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
Shirt badge/Association crest
Information
NicknameZlatni lavovi
(The Golden Lions)
AssociationHandball Federation of Montenegro
CoachVlado Šola
Assistant coachNikola Foretić
CaptainMirko Radović
Most capsVasko Ševaljević, Nemanja Grbović (77)
Most goalsVasko Ševaljević (258)
Colours
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
1st
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
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 edit

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 edit

Tournament Matches Wins Draws Loss GF GA
World Championship 13 3 0 10 340 391
European Championship 25 4 1 20 622 741
Qualifying matches EC/WC 72 39 6 27 1978 2010
Overall 110 46 7 57 2940 3142

Updated: January 23, 2023

Records edit

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 edit

World Championship edit

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
  2009 did not qualify 2 1 0 1
  2011 2 1 0 1
  2013 22nd 7 1 0 6 6 5 0 1
  2015 did not qualify 2 1 0 1
  2017 2 0 0 2
 /  2019 2 0 1 1
  2021 Cancelled
 /  2023 18th 6 2 0 4 2 1 0 1
 / /  2025 TBD TBD
  2027
 /  2029
 / /  2031
Total 13 3 0 10 16 9 1 8

European Championship edit

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
  2008 12th 6 0 1 5 149 188 8 7 1 0
  2010 did not qualify 8 4 0 4
  2012 6 1 0 5
  2014 16th 3 0 0 3 66 84 6 4 0 2
  2016 16th 3 0 0 3 76 90 6 3 1 2
  2018 16th 3 0 0 3 66 89 6 2 3 1
 / /  2020 18th 3 1 0 2 70 84 6 3 1 2
 /  2022 11th 7 3 0 4 195 216 6 3 0 3
  2024 14th 3 1 0 2 84 86 6 3 0 3
 / /  2026 To be determined To be determined
 / /  2028
Total 7/11 28 5 1 22 706 837 58 30 6 22

Team edit

Current squad edit

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 (age 25) 1.91 m 23 0   Amo Handboll
4 LW Aleksandar Bakić (2000-09-03) 3 September 2000 (age 23) 1.94 m 30 35   RK Nexe Našice
5 LB Arsenije Dragašević (2002-07-18) 18 July 2002 (age 21) 2.02 m 6 8   HC Pfadi Dietlikon
6 LW Miloš Vujović (1993-09-05) 5 September 1993 (age 30) 1.81 m 54 184   VfL Gummersbach
7 RB Stefan Čavor (1994-11-03) 3 November 1994 (age 29) 1.97 m 59 102   HSG Wetzlar
8 P Vuk Lazović (1988-03-10) 10 March 1988 (age 36) 2.00 m 46 38   Al-Najma SC
9 CB Radojica Čepić (2002-07-29) 29 July 2002 (age 21) 1.94 m 23 31   HC Kriens-Luzern
10 P Miodrag Ćorsović (2000-02-22) 22 February 2000 (age 24) 1.98 m 6 4   RK Trimo Trebnje
11 RB Branko Vujović (1998-04-20) 20 April 1998 (age 26) 1.96 m 43 166   TSV Hannover-Burgdorf
12 GK Haris Suljević (2001-02-26) 26 February 2001 (age 23) 1.94 m 2 0   RK Izviđač
13 RW Mirko Radović (1990-06-15) 15 June 1990 (age 33) 1.86 m 70 62   RK Lovćen
16 GK Nebojša Simić (1993-01-19) 19 January 1993 (age 31) 1.92 m 59 3   MT Melsungen
17 LB Vasilije Kaluđerović (1998-10-03) 3 October 1998 (age 25) 1.91 m 20 31   Qadsia SC
24 LB Miloš Božović (1994-12-10) 10 December 1994 (age 29) 1.99 m 51 115   US Ivry Handball
26 RB Risto Vujačić (1993-12-04) 4 December 1993 (age 30) 1.90 m 18 15   HC Ramat HaSharon
27 RW Luka Radović (1997-12-29) 29 December 1997 (age 26) 1.80 m 10 15   Saran Loiret HB
31 RW Vojislav Vukić (2003-03-05) 5 March 2003 (age 21) 1.80 m 0 0   MRK Krka
32 CB Božo Anđelić (1992-03-16) 16 March 1992 (age 32) 1.86 m 56 90   PLER KC
35 LB Vuko Borozan (1994-04-09) 9 April 1994 (age 30) 2.02 m 31 110   RK Lovćen
90 P Nemanja Grbović (1990-04-26) 26 April 1990 (age 34) 1.83 m 77 219   Steaua București
Uniforms

1st: red/red

2nd: green/green

3rd: black/black

GK: yellow/green/blue

Coaching staff edit

Role Name
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 edit

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

Coach From To Record* Championship
M W D L Win %
  Pero Milošević October 2006 June 2007 8 7 1 0 087.50
  Ranko Popović August 2007 November 2009 16 5 1 10 031.25 EC 2008
  Kasim Kamenica November 2009 April 2010 2 1 0 1 050.00
  Miodrag Popović April 2010 March 2011 4 1 0 3 025.00
  Zoran Kastratović May 2011 February 2014 24 10 0 14 041.67 WC 2013, EC 2014
  Ljubomir Obradović March 2014 November 2016 13 4 1 8 030.77 EC 2016
  Dragan Đukić November 2016 July 2018 11 3 3 5 027.27 EC 2018
  Zoran Roganović August 2018 January 2023 34 12 1 21 035.29 EC 2020, EC 2022, WC 2023
  Vlado Šola February 2023 7 2 0 5 028.57 EC 2024

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

Notable former players edit

See also edit

References edit

  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.

External links edit