Montenegro national handball team
| Montenegro | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Information | |||
| Nickname | Lavovi (eng. Lions) | ||
| Association | Handball Federation of Montenegro | ||
| Coach | Ljubomir Obradović | ||
| Assistant coach |
Stevo Nikočević Goran Simić | ||
| Most caps | Igor Marković (50) | ||
| Colours | |||
| |||
| Results | |||
| World Championship | |||
| Appearances | 1 (first in 2013) | ||
| Best result | 22nd, 2013 | ||
| European Championship | |||
| Appearances | 2 (first in 2008) | ||
| Best result | 12th, 2008 | ||
| Last updated on Unknown. | |||
The Montenegro national handball team represents Montenegro in international handball competitions. The national team was formed in 2006 recently after the Montenegrin independence.
Montenegro played their first official match at 3 January 2007 in Vantaa and won against Finland (28:26).
Until today, Montenegro qualified for three big competitions – once for the World Cup (2013) and twice for the European Championship (2008, 2014).
The head coach is Ljubomir Obradović.
History and records
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 Euro 2008, where they participated in the second group phase. Year later, Montenegrin players didn't succeed to qualify for World Championship 2009 and after that, there was a crisis in the results of national team.
New era of great results for Montenegro started at 2012. After surprisingly win against Sweden in the qualifiers, Montenegro placed for the World Championship 2013. In June 2013, Montenegro sensational eliminated Germany in the final round of qualifiers for the Euro 2014. At the Euro 2014, Montenegro was eliminated in the first phase.
National team matches
| Tournament | Matches | Wins | Draws | Loss | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World Championship | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 179 | 204 |
| European Championship | 9 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 215 | 262 |
| Qualifying matches EC/WC | 42 | 25 | 1 | 16 | 1194 | 1199 |
| OVERALL | 58 | 26 | 2 | 30 | 1588 | 1665 |
Records
- Largest victory
- 41:27,
Montenegro – 
Finland, 6 January 2007, Budva
- Largest defeat
- 36:21,
Slovakia – Montenegro, 12 June 2011, Košice
- Highest home attendance
- 4,000, Montenegro –
Sweden 20:18, 17 June 2012, Podgorica
- Highest away attendance
- 8,100, Slovakia – Montenegro 36:21, 12 June 2011, Košice
World Championship record
National team of Montenegro made their first appearance on the World Cup at 2013, from their 3rd qualifying attempt. First World Cup match, Montenegro played at 12 January 2013 against Argentina in Granollers.
| Year | Round | Position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Croatia 2009 | Did not qualify | ||||||||
| Sweden 2011 | Did not qualify | ||||||||
| Spain 2013 | Preliminary Round | 22nd | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 179 | 203 | −24 |
| Qatar 2015 | Did not qualify | ||||||||
| Total | Qualified: 1/4 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 179 | 203 | −24 | |
European Championship record
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 Championship, Montenegro loses all three games, with elimination after the first phase.
| Year | Round | Position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norway 2008 | Main Round | 12th | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 149 | 188 | −39 |
| Austria 2010 | Did not qualify | ||||||||
| Serbia 2012 | Did not qualify | ||||||||
| Denmark 2014 | Preliminary Round | 16th | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 66 | 84 | −18 |
| Total | Qualified: 2/4 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 215 | 262 | −57 | |
Fixtures and results
During the 2014, Montenegro played matches on the European Championship 2014, World Cup 2015 qualifiers and European Championship 2016 qualifiers. Below is the list of recent and upcoming games of Montenegrin national handball team.
| Date | Event | Match | Res | Town | Att | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 January 2014 | EC 2014 | Montenegro | Sweden |
21:28 | Brøndby | 2,400 | |
| 15 January 2014 | EC 2014 | Montenegro |  Croatia |
22:27 | Brøndby | 2,700 | |
| 17 January 2014 | EC 2014 | Montenegro |  Belarus |
23:29 | Brøndby | 3,500 | |
| 8 Jun 2014 | WCQ | Montenegro | Belarus |
28:27 | Podgorica | 2,000 | |
| 15 June 2014 | WCQ | Belarus | Montenegro |
30:24 | Minsk | 7,500 | |
| October 2014 | ECQ |  Serbia | Montenegro |
25:21 | Belgrade | 7,000 | |
| October 2014 | ECQ | Montenegro |  Iceland |
25:24 | Bar | 2,300 | |
| April 2015 | ECQ |  Israel | Montenegro |
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| April 2015 | ECQ | Montenegro | Israel |
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Players and coaches
Players
Almost 50 different players participated for Montenegro national handball team from 2007 until today. Among former players of Montenegro, there are Alen Muratović, Petar Kapisoda, Draško Mrvaljević, Goran Đukanović, Vladimir Osmajić, Goran Stojanović, Blažo Lisičić, Marko Dobrković and others.
Most matches for Montenegrin national team played Igor Marković, Zoran Roganović and Mladen Rakčević. Most goals for Montenegrin national team scored Draško Mrvaljević, Zoran Roganović and Mladen Rakčević.
Most capped players
Five most capped players in Montenegrin national team (As of 1 February 2014)
| Player | Games |
|---|---|
| Igor Marković | 49 |
| Zoran Roganović | 46 |
| Mladen Rakčević | 45 |
| Draško Mrvaljević | 40 |
| Rade Mijatović | 40 |
Top scorers
Five all-time top scorers on the official games of Montenegrin national handball team (As of 1 February 2014)
| Player | Goals |
|---|---|
| Draško Mrvaljević | 176 |
| Zoran Roganović | 160 |
| Mladen Rakčević | 137 |
| Fahrudin Melić | 133 |
| Igor Marković | 125 |
Coaching history
| Coach | From | To | Record* | Championship | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Pero Milošević | October 2006 | June 2007 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 87.50 | None |
| Ranko Popović | August 2007 | November 2009 | 16 | 5 | 1 | 10 | 31.25 | Euro 2008 |
 Kasim Kamenica | November 2009 | April 2010 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 50.00 | None |
| Miodrag Popović | April 2010 | March 2011 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 25.00 | None |
| Zoran Kastratović | May 2011 | February 2014 | 24 | 10 | 0 | 14 | 41.67 | WC 2013, Euro 2014 |
| Ljubomir Obradović | March 2014 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 50.00 | ||
* Data is only for official matches (qualifiers, European Championship, World Championship). For more information, there is a List of official matches of the Montenegro handball team
Current squad
There are mostly players from the foreign leagues in the national team of Montenegro. Only three members of national team are playing in domestic league – all of them are in the national champion Lovćen Cetinje.
This is the squad which played at the 2014 European Championship.
Head coach: Ljuboir Obradović
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Uniforms 1st: red/red (GK: yellow)
2nd: white/white (GK: red)
3rd: black/black (GK: blue)
Notable former players
- Petar Kapisoda
- Draško Mrvaljević
- Goran Đukanović
- Alen Muratović
- Novica Rudović
- Goran Stojanović
- Vladimir Osmajić
- Ratko Đurković
- Fahrudin Melić
- Blažo Lisičić
- Marko Dobrković
- Žarko Pejović
See also
- List of Montenegro national handball team players
- List of official matches of the Montenegro handball team
- Handball Federation of Montenegro
- Montenegro women's national handball team
External links
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