They set a record which they would rather have gone without: Never before had a national handball team won the bronze medal at three consecutive major tournaments. The team of Slavko Goluza succeeded in doing so at the 2012 ECh, 2012 Olympics and 2013 WCh. At the 2014 European Championship they reached the semi-finals again but lost against host Denmark and were then even defeated by Spain in the bronze medal match. “At some time we are ready for a final match, for the gold medal,” says Domagoj Duvnjak, whose team had previously mostly failed against France. Duvnjak was elected World Handball Player of the Year 2013 and has succeeded the genius Ivano Balic, who was one of the key players of the Croatian team. The World Champion of 2003 (with Goluza as player) consists of experienced players such as goalkeeper Venjo Losert or pivot Igor Vori, numerous highly talented young stars such as Stipe Mandalinic, but mainly of a generation, who has never won any title despite its world class, including Duvnjak, goalkeeper Alilovic or wing players Ivan Cupic, Manuel Strlek and Zlatko Horvat. In 2009, in their home country in Zagreb, Croatia lost the WCh final against France, at the 2010 ECh in Austria they suffered a final defeat – again against France. Thus, the last time Croatia won a gold medal was at the 2004 Olympics. In the last years, no team has reached as many semi-finals at major tournaments as Croatia, but the big success has never come. Now they want to start their next attempt in Doha. There will be no significant changes in the team; even Igor Vori, who has served the Croatian team for the longest time, says: “I will be available as long as I can run.”