with quality, had many quick counterattacks and an excellent 5-1 defense with the attacking Mozart
Ivano Balić in the role of a forward defender. In that group stage, Croatia played by far its best handball since independence and one of the best seen in the history of world representative handball. The 11-goal defeat that Croatia inflicted on great
Denmark was characterized by the Danes as one of the heaviest defeats in their history. After those initial handball rhapsodies, Croatia was a big favorite for gold. However, Croatia unexpectedly struggled against the solid
Tunisia in the quarter-finals, and even trailed by 1 point at half-time. The Tunisians played very rough. They constantly got into physical duels with the Croatians and hit them unsportsmanlike. Sometimes they even tried to push Croatian players off the field at the sidelines. Since the Tunisians could not maintain their fiercely aggressive pace from the first half for the entire 60 minutes, the Croatians improved their game, turned the score around at half-time and eventually won. In the semi-final match,
France took a 3-0 lead against Croatia right from the start. Although Croatia had many more missed shots on goal than
France, at half-time France's advantage was only 2 points. The French attack, as well as the defense, were much worse during the Olympic tournament, and throughout the entire semi-final match, than they were in the period from 2006 to 2011. France had a hard time creating scoring chances, so they shot much less on goal. On the other hand, they were unable to stop the Croats from creating more chances and half-chances. Despite this, the execution of Croatian attacks was extremely poor. The Croats, in relatively promising situations, had a large number of attempts either saved by French goalkeeper
Thierry Omeyer or would have missed the entire goal. Croatia tried to catch up throughout the game, and on several occasions came within 2 goals of being behind and came close to equalizing. Technical errors at key moments and imprecision in shooting on goal ultimately prevented them from returning to the match. After Croatia missed its chances,
France took a 5-point lead and calmly ended the game with a 25:22 victory. In the bronze medal match, Croatia defeated
Hungary for the second time in the same tournament by a 7-point margin.
France won the championship title by defeating the surprise of the tournament,
Sweden, in the final. Having won 5 out of 6 major competitions in 5 years, including 2 Olympic titles, this French team officially became the greatest generation in the history of handball. At the
2013 World Championship held in
Spain, Croatia again won all five games in the group. In the further elimination stages, Croatia easily defeated weak
Belarus in the round of 16, and in the quarter-finals,
France avenged its defeat at the
London Olympics by as much as 7 goals. In that match,
Drago Vuković received a red card after about forty seconds, and Croatia had fewer available field players due to previous injuries. However,
France, whose slight decline in quality despite winning Olympic gold was also felt at the previous 2 competitions, was again not at the highest level seen in 2011 and earlier at the championship in
Spain. Fatigue due to the lack of available field players, and exhaustion from the efforts against the French, caused the Croatians to lose to
Denmark in the semi-finals. In the bronze medal match, Croatia easily defeated the surprise of the championship,
Slovenia. At the
2014 European Championship in
Denmark, Croatia reached the semi-finals without any major problems, where the hosts were waiting for them. The team played the first half of the semi-final excellently and went into the break with a 2-point lead. The Croatians played worse in the second half, however, with poor play with two players more and a series of unused attacks costing them the defeat. In the bronze medal match,
Spain led Croatia for most of the match. Croatia had several chances to equalize towards the end, but inaccuracy in passing prevented them from doing so, and they ended up losing the medal. At the
2015 World Championship Croatia has a relatively easy path to the quarter finals, they defeated
Austria,
Tunisia,
Iran,
North Macedonia and
Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Group and then
Brazil in the Round of 16, but then the unexpected happened, Croatia lost the quarter-final match against
Poland and got kicked out of the tournament, they finished 6th and it was Croatia's worst performance at the international scene since
2002. Days after the tournament ended
Slavko Goluža gave his resignation after 5 years of being the team's coach.
Babić era (2015–2017) Following the Croatia's worst performance at the international scene since
2002,
Goluža was sacked as the coach and replaced by his assistant
Željko Babić.
Babić had a difficult job ahead of
2016 European Championship.
Croatia at the time hadn't won a medal in 3 years, last time being a bronze medal at the
2013 World Championship. With many older, more experienced players leaving the team due to retirement, the team needed youngsters to take over. With
Marko Kopljar as the captain, 2013 World's best Handball player
Domagoj Duvnjak and others like
Ivan Čupić,
Zlatko Horvat,
Jakov Gojun,
Mirko Alilović who had many years of experience co-leading the team in the previous years and many newbies such as
Marko Mamić and
Luka Cindrić, the future was seen with a lot of potential but also questions. The tournament for
Croatia started out with a difficult win over
Belarus, a surprising loss to
Norway and an easy win over
Iceland. In the main round
Croatia stomped over
Macedonia (34-24) but suffered a big loss against old rivals
France (32-24). Croats were basically out of the tournament. The only way for
Croatia to go through to the semifinals was if
Norway wins the match against the
World,
European and
Olympic Champions France and then
Croatia would have to win against hosts
Poland by 11 goals or 10 goals if
Craotia scores 35 goals or more. It was seen as a mission impossible, but
Norway offered them that possibility with a surprising win over
France. In the final match in the Main Round against
Poland, Croatia was leading by 5 goals at half time (15-10), then Croatian blitzkrieg happened in the first 10 minutes of second half.
Croatia conceded their first goal in the second half in 40th minute while scoring 8 and basically ending the possibility that
Poland goes through (since they needed to lose less than 5 goals for the semis). Things were looking incredible,
Poland made a small comeback with a 5-0 goal series (30-13 - 30-18), but in the end it didn't help.
Croatia won the match with an incredible and historic 14 goal difference (37-23) when the magical number was 11. The match in Croatia was remembered as "Čudo iz Krakova" (Miracle from Krakow).
Croatia kicked hosts
Poland out of the tournament together with France, while Norway topped the group.
Croatia lost the semifinal match for the third tournament in a row against
Spain but secured a bronze medal against
Norway which started a rivalry with the Norwegians in the years to come. Even though there was doubts about the new era of Croatian handball, the future was bright again. Following the successful
European Championship, next on the schedule was the
Qualifications for the 2016 Olympics. In the qualifiers, Croatia qualified by losing to
Denmark, winning against
Bahrain and winning again against
Norway, continuing their rivalry.
Olympics started out poorly for
Croatia, they lost the first game unexpectedly to
Qatar, but won all the other matches including against
Denmark and
France to secure Top spot in the group. In the quarter-finals,
Poland got revenge on Croatia (for the
Euros defeat few months prior) by defeating them and removing the chance for Croatia to get a semi-final spot for the first time since 2000.
Denmark won the tournament in the final against
France. Few months after the unsuccessful
Olympics, Croatia was preparing to play at the
2017 World Championship in
France. Expectations were high and the team was ready for new challenges with a new Captain,
Domagoj Duvnjak. In the Preliminary Round, Croatia only lost 1 out of 5 matches against
Germany, while in the Round of 16 defeated
Egypt and
Spain in the Quarter-Finals. In the semi-finals they played
Norway once again and this match solidified their big rivalry with the
Norwegians.
Croatia had a chance to win the game, it was 22-22 and 60 minutes of the match have passed but
Croatia had a penalty for the win.
Zlatko Horvat famously missed the penalty, the match went into extra time and
Croatia lost another semi-final match. But the Croatians troubles were not over, because in the third-place match against
Slovenia they had everything in their hands, leading by a big 5 points at half-time, but the big Slovenian turnaround happened and
Croatia dramatically lost the bronze medal.
Babić was fired a few days after the match due to the failure in the tournament.
Second Červar era (2017–2021) Following the unsuccessful
2017 World Championship where Croatia finished 4th,
Babić was fired from his position as the coach of the Croatian team and after 7 years
Lino Červar was brought back shortly afterwards in march.
Červar had a huge responsibility on his hands since the first tournament he would be leading Croatia to was the
2018 European Championship where
Croatia were the hosts. For the tournament he brought back the pivot expert
Igor Vori to the team after 3 years of being absent from the team following his semi-retirement due to injuries after the
2015 World Championship. The tournament started well for the Croats with 2 wins against
Serbia and
Iceland but also a loss in the cruical match against
Sweden who would later become vice champions. In the Main Round they won matches against
Belarus and
Norway but lost against
France and missed out their first European semi-final since
2002. They secured the fifth place in a match against
Czech Republic. A year later the tournament started even more amazing with 5 straight wins, most notably against
Spain but in the main round got defeated surprisingly by
Brazil and then hosts
Germany and were out of the tournament. They defeated
France and secured the fifth place match (which they lost against
Sweden) and qualification for the
2020 Olympics. At the
2020 European Championship expectations were pretty low for the Croats since by then they haven't won a medal in any major competitions since
2016. Just like the previous year, the Croats defeated the first 5 teams in the first 5 matches, the last one being
Germany after an amazing comeback where the Germans were ahead for the majority of the game, even winning (16-11) but Croatia's winning mentality made sure they would be the ones to walk out with two points. The win qualified them for the first semis in 3 years, kicking
Germany out of the tournament and getting revenge for the year prior. Before the semis Croatia won one more match against
Czech Republic and drew against
Spain. In the semis they defeated
Norway after extra time, got revenge for the
2017 World Championship semi-final defeat and reached their first European Final since
2010. In the final they lost against
Spain (22-20), secured a silver medal and the Captain
Domagoj Duvnjak was announced as the MVP of the tournament. What followed at the
2021 World Championship is something nobody could've predicted. Completely opposite of the year prior,
Croatia went into the tournament with the highest expectations, after all they were European vice-champions. Already in the first match they drew against
Japan and it didn't look good. Two wins against
Angola and
Qatar secured them the Main Round where they defeated
Bahrain, shockingly lost against
Argentina and got humiliated by
Denmark (38-26). They were not only out of the tournament and not only they finished 15th (their worst result in any international competition since
2002) but the coach
Lino Červar announced his departure from the team right before the final match in the group against
Denmark and left the team in shambles.
Červar leaving, senior players retiring and young players being needed, he future was uncertain.
Second series of poor results (2021–2024) After a debacle at the
2021 World Championship where Croatia finished 15th (their worst result at the international scene since
2002)
Lino Červar stepped down as the coach and got replaced by his assistant coach
Hrvoje Horvat Jr.. His first task was to qualify Croatia for the
2020 Olympics. Croatia played 3 matches against
France,
Portugal and
Tunisia, won the matches against
Portugal and
Tunisia, lost against
France and because of the goal difference
Portugal went through and Croatia didn't. They failed to qualify for their second Olympics in history. After a failure of not qualifying for the Olympics, Croatia also failed to make a promising result at the
2022 European Championship (8th place) and the
2023 World Championsip (9th place).
Hrvoje Horvat Jr. stepped down as the coach after only 2 years and got replaced by a former Croatian Handballer
Goran Perkovac. At the
2024 European Championship where the tournament started out amazing with a historic (39-29) victory against
Spain he also failed to make a good result, in fact it was Croatia's worst result at the
European Championship since
2002. Soon after the tournament ended Croatian Handball Federation made a decision to part ways with
Perkovac.
Sigurðsson era (2024– ) Following a series of disappointing results at international scene at the European Championships (
2022,
2024), the World Championships (
2021,
2023) and the failure of not qualifying for the
2020 Olympics the change was needed.
Croatian Handball Federation decided to bring in a more experienced coach, that ended up being
Dagur Sigurðsson, the first foreign coach Croatian team ever had which stirred some discussion in the Croatian media.
Sigurðsson was brought in February 2024 and already had a difficult road ahead of him, he needed Croatia to qualify for the
2024 Olympics. On that road were 3 matches against
Austria,
Germany and
Algeria in March 2024. He led them to three wins and qualified the team for their first Olympics since
2016. All looked good but at the actual event Croatia had their worst ever Olympics since their independence. They won only 2 out of 5 matches. Won matches against
Japan and
Germany, lost against
Slovenia and received a humiliating loss against
Sweden (38-27). They lost their final match against
Spain and were kicked out of the tournament. After a disappointing result at the
Olympics,
Sigurðsson was under even more pressure to prove he was the right man for the job notably since the next tournament was (partially) held at home, the
2025 World Men's Handball Championship. Croatia needed a good result especially in front of their own crowd. The tournament started out very well with two great wins against
Bahrain and
Argentina but the third match saw them lose a crucial match against
Egypt (28-24). The loss saw it difficult for them to go through to the quarter-finals (but not impossible) since they would need to defeat all three of their opponents, one being
Cape Verde, another being the contenders for the top spot in the group,
Iceland and the final being a fourth best placed team at the Olympics,
Slovenia. First game was an easy win against
Cape Verde by 20 goals. Then what followed was an incredible comeback to the tournament. The match against
Iceland was the first and crucial one for Croatia to advance to the quarterfinals of the World Championship. The Icelanders were clear favorites against the hosts due to the quality of the players playing for the better clubs in the Bundesliga, their fast, modern Scandinavian handball, and
Iceland's victory over Croatia the year before at the
2024 European Championship. On paper it was one thing, but on the field it was completely the opposite. Croatia led 20-12 at halftime and ended the match 32-26.
Dagur Sigurdsson, with his quality and knowledge of Icelandic handball, destroyed "His"
Iceland with a classic Croatian 5-1 defense (which turned out to be the biggest win of the tournament).
Leon Šušnja and
David Mandić excelled with their defensive play, while
Marko Mamić destroyed
Aron Palmarsson (Iceland's main asset and playmaker) with his play, long arms, height, mobility and knowledge of playing as a unit in a 5-1 defense, something he tends to play in his club
Leipzig. The match against
Slovenia was next and it didn't look easy. Although the Slovenians were already out of the championship and had no chance of advancing, they still wanted to win and are big rivals to the Croatians, due to their neighborhood and political history. The Slovenians wanted to finish the tournament with a win and prevent the Croatians from advancing, while the Croatians were under great pressure because they needed a win. The match started disastrously,
Slovenia led 0-5, and Croatia scored the first goal only in the 8th minute. The Croatians managed to come back from the nightmare because at halftime it was 15-15. They took the lead for the first time midway through the second half and eventually won 29-26 after a hard-fought battle. They saw themselves topping the group with 8 points, same as
Egypt and
Iceland but with a better goal difference. Croatia reached their first playoff match in any international competition in 5 years and the enthusiasm but also the confidence in this young team was slowly being brought back in
Croatia, both in the
Arena Zagreb but also in front of the screens at home. The quarter-finals were one for the ages, a difficult match against
Hungary was nearly lost, until a 55th minute when Croatia made a 5-0 series (31-30) and won the match with an incredible last second goal by
Marin Šipić. The goal saw them reaching their first semi-finals at the World Championship since
2017. In the other quarter-final match
France were sent to the semis in a similar way with a winning goal by
Luka Karabatić being scored in the last 250 milliseconds of the match. The time was for another famous El Clasico between the old rivals
France. In the semi-final game Croatia played their best game of the tournament and won in an incredible semi-final match (31-28) which saw them placed in the final of the tournament. Many handball experts and former players from the Balkans including
Veselin Vujović were very outspoken on how Croatia's fantastic play specifically masterful defense resembled the defense Croatia was known in the 2000s during
Červar's reign where
Igor Vori played the role that
Marko Mamić played against France. The games against
Iceland and now
France were two of the best games Croatia played in years. They lost in the final against
Denmark (32-26) and won their first medal at the
World Championship since
2013 and their first overall medal in 5 years since
2020. The tournament ended
Domagoj Duvnjak's incredible 18 year international career and his role as the captain of the national team after 8 years,
Igor Karačić and
Ivan Pešić also retired respectfully.
Mario Šoštarič was declared the best right wing of the tournament and
Ivan Martinović the best right back,
Martinović also became the captain following
Duvnjak's retirement. Before the tournament in January, the Croatians played two qualifying matches for the
2026 European Championship. They won against
Luxembourg and
Belgium, and after the aforementioned tournament they defeated
Luxembourg and
Belgium again in the return matches together with the
Czech Republic in
Brno and
Zagreb. It was their best qualifications since
2012. Before the tournament, due to injuries Croatia lost its main pivot
Marin Šipić, and then Leon Ljevar, who was supposed to make his debut at a major tournament, along with four players returning from long injuries and other players who had not had much playing time for their clubs, expectations were quite low. At the very beginning of the tournament, Croatia achieved 2 victories, but very hard against
Georgia and the
Netherlands, and then suffered a heavy defeat against
Sweden (35-27) (one of the hosts and one of the favorites for gold). In the main round, Croatia needed 4 wins out of 4 games to reach the semifinals, and that's what happened. First against
Iceland,
Switzerland, and then against neighbors
Slovenia and the key match against
Hungary (
Hungary drew with
Sweden and more or less eliminated them from the tournament). Croats lost to
Germany (31-28) in the semifinals, then grabbed the bronze medal from
Iceland (34-33) who were seeking revenge on the Croats. Croatia won its seventh medal at the
European Championships and its second in a row after the
2025 World Championship. The last time that happened was when
Slavko Goluža won 3 bronze medals in a row in early 2010s. By finishing in the Top 4 Croatia directly qualified for the
2027 World Championship. Before the tournament, there were many question marks for this European Championship from the Croatian and foreign media, who assumed that the success at the
2025 World Championship was only due to the home field advantage and "luck" against
Slovenia and especially
Hungary in the quarterfinals of the championship. The most popular target of the Croatian national team during the competition was the Danish handball analyst
Rasmus Boysen, who assumed that Croatia would be the biggest disappointment of the tournament because he did not think that the world vice-champions would reach the semifinals of the tournament. After winning the bronze medal, opinions changed on his part, as well as on the part of other media, who realized that after many years, Croatia managed to develop continuity on the world stage by winning two medals in two consecutive competitions. ==Rivalries==