Coach: Eduard Koksharov

 

Key players: Timur Dibirov (Left wing), Pavel Atman (Left back), Daniil Shishkarev (Right wing)

 

Qualification information: Winner of European qualification play-off versus Czech Republic

 

History in tournament: 1954-1990 as Soviet Union, 1993: 1st, 1995: 5th, 1997: 1st, 1999: 2nd, 2001: 6th, 2003: 5th, 2005: 8th, 2007: 6th, 2009: 16th, 2011: DNQ, 2013: 7th, 2015: 19th, 2017: 12th

 

Russia travel to their 26th World Championship group phase venue in Germany hoping to make their way out of the well of disappointment they have found themselves in for some years now. Though Russia boast several world-class players in their squad – some even considered among the best in their position – success has eluded them at recent major international events and even in the qualification stages.

 

Russia’s failure to qualify for the World Championship for the first time in 2011 seemed to start a downward spiral, which saw them miss the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games. In 2018, for the first time since the EURO was introduced in 1994, Russia had to watch the event on TV as they missed out on a place at the continental championship as well.

 

Russia travelled a little further than some other European teams to reach GER/DEN 2019, as they started in qualification phase 1, before being joined by the EURO 2018 participants for the play-off stage. There, Russia met Czech Republic – an increasingly dangerous side that meant Russia were in for a real battle. Czech Republic took a one-goal win at home in the first-leg play-off, before Russia won the second clash 29:21 for an aggregate result of 55:48, which secured their place at the 2019 World Championship.

 

At the previous World Championship in France, Russia looked to be strong contenders but were eliminated by eventual bronze medallists Slovenia in the eighth-final, achieving an overall ranking of 12th – which was, at least, an improvement from the disappointing 19th at Qatar 2015.

 

It is clear the team are motivated to improve their results at the upcoming World Championship, with the longer-term goal of qualifying for the 2020 Olympic Games in mind:

 

“We can't wait to start playing at the World Championship and show the strength of Russian handball. This time we are going to demonstrate what we are really capable of,” says right wing Dmitrii Kovalev. “A good result at the Championship will let us qualify for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. I hope that there will be no injuries and all the best players will be able to represent Russia at the Championship – that's the most important thing.”

 

Russia could hardly have been drawn into a tougher group for their 2019 World Championship campaign. They will open with what can be expected to be a close match versus Serbia, before meeting the unified Korea team – and then the path veers steeply upwards. In Round 3, Russia will take on 2016 European champions and co-hosts Germany, followed by Brazil and lastly, the back-to-back defending champions France.

 

The strength of Russia’s squad makes the record through recent years nothing short of perplexing, with the likes of 2016/17 Champions League winners Timur Dibirov and Daniil Shishkarev on the wing and strong, tall backs such as Dmitry Zhitnikov, Pavel Atman and Sergey Shelmenko leading the attack. The team are older on average than most others they will face – is it time for these world-class players to capitalise on their experience and achieve a World Championship ranking worthy of their talents?

 

Fans can follow Russia on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

 

Group at GER/DEN 2019
Group A: Russia, France, Germany, Serbia, Brazil, Unified Korea

 

Games at GER/DEN 2019

All times local

 

Friday 11 January Serbia vs Russia (18:00)
Saturday 12 January Russia vs Korea (15:30)
Monday 14 January Russia vs Germany (18:00)
Tuesday 15 January Russia vs Brazil (15:30)
Thursday 17 January France vs Russia (20:30)

IHF & Germany/Denmark 2019 Official Channels

Follow the 2019 IHF Men’s World Championship in Germany/Denmark on the IHF website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube channels as well as the official event website and Facebook and Instagram channels.

 

Photo: Handball Federation of Russia