Daniel Narcisse and Alexandra do Nascimento were the winners in 2012, but who will succeed on the Frenchmen and the Brazilian as Grundfos World Handball Players of the Year 2013? This question will be answered on 26 January 2014. On the final day of the Men’s European championship in Herning/Denmark the Grundfos World Handball Players of the Year 2013 will be awarded by Dr Hassan Moustafa, President of the International Handball Federation and Grunfos representative Mr Kim Klastrup.

 

Now it is the choice of handball fans and media to cast their votes for the each five nominees in the male and female categories. An IHF expert jury has nominated each five male and female players, who imprinted the global handball year 2013 including both Men’s and Women’s World Championships in Spain and Serbia.

The starting whistle was blown during the final press conference of the Women’s World Championship in Serbia on Sunday (22 December).

 

Among those ten players are six former or current Grundfos World Handball Players of the Year: Daniel Narcisse (2012), Mikkel Hansen (2011), Filip Jicha (2010), Arpad Sterbik (2005), Heidi Löke (2011) and Anita Görbicz (2005).

 

The online-based voting for fans and media in different sections will end on 17 January 2014. So vote now on http://www.ihfdata.com for your Grundfos World Handball Players of the Year 2013!

 

The World Handball Players 2013 do not only receive a memorable trophy, but also a cheque worth 10.000 Euros, presented by IHF partner Grundfos.

  

Nominees:

Men:

Mikkel Hansen (DEN)
Born: 22 October 1987, Club: Paris St. Germain (FRA), Position: left back

World Handball Player of the Year 2011
Silver medallist at World Championships 2011 and 2013, Top scorer of World Championship 2011, All-star-team member at World Championship 2011, European championship 2012 and World Championship 2013 (Most Valuable player), European champion 2012
Danish champion and cup winner 2011 with AG Kobenhavn, French champion 2013 with Paris
Champions League finalist 2010 with FC Barcelona

 

 

Filip Jicha (CZE)
Born:  19.4.1982, Club: THW Kiel (GER), Position: left back
World Handball Player of the Year 2010
Top scorer, All Star Team member and Most Valuable Player at the EURO 2010
Champions League Winner 2010 and 2012 (with Kiel), Champions League finalist 2008, 2009, EHF Champions Trophy Winner 2007, Top scorer Champions League 2009 and 2010, Winner of the IHF Super Globe 2011 with Kiel, IHF Super Globe finalist 2012

German Champion 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, German Cup winner 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, Most Valuable Player of the German Bundesliga 2010, German and Czech Handball Player of the Year 2009 and 2010

 

 

Domagoj Duvnjak (CRO)

Born: 1.6.1988, club: HSV Hamburg (GER), position: center back


Champions League winner 2013 (HSV Hamburg), German Champion 2011 (HSV Hamburg), German Cup winner 2010 (HSV Hamburg), three times Croatian Champion (RK Zagreb), three times Croatian Cup winner (RK Zagreb), Olympic Bronze medal 2012, silver medal World Championship 2009, silver medal European Championship 2008, 2010, All Star Team World Championship 2013

 

 

Arpad Sterbik (ESP)

Born: 22.11.1979, club: FC Barcelona (ESP), position: goalkeeper


World Handball Player of the 2005, World Champion 2013, Champions League winner 2006, 2008, 2009 (Ciudad Real), Champions League finalist 2013, five times Spanish Champion (Ciudad Real, FC Barcelona), three times Hungarian Champion (Fotex Veszprem), two times Hungarian Cup winner

 

 

Daniel Narcisse (FRA)

Born: 16.12.1979, club: Paris Saint-Germain HB (FRA), position: Center back, left back

World Handball Player of the Year 2012, Olympics Champion 2008 and 2012, World Champion 2001 and 2009, European Champion 2006 and 2010, Super Globe winner 2011, Champions League winner 2010 and 2012, German champion 2010, 2012 and 2013, German cup winner 2011, 2012 and 2013 with THW Kiel, French champion 2001 with Chambery Savoie HB

 

 

Women:

Katrine Lunde-Haraldsen (NOR)
Born: 30.3.1980, Club: Audi ETO Györ (HUN), Position: Goalkeeper
Olympics Champion 2008 and 2012, 2012 in Olympic All Star Team
World Champion 2011, Silver Medallist at World Championship 2007, Bronze Medallist at World Championships 2009
European Champion: 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, European silver medallist 2012
Two times Champions League winner (2009, 2010) with Viborg HK, 2013 Champions League winner with Györ, 2012 Champions League finalist with Györ

 

 

Heidi Löke (NOR)
Born: 12.12.1982, Club: Audi ETO Györ (HUN), Position: Pivot
World Handball Player of the Year 2011

Olympic champion 2012, World Champion 2011
All-star-team-member at World Championship 2011
Bronze medallist at World Championship 2009
European Champion 2008, 2010, European silver-medallist 2012
Champions League winner 2011 with Larvik HK, Champions League winner 2013 with Györ, Champions League finalist 2012 with Györ, top scorer of Champions League season 2010/2011
Several times Norwegian champion, cup winner and top scorer of Norwegian League.

 

Andrea Lekic (SRB)
Born: 6.9.1987, Club: Vardar Skopje (MKD), Position: centre back

European championship semi-finalist with Serbia 2012

World Championship 2013 finalist

Champions League winner 2013 with Audi ETO Györ
Each four times Slovenian champion and Cup winner with RK Krim Mercator, two times Hungarian champion with Audi ETO Györ, Serbian champion with Knjaz Milos
Most Valuable Player of the Women’s Regional Handball League 2009

 

 

Anita Görbicz (HUN)

Born:  13 May 1983, club: Györi ETO KC (HUN), position: centre back,
top results: Silver medallist with Hungary at World Championships 2003, Bronze medallist 2005, two times Bronze medallist with Hungary at European Championships 2004 and 2012,
Champions League winner 2013, eighth times Hungarian champion and eighth times Hungarian cup winner; IHF World Handball Player of the year 2005.

 

 

Katarina Bulatovic (MNE)
Born: 15 November 1984, club: Györi ETO KC (HUN), position: right back,
Top results: Silver medallist with Montenegro at Olympic Games 2012, European Champion 2012, Champions League winner 2007 (with Slagelse/DEN) and 2012 (with Buducnost Podgorica), Europeans Cup winners cup 2010 (with Buducnost), Danish, Romanian and Montenegrin champion and Montenegrin Cup winner

All World Handball Players of the Year:

Women: 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

Men: 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)