IHF World Player of the Year

Award

IHF World Player of the YearSport| Handball

|

Competition| International Handball
Awarded for| Best Performance in International Handball Competitions
History
First award| 1988
Most wins| Men: Mikkel Hansen
Nikola Karabatić
(3 awards each)
Women: Cristina Neagu
(4 awards)
Most recent| Men:  Mathias Gidsel (1st title)
Women:  Henny Reistad (1st title)

The IHF World Player of the Year is a handball award given annually to the player who is considered to have performed the best in the previous season, both at club and international competitions. It is awarded based on votes from experts, media and fans.

## About

[edit]

The award was awarded by IHF since 1988 in both Men's and Women's Category separately.

No award was awarded in the years 1991, 1992, 1993, 2017, 2020 and 2022.[1][2]

## Men

[edit]

Year | Winner | Country | Position | Ref.

|
|
|
|

1988 | Veselin Vujović |  Yugoslavia | Left back |
1989 | Kang Jae-Won |  South Korea | Right back |
1990 | Magnus Wislander |  Sweden | Center back |
1991  | No vote
1992
1993
1994 | Talant Dujshebaev |  Russia | Centre back |
1995 | Jackson Richardson |  France | Centre back |
1996 | Talant Dujshebaev (2) |  Spain | Centre back |
1997 | Stéphane Stoecklin |  France | Right back |
1998 | Daniel Stephan |  Germany | Left back |
1999 | Rafael Guijosa |  Spain | Left wing |
2000 | Dragan Škrbić |  Yugoslavia | Line player |
2001 | Yoon Kyung-Shin |  South Korea | Right back |
2002 | Bertrand Gille |  France | Line player |
2003 | Ivano Balić |  Croatia | Centre back |
2004 | Henning Fritz |  Germany | Goalkeeper |
2005 | Arpad Šterbik |  Serbia and Montenegro | Goalkeeper |
2006 | Ivano Balić (2) |  Croatia | Centre back |
2007 | Nikola Karabatić |  France | Centre back |
2008 | Thierry Omeyer |  France | Goalkeeper | [3]
2009 | Sławomir Szmal |  Poland | Goalkeeper | [4]
2010 | Filip Jícha |  Czech Republic | Left back | [5]
2011 | Mikkel Hansen |  Denmark | Left back | [6]
2012 | Daniel Narcisse |  France | Centre back | [7]
2013 | Domagoj Duvnjak |  Croatia | Centre back |
2014 | Nikola Karabatić (2) |  France | Centre back |
2015 | Mikkel Hansen (2) |  Denmark | Left back |
2016 | Nikola Karabatić (3) |  France | Centre back |
2017 | Not awarded
2018 | Mikkel Hansen (3) |  Denmark | Left back | [8]
2019 | Niklas Landin Jacobsen |  Denmark | Goalkeeper | [9]
2020 | Not awarded
2021 | Niklas Landin Jacobsen (2) |  Denmark | Goalkeeper | [10]
2022 | Not awarded
2023 | Mathias Gidsel |  Denmark | Right back | [11]

## Women

[edit]

Year | Winner | Country | Position

|
|
|

1988 | Svetlana Kitić |  Yugoslavia | Centre back
1989 | Kim Hyun-Mee |  South Korea |
1990 | Jasna Kolar-Merdan |  Austria | Left back
1991  | No vote
1992
1993
1994 | Mia Hermansson |  Sweden | Centre back
1995 | Erzsébet Kocsis |  Hungary | Line player
1996 | Lim O-Kyeong |  South Korea | Centre back
1997 | Anja Andersen |  Denmark | Left back
1998 | Trine Haltvik |  Norway | Centre back
1999 | Ausra Fridrikas |  Austria | Left back
2000 | Bojana Radulović |  Hungary | Right back
2001 | Cecilie Leganger |  Norway | Goalkeeper
2002 | Zhai Chao |  China | Centre back
2003 | Bojana Radulović (2) |  Hungary | Right back
2004 | Anita Kulcsár |  Hungary | Line player
2005 | Anita Görbicz |  Hungary | Centre back
2006 | Nadine Krause |  Germany | Left back
2007 | Gro Hammerseng |  Norway | Centre back
2008 | Linn-Kristin Riegelhuth[12] |  Norway | Right wing
2009 | Allison Pineau[13] |  France | Centre back
2010 | Cristina Neagu[5] |  Romania | Left back
2011 | Heidi Løke[6] |  Norway | Line player
2012 | Alexandra do Nascimento[7] |  Brazil | Right wing
2013 | Andrea Lekić |  Serbia | Centre back
2014 | Eduarda Amorim |  Brazil | Left back
2015 | Cristina Neagu (2) |  Romania | Left back
2016 | Cristina Neagu (3) |  Romania | Left back
2017 | Not awarded
2018 | Cristina Neagu[8] (4) |  Romania | Left back
2019 | Stine Bredal Oftedal[9] |  Norway | Centre back
2020 | Not awarded
2021 | Sandra Toft |  Denmark | Goalkeeper
2022 | Not awarded
2023 | Henny Reistad |  Norway | Left back

## Previous awards

[edit]

While the IHF has only reported awards since 1988, other players have been voted best players in the world before.

Thus, the Romanian Ștefan Birtalan was elected World Player of the Year in 1974, 1976 and 1977.[14] And Ioan Moser of Romania was also named "Best Handball Player in the World” in 1964.[15]

## Best players of all time

[edit]

In 1992, Gheorghe Gruia of Romania was named Best Player of All Time by the International Handball Federation.[16][17]

In 2000, Magnus Wislander of Sweden and Zinaida Turchyna of Ukraine were elected Players of the 20th Century by the IHF.[18][19]

In 2010, Ivano Balić of Croatia and Svetlana Kitić of Yugoslavia were voted Best Players Ever in an online poll organized by the IHF.[20][21]

## Team of the century

[edit]

In 2000, the official bulletin of the International Handball Federation, World Handball Magazine, chose Gheorghe Gruia, Ioan Moser and Cornel Penu as members of the "Team of the Century".[22]

## Other awards

[edit]

In 2010, the fans voted Thierry Omeyer as world's best goalkeeper ever.[23] And in 2011, the fans voted for Luminița Dinu (born Huțupan) as best female goalkeeper ever.[24]

Previously in 2009, Steffen Fäth and Cristina Neagu respectively won Rookie of the Year award for male and female.[25]

## See also

[edit]

* EHF Players of the Year

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Pech für Andy Schmid: Wahl zum Welt-Handballer fällt aus". Tagblatt (in German). 27 June 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
2. ^ "Overview: previous world handball player of the year – both male and female". handball-world. 4 July 2018. Archived from the original on 28 September 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
3. ^ "Player of the Year – Men 2008". IHF. Archived from the original on 25 August 2010. Retrieved 7 December 2010.
4. ^ "Player of the Year – Men 2009". IHF. Archived from the original on 25 August 2010. Retrieved 7 December 2010.
5. ^ a b "Neagu and Jicha World Handball Players of the Year 2010". IHF. Archived from the original on 16 January 2011. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
6. ^ a b "Heidi Løke and Mikkel Hansen World Handball Players of the Year 2011". International Handball Federation. 1 March 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
7. ^ a b "Alexandra do Nascimento and Daniel Narcisse are GRUNDFOS World Handball Players of the Year 2012". International Handball Federation. 8 January 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
8. ^ a b "Neagu and Hansen named 2018 World Players of the Year". International Handball Federation. 18 March 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
9. ^ a b "Oftedal and Landin named 2019 IHF World Players of the Year". IHF. 18 July 2020.
10. ^ "IHF | Danish delight in the 2021 IHF World Players and Coaches of the Year awards". www.ihf.info. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
11. ^ "IHF | 2023 IHF WORLD PLAYER OF THE YEAR WINNERS REVEALED". www.ihf.info. Retrieved 2024-03-22.
12. ^ "Player of the Year – Women 2008". IHF. Archived from the original on 25 August 2010. Retrieved 7 December 2010.
13. ^ "Player of the Year – Women 2009". IHF. Archived from the original on 25 August 2010. Retrieved 7 December 2010.
14. ^ "HANDBALL LEGEND AMAZED BY CL FINAL". ehfcl.com. Archived from the original on 11 August 2017. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
15. ^ "Einst verfemt, jetzt Ehrenbürger" (in German). Retrieved 18 May 2014.
16. ^ "Handball World Mourns the Loss of Icon, Friend & Teacher". ihf.info. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
17. ^ "Gheorghe Gruia: La zurda rumana que dominó el mundo" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
18. ^ "Wislander "Welt-Handballer des Jahrhunderts"" (in German). thw-handball.de. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
19. ^ "Турчина — лучшая гандболистка века" (in Russian). kommersant.ru. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
20. ^ Ivano Balic voted best male player ever
21. ^ Svetlana Kitic voted best female player ever
22. ^ "Geschichten rund um den Handball in Siebenbürgen (XIV)" (in German). Retrieved 18 May 2014.
23. ^ Voting of the IHF users: Omeyer world’s best goalkeeper
24. ^ Fans vote for Luminita Dinu as best female goalkeeper ever
25. ^ "Neagu, "World's best Rookie of the Year 2009"". Archived from the original on 2019-02-01. Retrieved 2019-02-02.

## External links

[edit]

* All the previous World Handball Players on the IHF homepage
* World Handball Awards on the IHF homepage

* v
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International handball

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International women's handball

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Africa|

CAHB
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North America and Caribbean|

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Multi-sport events|

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* v
* t
* e

IHF World Player of the Year – Men

* Veselin Vujović (1988)
* Kang Jae-won (1989)
* Magnus Wislander (1990)
* Talant Dujshebaev (1994)
* Jackson Richardson (1995)
* Talant Dujshebaev (1996)
* Stéphane Stoecklin (1997)
* Daniel Stephan (1998)
* Rafael Guijosa (1999)
* Dragan Škrbić (2000)
* Yoon Kyung-shin (2001)
* Bertrand Gille (2002)
* Ivano Balić (2003)
* Henning Fritz (2004)
* Árpád Sterbik (2005)
* Ivano Balić (2006)
* Nikola Karabatić (2007)
* Thierry Omeyer (2008)
* Sławomir Szmal (2009)
* Filip Jícha (2010)
* Mikkel Hansen (2011)
* Daniel Narcisse (2012)
* Domagoj Duvnjak (2013)
* Nikola Karabatić (2014)
* Mikkel Hansen (2015)
* Nikola Karabatić (2016)
* Not awarded (2017)
* Mikkel Hansen (2018)
* Niklas Landin Jacobsen (2019)
* Not awarded (2020)
* Niklas Landin Jacobsen (2021)
* Not awarded (2022)
* Mathias Gidsel (2023)

Rankings before 1988: Ștefan Birtalan  (1974, 1976, 1977)
Best Player of All Time: Gheorghe Gruia (1992)
Player of the 20th Century: Magnus Wislander (2000)
IHF Best Player in History: Ivano Balić (2010)

* v
* t
* e

IHF World Player of the Year – Women

* Svetlana Kitić (1988)
* Kim Hyun-mee (1989)
* Jasna Kolar-Merdan (1990)
* Mia Hermansson-Högdahl (1994)
* Erzsébet Kocsis (1995)
* Lim O-kyeong (1996)
* Anja Andersen (1997)
* Trine Haltvik (1998)
* Ausra Fridrikas (1999)
* Bojana Radulović (2000)
* Cecilie Leganger (2001)
* Zhai Chao (2002)
* Bojana Radulović (2003)
* Anita Kulcsár (2004)
* Anita Görbicz (2005)
* Nadine Krause (2006)
* Gro Hammerseng-Edin (2007)
* Linn-Kristin Riegelhuth Koren (2008)
* Allison Pineau (2009)
* Cristina Neagu (2010)
* Heidi Løke (2011)
* Alexandra do Nascimento (2012)
* Andrea Lekić (2013)
* Eduarda Amorim (2014)
* Cristina Neagu (2015)
* Cristina Neagu (2016)
* Not awarded (2017)
* Cristina Neagu (2018)
* Stine Bredal Oftedal (2019)
* Not awarded (2020)
* Sandra Toft (2021)
* Not awarded (2022)
* Henny Reistad (2023)

Player of the 20th Century: Zinaida Turchyna (2000)
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