Montenegro men's national handball team

The Montenegro national handball team represents Montenegro in international handball competitions. The national team was formed in 2006 shortly after Montenegro became independent.

Montenegro
Information
NicknameZlatni lavovi
(The Golden Lions)
AssociationHandball Federation of Montenegro
CaptainMirko Radović
Most capsNemanja Grbović (80)
Most goalsVasko Ševaljević (258)
Colours
1st
2nd
Results
World Championship
Appearances2 (First in 2013)
Best result18th (2023)
European Championship
Appearances7 (First in 2008)
Best result11th (2022)
Last updated on Unknown.

Montenegro played their first official match on 3 January 2007 in Vantaa and beat Finland (28:26). Since then, Montenegro have qualified for nine big competitions – twice for the World Cup (2013 and 2023) and for the European Championship in 2008, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024.

History and records
Main article: List of official matches of the Montenegro handball team

The national side first appeared in the Euro 2008 qualifiers, which started in January 2007. After the great success in the qualifying matches, Montenegro participated at the European Championship 2008, where they finished in the second group phase.
A year later, Montenegro failed to qualify for the World Championship 2009 and after that, there was a crisis in the results of national team.
From 2012, results improved. After a surprise win against Sweden in the qualifiers, Montenegro qualified for the World Championship 2013.
In June 2013, Montenegro eliminated Germany in the final round of qualifiers for the European Championship 2014. At the Championship, Montenegro was eliminated in the first phase.
Two years later, the Montenegrin team appeared at the European Championship 2016, but was eliminated after the first phase of the competition, without any win in three matches. Same result, Montenegro made on European Championship 2018. Finally, on European Championship 2020, Montenegro made historical victory against Serbia (22-21), but failed to qualify to the second round of tournament.

National team matches
TournamentMatchesWinsDrawsLossGFGA
World Championship133010340391
European Championship254120622741
Qualifying matches EC/WC723962719782010
Overall1104675729403142

Updated: January 23, 2023

Records
Main article: List of official matches of the Montenegro handball team § Records
Largest victory
41:27,  Montenegro –  Finland, 6 January 2007, Budva
Largest defeat
39:23,  Poland –  Montenegro, 24 January 2011, Stavanger
Highest home attendance
approx. 6,000,  Montenegro –  Greece 33:25, 17 April 2022, Podgorica
Highest away attendance
11,835,  Denmark –  Montenegro 37:26, 13 April 2019, Copenhagen

Competitive record

World Championship

The national team of Montenegro made their first appearance at the World Cup in 2013, from their 3rd qualifying attempt. Their first World Cup match was played on 12 January 2013 against Argentina in Granollers, Spain.

World Championship Qualification
Year Pos. Pld W D L Pld W D L
2009did not qualify2101
20112101
201322nd71066501
2015did not qualify2101
20172002
/ 20192011
2021Cancelled
/ 202318th62042101
// 2025did not qualify2002
2027TBDTBD
/ 2029
// 2031
Total1330101611110

European Championship

Debut on the European Championship, Montenegrin national team made after first attempt.
They participated at the Euro 2008 and made successful appearance in their first match against Russia (25:25). They qualified for the Main Phase of the European Championship.
Their second appearance was in 2014, after Montenegro sensational eliminated Germany during the qualifiers. At the tournament, Montenegro lost all three games, with elimination after the first phase.
Montenegro hoped for a better result in 2016, but it was pretty much deja vu from two years ago as they once again lost all three games and finished in last place in their group, as well as last place in the tournament claiming 16th place out of 16 teams.

European Championship Qualification
Year Pos. Pld W D L GS GA Pld W D L
200812th60151491888710
2010did not qualify8404
20126105
201416th300366846402
201616th300376906312
201816th300366896231
// 202018th310270846312
/ 202211th73041952166303
202414th310284866303
// 2026To be determinedTo be determined
// 2028
Total7/112851227068375830622

Team

Current squad

Squad for the 2024 European Men's Handball Championship[1][2]

Head coach: Vlado Šola

No. Pos. Name Date of birth (age) Height App. Goals Club
1 GK Nikola Matović (1998-05-08) 8 May 1998 1.91 m 25 0 Amo Handboll
4 LW Aleksandar Bakić (2000-09-03) 3 September 2000 1.94 m 32 39 RK Nexe Našice
5 LB Arsenije Dragašević (2002-07-18) 18 July 2002 2.02 m 8 9 HC Pfadi Dietlikon
6 LW Miloš Vujović (1993-09-05) 5 September 1993 1.81 m 56 188 VfL Gummersbach
7 RB Stefan Čavor (1994-11-03) 3 November 1994 1.97 m 61 105 HSG Wetzlar
8 P Vuk Lazović (1988-03-10) 10 March 1988 2.00 m 48 39 Al-Najma SC
9 CB Radojica Čepić (2002-07-29) 29 July 2002 1.94 m 23 31 HC Kriens-Luzern
10 P Miodrag Ćorsović (2000-02-22) 22 February 2000 1.98 m 8 6 RK Trimo Trebnje
11 RB Branko Vujović (1998-04-20) 20 April 1998 1.96 m 45 175 TSV Hannover-Burgdorf
12 GK Haris Suljević (2001-02-26) 26 February 2001 1.94 m 2 0 RK Izviđač
13 RW Mirko Radović (1990-06-15) 15 June 1990 1.86 m 72 62 RK Lovćen
16 GK Nebojša Simić (1993-01-19) 19 January 1993 1.92 m 61 3 MT Melsungen
17 LB Vasilije Kaluđerović (1998-10-03) 3 October 1998 1.91 m 22 40 Qadsia SC
24 LB Miloš Božović (1994-12-10) 10 December 1994 1.99 m 51 115 US Ivry Handball
26 RB Risto Vujačić (1993-12-04) 4 December 1993 1.90 m 18 15 HC Ramat HaSharon
27 RW Luka Radović (1997-12-29) 29 December 1997 1.80 m 12 22 Saran Loiret HB
31 RW Vojislav Vukić (2003-03-05) 5 March 2003 1.80 m 0 0 MRK Krka
32 CB Božo Anđelić (1992-03-16) 16 March 1992 1.86 m 56 90 PLER KC
35 LB Vuko Borozan (1994-04-09) 9 April 1994 2.02 m 33 119 RK Lovćen
90 P Nemanja Grbović (1990-04-26) 26 April 1990 1.83 m 80 225 Steaua București
Uniforms

1st: red/red

2nd: green/green

3rd: black/black

GK: yellow/green/blue

Coaching staff
RoleName
Head coach Vlado Šola
Assistant coach Brano Božović
Team manager Petar Kapisoda
Strength coach Anton Claesson
Team official Maksim Šćekić
Physiotherapist Andrija Damjanović
Physiotherapist Hamza Mehović

Head coaches

Since independence, Montenegro was led by eight different coaches. Most matches as a Montenegro coach has Zoran Roganović (34).

Coach From To Record* Championship
MWDLWin %
Pero MiloševićOctober 2006June 2007 8710087.50
Ranko PopovićAugust 2007November 2009 165110031.25 EC 2008
Kasim KamenicaNovember 2009April 2010 2101050.00
Miodrag PopovićApril 2010March 2011 4103025.00
Zoran KastratovićMay 2011February 2014 2410014041.67 WC 2013, EC 2014
Ljubomir ObradovićMarch 2014November 2016 13418030.77 EC 2016
Dragan ĐukićNovember 2016July 2018 11335027.27 EC 2018
Zoran RoganovićAugust 2018January 2023 3412121035.29 EC 2020, EC 2022, WC 2023
Vlado ŠolaFebruary 2023May 2024 7205028.57 EC 2024

* Data is only for official matches (qualifiers, European Championship, World Championship).

Notable former players

See also

References
  1. "Poznat spisak "lavova" za Evropsko prvenstvo u Njemačkoj" (in Montenegrin). rscg.me. 9 January 2024. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  2. "Team roster: Montenegro". res.ehf.eu. 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Montenegro national handball team.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.