More than 35.000 handball fans from all over the world have cast their votes – and the winners are…..Serbian Andrea Lekic and Croat Domagoj Duvnjak! Both are the 2013 Grundfos World Handball Players of the Year. IHF President Dr Hassan Moustafa unveiled the secret together with Grundfos Director of Corporate Brand Development Mr Kim Klastrup on Sunday (26 January) in Herning, Denmark, prior to the final of the European Championship of Denmark vs. France. 

Just prior to his awarding to the World Handball Player of the Year, Duvnjak, who still was in his jersey, had missed the bronze medal after a 28:29 against Spain but was also awarded All Star Player of the European championship as best centre back.

For both, 26 year old Lekic and Duvnjak, it is the first ever Grundfos World Handball Player award in their career, they are the successors of Alexandra Nascimento (BRA) and Daniel Narcisse (FRA). After Ivano Balic in 2003 and 2006, Duvnjak (playing for German side HSV Hamburg) is the second Croat in history to win this award, Lekic (playing for Macedonian champions Vardar Skopje) is the first ever Serbian women, Svetlana Kitic had been the first ever female awarded in 1988 for Yugoslavia.

IHF President Dr Hassan Moustafa and Kim Klastrup handed over the official Grundfos World Handball Player of the Year trophy and a cheque worth 10.000 Euros to both players, who were cheered with a big applause by the 14.000 fans in the sold-out arena in Herning.

Lekic and Duvnjak received exactly each 33 percent of all votes. Second ranked in the women’s voting was Hungarian Anita Görbicz (27%), ahead of their Györ club team mates Katrine Lunde (Norway/20%), Katarina Bulatovic (Montenegro/13%) and 2011 Grundfos World Handball Player of the Year Heidi Löke (Norway/7%).

Duvnjak topped the ranking ahead of Danish Mikkel Hansen (2011 Grundfos World Handball Player of the Year/27%), Spaniard Arpad Sterbik (2005 Grundfos World Handball Player of the Year/20%), Czech Filip Jicha (2010 Grundfos World Handball Player of the Year/13%) and Frenchmen Daniel Narcisse (2012 Grundfos World Handball Player of the Year/7%). 

Lekic, who had started her international career in Ljubljana, was the key player of the Serbian team to win the silver medal on home ground at the 2013 World Championship. Additionally she won the EHF Champions League trophy with her former club Audi ETO Györ (Hungary). 

25 year old Duvnjak also won the EHF Champions League in 2013 with Hamburg, was All Star Team player and bronze medallist at the World Championship 2013 in Spain with the Croats. The former Zagreb player was World Championship runners-up in 2009, European silver medallist in 2010 and each bronze medal winner at the 2012 Olympic Games and the 2012 European championship.

1. Andrea Lekic (SRB, Vardar Skopje) 33%

2. Anita Görbicz (HUN, Audi ETO Györ) 27%

3. Katrine Lunde (NOR, Audi ETO Györ) 20%

4. Katarina Bulatovic (MNE, Audi ETO Györ) 13%

5. Heidi Löke (NOR, Audi ETO Györ) 7%

1. Domagoj Duvnjak (CRO, HSV Hamburg) 33%

2. Mikkel Hansen (DEN, Paris St. Germain) 27%

3. Arpad Sterbik (ESP, FC Barcelona)20%

4. Filip Jicha (CZE, THW Kiel) 13%

5. Daniel Narcisse (FRA, Paris St. Germain)7%

1988 Svetlana Kitic YUG 

1989 Hyun-Mee Kim KOR

1990 Jasna Merdan-Kolar AUT 

1994 Mia Hermansson-Hogdahl SWE 

1995 Erszsebet Kocsis HUN 

1996 O-Kyeong Lim KOR 

1997 Anja Andersen DEN 

1998 Trine Haltvik NOR 

1999 Ausra Fridrikas AUT 

2000 Bojana Radulovics HUN 

2001 Cecilie Leganger NOR 

2002 Chao Zhai CHN 

2003 Bojana Radulovics HUN 

2004 Anita Kulcsar HUN 

2005 Anita Görbicz HUN 

2006 Nadine Krause GER 

2007 Gro Hammerseng NOR 

2008 Linn-Kristin Riegelhuth NOR 

2009 Alison Pineau FRA

2010 Cristina Neagu ROM 

2011 Heidi Løke NOR 

2012 Alexandra Nascimento BRA

2013: Andrea Lekic SRB

1988 Veselin Vujovic YUG 

1989 Jae-Won Kang KOR 

1990 Magnus Wislander SWE 

1994 Talant Dushebajew RUS 

1995 Jackson Richardson FRA 

1996 Talant Dushebajew ESP 

1997 Stephane Stoecklin FRA 

1998 Daniel Stephan GER 

1999 Rafael Guijosa ESP 

2000 Dragan Skrbic YUG 

2001 Kyung-Shin Yoon KOR 

2002 Bertrand Gille FRA 

2003 Ivano Balic CRO 

2004 Henning Fritz GER 

2005 Arpad Sterbik SCG 

2006 Ivano Balic CRO 

2007 Nikola Karabatic FRA 

2008 Thierry Omeyer FRA 

2009 Slawomir Szmal POL 

2010 Filip Jicha CZE 

2011 Mikkel Hansen DEN

2012 Daniel Narcisse FRA

2013: Domagoj Duvnjak CRO