Montenegro women's national handball team

The Montenegro women's national handball team is the national team of Montenegro. It is governed by the Handball Federation of Montenegro and takes part in international handball competitions.

Montenegro
Information
NicknameZlatne lavice (Golden lionesses)
AssociationHandball Federation of Montenegro
CoachKim Rasmussen
Assistant coachBojana Popović
Gojko Vučinić
CaptainJovanka Radičević
Most capsJovanka Radičević (165)
Most goalsJovanka Radičević (913)
Colours
Home
Away
Results
Summer Olympics
Appearances2 (First in 2012)
Best result2nd (2012)
World Championship
Appearances5 (First in 2011)
Best result5th (2019)
European Championship
Appearances6 (First in 2010)
Best result1st (2012)
Last updated on Unknown.
Montenegro women's national handball team
Medal record
Olympic Games
2012 LondonTeam
European Championship
2012 SerbiaTeam
Mediterranean Games
2009 PescaraTeam
2018 TarragonaTeam

History

Montenegro's women's national handball team was formed in 2006, shortly after Montenegro gained independence. It was founded upon ŽRK Budućnost Podgorica, a club with numerous European trophies, which produced many famous Montenegrin players.

2006–2011

Montenegro has been playing in official competitions since 2006.[1] They played for the first time during the qualifying tournament for the 2007 World Women's Handball Championship in Cheb, where they finished second with four wins and one defeat. A year later, Montenegro did not qualify for the 2008 European Women's Handball Championship after a defeat in the playoffs against Croatia. The same result occurred at qualifiers for the 2009 World Women's Handball Championship in China, as Montenegro lost to Sweden in the playoffs.

Montenegro's first significant success came in 2010. After passing the qualifiers without any defeats, the team participated in the 2010 European Women's Handball Championship in Denmark and Norway. Montenegro finished in sixth place, with 46 goals from Montenegro's Bojana Popović.


For the first time, Montenegro played at the IHF World Women's Handball Championship in 2011. After passing the group stage, Montenegro was eliminated by Spain in the round of 16.

Olympic silver and European gold (2012)

On 11 August 2012, Montenegro won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. In 16 December 2012, they became champions at the 2012 European Women's Handball Championship in Belgrade.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Montenegro passed the group round with two defeats but won elimination matches against France and Spain. In the final match, Montenegro was defeated by Norway 23–26. With their second place title, Montenegro won the first Olympic medal for Montenegro since their country became independent. Bojana Popović and Katarina Bulatović were prominent players on the team during this tournament.

At the 2012 European Women's Handball Championship in Serbia, Montenegro won its first title at a major handball championship. In the semi-finals, Montenegro defeated Serbia 27–26. In the finals, Montenegro defeated Norway 34–31, winning the championship. The players Katarina Bulatović and Jovanka Radičević played significant roles in the team's victory. With 56 goals, Bulatović was the top scorer of the championship.

Montenegro won both medals, in London and in Belgrade, with head coach Dragan Adžić.

2013–present

After two successes in 2012, Montenegro was eliminated by Denmark in the round of 16 at the 2013 World Women's Handball Championship.


Montenegro did well in the 2014 European Women's Handball Championship. After making it to the semi-finals, the team was defeated by Spain. In the end, Montenegro finished in fourth place.

Montenegro made significant strides in the 2015 World Women's Handball Championship. After a notable win against Hungary 32–15, Montenegro eliminated Angola in the round of 16. However, in the quarterfinals, Norway defeated Montenegro 26–25. That was the first performance of Montenegro in the quarterfinals of a World Women's Handball Championship.

At their second appearance in the Summer Olympics, Montenegro did not perform as well, in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. With five defeats during the group stage, Montenegro finished in nearly last place.


After the Olympics, Montenegro made big changes to the team and recruited many new young players produced by ŽRK Budućnost. The first main competition for the newly formed team was at the 2016 European Women's Handball Championship, where Montenegro had the youngest team. With one win and two defeats, the team finished in 13th place.

In November 2017, The Handball Federation of Montenegro stated that the new head coach of the national team would be Per Johansson instead of Dragan Adžić, who had served the team for seven years. As a coach, Adžić led Montenegro to nine big international competitions, winning gold during the 2012 European Championship and silver during the Summer Olympics the same year.

With a new head coach, Montenegro finished sixth in the 2017 World Women's Handball Championship, with equal wins and losses, 3–1–3. The next year, they played at the 2018 European Women's Handball Championship in France but did not succeed. After six games, Montenegro finished the tournament in ninth place.

Competitive record

The Montenegrin national team has participated in many international competitions, including the Summer Olympics, World Championship and European Championship.

TournamentMatchesWinsDrawsLoss
Summer Olympic Games13418
World Championship3722213
European Championship3822115
Qualifying matches EC/WC/OG604857
Overall14896943

Olympic Games

Montenegro has participated in two Summer Olympics (2012 and 2016). In 2012, the women's handball team won the first Olympic medal for Montenegro since their independence.

Olympic Games Qualification
Year Pos. Pld W D L Pld W D L
20122nd84133300
201611th50053210
2020TBDTBD
Total134186510

World Championship

Montenegro has participated in five World Championships. After failing to qualify for championships 2007 and 2009, they have participated in five consecutive tournaments. The best results Montenegro had were in 2015 and 2017, when they played in the quarterfinals.

World Championship Qualification
Year Pos. Pld W D L Pld W D L
2007Did not qualify5401
20097511
201110th63032200
201311th6402DNP
20158th95132110
20176th73132101
20195th97022101
2021To be determinedTBD
// 2023
/ 2025
2027
Total3722213201424

European Championship

Montenegro has participated in seven European Championships. After having failed to qualify for the European Championship 2008, they have participated in all subsequent tournaments.Montenegro was the European champion in 2012 and a semi-finalist in 2014 and will co-host the 2022 edition along with Slovenia and North Macedonia.

European Championship Qualification
Year Pos. Pld W D L Pld W D L
2008Did not qualify6402
20106th74036510
20121st87016501
20144th85036510
201613th31026501
20189th63036600
/ 20208th6213Cancelled
// 2022Qualified as co-hostQualified as co-host
// 2024To be determinedTBD
Total3822115363024

Team

Current squad

Squad for the 2020 European Women's Handball Championship.[2][3]

Head coach: Kim Rasmussen

No. Pos. Name Date of birth (age) Height App. Goals Club
4 RW Jovanka Radičević (1986-10-23) 23 October 1986 1.69 m 165 913 ŽRK Budućnost
9 LB Đurđina Jauković (1997-02-24) 24 February 1997 1.85 m 70 223 Brest Bretagne
10 CB Matea Pletikosić (1998-04-24) 24 April 1998 1.69 m 6 2 RK Krim
12 GK Anastasija Babović (2000-12-13) 13 December 2000 1.88 m 8 0 Dunaújvárosi Kohász KA
13 LW Dijana Mugoša (1995-10-22) 22 October 1995 1.67 m 20 11 RK Podravka
14 RB Katarina Džaferović (2002-07-14) 14 July 2002 1.80 m 6 1 ŽRK Budućnost
15 RB Andrea Klikovac (1991-05-05) 5 May 1991 1.80 m 83 48 CSM București
16 GK Ljubica Nenezić (1997-01-15) 15 January 1997 1.83 m 33 0 HC Dunărea Brăila
23 RW Dijana Ujkić (1996-07-05) 5 July 1996 1.72 m 42 38 SCM Gloria Buzău
43 GK Marta Batinović (1990-04-20) 20 April 1990 1.88 m 17 0 SCM Râmnicu Vâlcea
66 P Ema Ramusović (1996-11-28) 28 November 1996 1.87 m 64 64 ŽRK Budućnost
71 P Bobana Klikovac (1995-07-19) 19 July 1995 1.81 m 31 20 SCM Gloria Buzău
77 LW Majda Mehmedović (1990-05-25) 25 May 1990 1.69 m 124 333 ŽRK Budućnost
80 LB Jelena Despotović (1994-04-30) 30 April 1994 1.83 m 86 110 Debreceni VSC
96 CB Itana Grbić (1996-09-01) 1 September 1996 1.69 m 55 57 ŽRK Budućnost
97 P Nikolina Vukčević (2000-07-28) 28 July 2000 1.86 m 10 5 ŽRK Budućnost

Current staff

Head coaches

Since independence, Montenegro has been led by three different coaches. During the first years, the head coach was Nikola Petrović. After Petrović, Montenegro was led by Gyula Zsiga and then by Dragan Adžić, who was the most successful head coach.

Coach From To Record* Championship
MWDLWin %
Nikola Petrović20062008 11 8 0 3 072.73 None
Gyula Zsiga20082010 13 10 2 1 076.92 None
Dragan Adžić20102017 92 59 5 28 064.13 EC 2010 (6th); WC 2011 (10th); OG 2012 (2nd); EC 2012 (1st); WC 2013 (11th); EC 2014 (4th); WC 2015 (8th); OG 2016 (11th); EC 2016 (13th)
Per Johansson 20172020 30 21 1 8 070.00 WC 2017 (6th); EC 2018 (9th);WC 2019 (5th)
Kim Rasmussen 2020

* Data are only for official matches (qualifiers, European Championship, World Championship, Olympic Games).

Notable former players

Opponents

Since independence, Montenegro played official games against 38 different teams. The only national team against which Montenegro has never played is Brazil. Below is the list of the performances of Montenegro national handball team against every single opponent.

Opponent G W D L
 Angola
4
3
0
1
 Azerbaijan
2
2
0
0
 Belarus
2
1
0
1
 Bosnia and Herzegovina
1
1
0
0
 Brazil
3
0
1
2
 Bulgaria
2
2
0
0
 China
1
1
0
0
 Croatia
6
2
0
4
 Czech Republic
8
6
0
2
 Denmark
8
4
0
5
 Dominican Republic
1
1
0
0
 DR Congo
1
1
0
0
 Finland
1
1
0
0
 France
9
2
0
7
 Germany
3
2
0
1
 Greece
1
1
0
0
 Great Britain
3
3
0
0
 Hungary
4
3
0
1
 Iceland
5
3
1
1
 Italy
3
3
0
0
 Japan
4
3
0
1
 Kazakhstan
1
1
0
0
 Netherlands
2
2
0
0
 North Macedonia
2
2
0
0
 Norway
5
1
0
4
 Poland
8
8
0
0
 Portugal
3
2
1
0
 Romania
6
3
1
2
 Russia
11
4
2
5
 Senegal
1
1
0
0
 Serbia
6
5
1
0
 South Korea
1
1
0
0
 Slovakia
6
5
0
1
 Slovenia
5
5
0
0
 Spain
8
3
1
4
 Sweden
8
5
1
2
  Switzerland
1
1
0
0
 Tunisia
2
2
0
0
 Turkey
1
1
0
0
 Uruguay
1
1
0
0
OVERALL
150
97
9
44

Last update: April 2019.

See also

References

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