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Yugoslavia men's national handball team

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Yugoslavia Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Shirt badge/Association crest
Information
NicknameBlues
AssociationHandball Federation of Yugoslavia
Colours
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
1st
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
2nd
Results
Summer Olympics
Appearances5 (First in 1972)
Best result1st (1972 and 1984)
World Championship
Appearances10 (First in 1958)
Best result1st (1986)
Last updated on Unknown.
Yugoslavia men's national handball team
Medal record
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1972 Munich Team
Gold medal – first place 1984 Los Angeles Team
Bronze medal – third place 1988 Seoul Team
World Championship
Gold medal – first place 1986 Switzerland
Silver medal – second place 1982 West Germany
Bronze medal – third place 1970 France
Bronze medal – third place 1974 East Germany
Mediterranean Games
Gold medal – first place 1967 Tunis
Gold medal – first place 1975 Algiers
Gold medal – first place 1979 Split
Gold medal – first place 1983 Casablanca
Gold medal – first place 1991 Athens
EURO Tournaments
Gold medal – first place EURO World Cup 1971 Stockholm
Gold medal – first place EURO World Cup 1974 Stockholm
Bronze medal – third place EURO Supercup 1981 Dortmund
Bronze medal – third place EURO Supercup 1983 Dortmund
Bronze medal – third place EURO World Cup 1984 Stockholm
Silver medal – second place EURO World Cup 1992 Stockholm

The Yugoslavia national handball team was the national handball team of Yugoslavia. It was organized by the Handball Federation of Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav national handball team was made up of a handball players from the separate regions of the then SFR Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia).

History

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The Handball Federation of Yugoslavia (RSJ) was founded on December 17, 1949 in Belgrade by merging republican and provincial federations, and became a member of the International Handball Federation (IHF) in 1950.

Field handball first match

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The first international match, played on June 19, 1950 at the stadium in Kranchevicheva Street in Zagreb, against Belgium. Yugoslavia won 18:3 playing with nine players from Zagreb and one each from Sarajevo and Split.Small handball was played publicly for the first time in Yugoslav territories on February 24, 1950, in the Fair hall (today the Technical Museum) on Savska aley in Zagreb. It was the first public handball match played in the hall.

Indoor Handball

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In the beginning, small handball was mainly played on open courts, and later more and more in halls. The possibility of playing in the hall and in a smaller space enabled continuous changes in the situation on the field and better contact with the spectators. That's why small handball was quickly accepted, and thus slowly supplanted big handball, which was played less and less.Until 1953, all official handball competitions in Yugoslavia were in large handball, and since then national championships in small handball have also been held. The main limiting factor in the further development of handball was football fields, whose administrations were reluctant to approve the holding of training sessions and matches. Big handball stopped being played officially in 1958. The only remaining handball, there was no longer any need to call it small handball, but simply - handball.

Slobodan Kuzmanovski scored 400 goals in 150 matches for the national team

Modern Handball

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Yugoslavia played its first international small handball match in 1956 at the Tashmaidan Stadium in Belgrade against Sweden, the current world champions at the time. A draw was reached 6:6, and due to cloud cover the match was declared invalid. Yugoslav handball began to rise in the early 1970s reaching its hight until 1990. At the time it was the most-winning handball team in the world, winning three medals at the Olympic Games, four at the World Championships, five at the Mediterranean Games, one at the Goodwill Games, three at the World Handball Cups and two at the Handball Super Leagues.The biggest successes are the gold medals at the 1972 and 1984 Olympic Games, as well as the gold medal at the 1986 World Championship. The team ceased to exist after the split of Yugoslavia in June 1991. Three former Yugoslav republics have since gone on to win medals at major competitions: Croatia fifteen, Serbia four and Slovenia two. In the period from 2003 to 2020, Croatia was considered one of the best teams in international handball, winning the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2003 World Championship, in addition to consistently earning major championship medals.

Accomplishments

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Yugoslav team with the bronze medal at the 1988 Olympics

Summer Olympics

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Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA GD
Nazi Germany 1936 didn't have indoor handball team
West Germany 1972 Final 1st place, gold medalist(s) 6 6 0 0 122 89 +33
Canada 1976 Fifth place game 5th 6 5 0 1 131 112 +19
Soviet Union 1980 Fifth place game 6th 6 4 0 2 155 116 +39
United States 1984 Final 1st place, gold medalist(s) 6 5 1 0 141 93 +48
South Korea 1988 Bronze medal game 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 6 4 1 1 143 132 +11
Total Qualified: 5/5 30 24 2 4 692 542 +120

World Championship

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Yugoslav team after winning the 1986 World Championship
Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA GD
Nazi Germany 1938 didn't have indoor handball team
Sweden 1954
Germany 1958 Main Round 8th 6 2 0 4 101 96 +5
West Germany 1961 Preliminary Round 9th 2 0 0 2 29 32 -3
Czechoslovakia 1964 Main Round 6th 6 2 2 2 102 96 +6
Sweden 1967 Quarterfinal 7th 6 4 0 2 136 110 +26
France 1970 Semifinal 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 6 3 1 2 119 80 +39
East Germany 1974 Semifinal 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 6 5 0 1 134 97 +37
Denmark 1978 Main Round 5th 6 4 1 1 108 96 +12
West Germany 1982 Final 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 7 4 1 2 183 155 +28
Switzerland 1986 Final 1st place, gold medalist(s) 7 7 0 0 168 145 +23
Czechoslovakia 1990 Main Round 4th 7 4 0 3 169 156 +13
Total Qualified: 10/10 59 35 5 19 1249 1063 +186

World Outdoor Championship

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EURO Tournaments

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World Cup (European Tournament)

The World Cup was a handball tournament for men's national teams that was held from 1971 to 2010 in Sweden, partly in Norway in 1999 and partly in Germany in 2006. The event took place irregularly, most recently in even years, alternating with the Supercup tournament in Germany. The Norwegian oil company Statoil has been the sponsor since 2004, and the cup competition has since been called the Statoil World Cup. The World Cup was considered a mini European Cup because, in addition to hosts Sweden, the best seven teams from the previous World Cup which were all European were invited at times. Due to declining audience interest, the event was discontinued in 2010.

EURO - World Cup Swedish Tournament Round Position
Sweden EURO World Cup 1971 Stockholm Champions 1st place, gold medalist(s) of 8
Sweden EURO World Cup 1974 Stockholm Champions 1st place, gold medalist(s) of 8
Sweden EURO World Cup 1979 Stockholm 7th place 7th of 8
Sweden EURO World Cup 1984 Stockholm 3rd place 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) of 8
Sweden EURO World Cup 1988 Stockholm 5th place 5th of 8
Sweden EURO World Cup 1992 Stockholm Runner up 2nd place, silver medalist(s) of 8
Total 2/6 2 Titles
EURO Supercup

The Supercup was a handball tournament for men's national teams that was held every two years in the Federal Republic of Germany from 1979 to 2015 - since 1983 usually between the end of October and the beginning of November. The first tournament was held in December 1979, the second was played in early February 1981, the 1997 competition was postponed to March 1998. Previous Olympic champions, world champions and European champions were initially invited. Because of this high-caliber group of participants, it was sometimes referred to as the Mini European Cup. Most recently it took place alternating with the Statoil World Cup. The Supercup goes back to a suggestion by the then national coach Vlado Stenzel. It was held for the last time in 2015 due to a lack of spectator interest.

EURO - Supercup German Tournament Round Position
Germany EURO Supercup 1979 Dortmund 4th place 4th of 8
Germany EURO Supercup 1981 Dortmund 3rd place 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) of 8
Germany EURO Supercup 1983 Dortmund 3rd place 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)of 8
Germany EURO Supercup 1985 Dortmund 5th place 5th of 8
Germany EURO Supercup 1987 Dortmund 5th place 5th of 8
Germany EURO Supercup 1989 Dortmund 4th place 4th of 8
Germany EURO Supercup 1991 Frankfurt 6th place 6th of 6
Total 0/7 0 Titles

Mediterranean Games

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Games Round Position
Tunisia 1967 Tunis Champions 1st of 4
Turkey 1971 İzmir Tournament canceled
Algeria 1975 Algiers Champions 1st of 5
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 1979 Split Champions 1st of 7
Morocco 1983 Casablanca Champions 1st of 8
Syria 1987 Latakia Didn't Participate
Greece 1991 Athens Champions 1st of 8
Total 5/5 5 Titles

Player statistics

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Coaches

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Period Republic
Nationality
Coach
1951–1967  Croatia Ivan Snoj
1967  Croatia Irislav Dolenec
1967–1972  Croatia Vlado Stenzel
1974  Croatia Josip Milković
1975–1976  Croatia Ivan Snoj
1978  Croatia Zdravko Matulić
1979  Croatia Zlatko Žagmešter
1978–1980  Serbia Jezdimir Stanković
1980–1984  Serbia Branislav Pokrajac
1984–1986  Serbia Zoran Živković
1986–1988  Bosnia and Herzegovina Abas Arslanagić
1989–1991  Serbia Jezdimir Stanković

Squads

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Succeeding national teams

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Team Federation
 Bosnia and Herzegovina Handball Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
 Croatia Croatian Handball Federation
 Kosovo Handball Federation of Kosovo
 North Macedonia Macedonian Handball Federation
 Montenegro Handball Federation of Montenegro
 Serbia Handball Federation of Serbia
 Slovenia Handball Federation of Slovenia
 Yugoslavia
 Serbia and Montenegro
Defunct