# Yugoslavia men's national handball team

The Yugoslavia national handball team was the national handball team of Yugoslavia. It was organized by the Handball Federation of Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav national handball team was made up of a handball players from the separate regions of the then SFR Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia).

## History

The Handball Federation of Yugoslavia (RSJ) was founded on December 17, 1949 in Belgrade by merging republican and provincial federations, and became a member of the International Handball Federation (IHF) in 1950.

### Field handball first match

The first international match, played on June 19, 1950 at the stadium in Kranchevicheva Street in Zagreb, against Belgium. Yugoslavia won 18:3 playing with nine players from Zagreb and one each from Sarajevo and Split.Small handball was played publicly for the first time in Yugoslav territories on February 24, 1950, in the Fair hall (today the Technical Museum) on Savska aley in Zagreb. It was the first public handball match played in the hall.

### Indoor Handball

In the beginning, small handball was mainly played on open courts, and later more and more in halls. The possibility of playing in the hall and in a smaller space enabled continuous changes in the situation on the field and better contact with the spectators. That's why small handball was quickly accepted, and thus slowly supplanted big handball, which was played less and less.Until 1953, all official handball competitions in Yugoslavia were in large handball, and since then national championships in small handball have also been held. The main limiting factor in the further development of handball was football fields, whose administrations were reluctant to approve the holding of training sessions and matches. Big handball stopped being played officially in 1958. The only remaining handball, there was no longer any need to call it small handball, but simply - handball.

### Modern Handball

Yugoslavia played its first international small handball match in 1956 at the Tashmaidan Stadium in Belgrade against Sweden, the current world champions at the time. A draw was reached 6:6, and due to cloud cover the match was declared invalid. Yugoslav handball began to rise in the early 1970s reaching its hight until 1990. At the time it was the most-winning handball team in the world, winning three medals at the Olympic Games, four at the World Championships, five at the Mediterranean Games, one at the Goodwill Games, three at the World Handball Cups and two at the Handball Super Leagues.The biggest successes are the gold medals at the 1972 and 1984 Olympic Games, as well as the gold medal at the 1986 World Championship. The team ceased to exist after the split of Yugoslavia in June 1991. Three former Yugoslav republics have since gone on to win medals at major competitions: Croatia fifteen, Serbia four and Slovenia two. In the period from 2003 to 2020, Croatia was considered one of the best teams in international handball, winning the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2003 World Championship, in addition to consistently earning major championship medals.

## Accomplishments
### Summer Olympics

| Year | Round | Position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
| 1936 | didn't have indoor handball team | didn't have indoor handball team | didn't have indoor handball team | didn't have indoor handball team | didn't have indoor handball team | didn't have indoor handball team | didn't have indoor handball team | didn't have indoor handball team | didn't have indoor handball team |
| 1972 | Final | | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 122 | 89 | +33 |
| 1976 | Fifth place game | 5th | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 131 | 112 | +19 |
| 1980 | Fifth place game | 6th | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 155 | 116 | +39 |
| 1984 | Final | | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 141 | 93 | +48 |
| 1988 | Bronze medal game | | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 143 | 132 | +11 |
| Total | Qualified: 5/5 | Qualified: 5/5 | 30 | 24 | 2 | 4 | 692 | 542 | +120 |

### World Championship

| Year | Round | Position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
| 1938 | didn't have indoor handball team | didn't have indoor handball team | didn't have indoor handball team | didn't have indoor handball team | didn't have indoor handball team | didn't have indoor handball team | didn't have indoor handball team | didn't have indoor handball team | didn't have indoor handball team |
| 1954 | didn't have indoor handball team | didn't have indoor handball team | didn't have indoor handball team | didn't have indoor handball team | didn't have indoor handball team | didn't have indoor handball team | didn't have indoor handball team | didn't have indoor handball team | didn't have indoor handball team |
| 1958 | Main Round | 8th | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 101 | 96 | +5 |
| 1961 | Preliminary Round | 9th | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 29 | 32 | -3 |
| 1964 | Main Round | 6th | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 102 | 96 | +6 |
| 1967 | Quarterfinal | 7th | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 136 | 110 | +26 |
| 1970 | Semifinal | | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 119 | 80 | +39 |
| 1974 | Semifinal | | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 134 | 97 | +37 |
| 1978 | Main Round | 5th | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 108 | 96 | +12 |
| 1982 | Final | | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 183 | 155 | +28 |
| 1986 | Final | | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 168 | 145 | +23 |
| 1990 | Main Round | 4th | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 169 | 156 | +13 |
| Total | Qualified: 10/10 | Qualified: 10/10 | 59 | 35 | 5 | 19 | 1249 | 1063 | +186 |

### World Outdoor Championship

* 1955 IHF World Men's Outdoor Handball Championship - 5th place

### EURO Tournaments

    World Cup (European Tournament)
The World Cup was a handball tournament for men's national teams that was held from 1971 to 2010 in Sweden, partly in Norway in 1999 and partly in Germany in 2006. The event took place irregularly, most recently in even years, alternating with the Supercup tournament in Germany. The Norwegian oil company Statoil has been the sponsor since 2004, and the cup competition has since been called the Statoil World Cup. The World Cup was considered a mini European Cup because, in addition to hosts Sweden, the best seven teams from the previous World Cup which were all European were invited at times. Due to declining audience interest, the event was discontinued in 2010.
| EURO - World Cup Swedish Tournament | Round | Position |
| EURO World Cup 1971 Stockholm | Champions | of 8 |
| EURO World Cup 1974 Stockholm | Champions | of 8 |
| EURO World Cup 1979 Stockholm | 7th place | 7th of 8 |
| EURO World Cup 1984 Stockholm | 3rd place | of 8 |
| EURO World Cup 1988 Stockholm | 5th place | 5th of 8 |
| EURO World Cup 1992 Stockholm | Runner up | of 8 |
| Total | 2/6 | 2 Titles |
    EURO Supercup
The Supercup was a handball tournament for men's national teams that was held every two years in the Federal Republic of Germany from 1979 to 2015 - since 1983 usually between the end of October and the beginning of November. The first tournament was held in December 1979, the second was played in early February 1981, the 1997 competition was postponed to March 1998. Previous Olympic champions, world champions and European champions were initially invited. Because of this high-caliber group of participants, it was sometimes referred to as the Mini European Cup. Most recently it took place alternating with the Statoil World Cup. The Supercup goes back to a suggestion by the then national coach Vlado Stenzel. It was held for the last time in 2015 due to a lack of spectator interest.
| EURO - Supercup German Tournament | Round | Position |
| EURO Supercup 1979 Dortmund | 4th place | 4th of 8 |
| EURO Supercup 1981 Dortmund | 3rd place | of 8 |
| EURO Supercup 1983 Dortmund | 3rd place | of 8 |
| EURO Supercup 1985 Dortmund | 5th place | 5th of 8 |
| EURO Supercup 1987 Dortmund | 5th place | 5th of 8 |
| EURO Supercup 1989 Dortmund | 4th place | 4th of 8 |
| EURO Supercup 1991 Frankfurt | 6th place | 6th of 6 |
| Total | 0/7 | 0 Titles |

### Mediterranean Games

| Games | Round | Position |
| 1967 Tunis | Champions | 1st of 4 |
| 1971 İzmir | Tournament canceled | Tournament canceled |
| 1975 Algiers | Champions | 1st of 5 |
| 1979 Split | Champions | 1st of 7 |
| 1983 Casablanca | Champions | 1st of 8 |
| 1987 Latakia | Didn't Participate | Didn't Participate |
| 1991 Athens | Champions | 1st of 8 |
| Total | 5/5 | 5 Titles |

## Coaches

| Period | Republic Nationality | Coach |
| 1951–1967 | Croatia | Ivan Snoj |
| 1967 | Croatia | Irislav Dolenec |
| 1967–1972 | Croatia | Vlado Stenzel |
| 1974 | Croatia | Josip Milković |
| 1975–1976 | Croatia | Ivan Snoj |
| 1978 | Croatia | Zdravko Matulić |
| 1979 | Croatia | Zlatko Žagmešter |
| 1978–1980 | Serbia | Jezdimir Stanković |
| 1980–1984 | Serbia | Branislav Pokrajac |
| 1984–1986 | Serbia | Zoran Živković |
| 1986–1988 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Abas Arslanagić |
| 1989–1991 | Serbia | Jezdimir Stanković |

## Squads

Yugoslavia squads :
Olympic Games
vteYugoslavia squad – 1972 Summer Olympics – Gold medal
1 Živković
2 Pribanić
3 Fajfrić
4 Karalić
5 Lavrnić
6 Mišković
7 Horvat (c)
8 Pokrajac
10 Miljak
11 Lazarević
12 Arslanagić
13 Popović
14 Vidović
16 Zorko
Coach: Snoj & Štencl
vteYugoslavia squad – 1976 Summer Olympics – 5th place
1 Arslanagić
2 Bojović
3 Rađenović
4 Karalić
5 Pavićević
6 Serdarušić
7 Horvat (c)
8 Pokrajac
9 Krivokapić
10 Timko
11 Miljak
12 Zorko
13 Popović
16 Nimš
Coach: Snoj
vteYugoslavia squad – 1980 Summer Olympics – 6th place
1 Arnautović
2 Rnić
3 Koso
4 Jovović
5 Obran
6 Mrkonja
7 Mahne
8 Jurina
9 Nerić
10 Cvetković
11 Nenadić
12 Dizdar (c)
13 Isaković
14 Elezović
Coach: Stanković
vteYugoslavia squad – 1984 Summer Olympics – Gold medal
1 Arnautović
2 Rnić
3 Vuković
4 Kalina
5 Elezović
6 Zovko
7 Štrbac
8 Jurina
9 Vujović
11 Kuzmanovski
12 Bašić
13 Mladenović
14 Rađenović (c)
15 Isaković
16 Pušnik
Coach: Pokrajac
vteYugoslavia squad – 1988 Summer Olympics – Bronze medal
1 Pušnik
2 Rnić (c)
3 Memić
4 Saračević
5 Puc
6 Perkovac
7 Smajlagić
8 Portner
9 Vujović
10 Holpert
11 Jarak
12 Bašić
13 Načinović
14 Kuzmanovski
16 Velić
Coach: Arslanagić
World Championships
vteYugoslavia squad – Men's handball – 1961 World Championship - 9th place
 Anton Bašić
 Krunoslav Dogan
 Zoran Cvetanović
 Ivan Đuranec
 Zvonko Jandroković
 Vladimir Jović
 Jerolim Karadža
 Fehvad Mostarac
 Petar Perović
 Božidar Peter
 Tomislav Raguš
 Bartol Rodin
 Božidar Stanivuković
 Borislav Stanović
 Rešad Šarenkapa
 Zlatko Šimenc
Head coach: Ivan Snoj
vteYugoslavia squad – Men's handball – 1964 World Championship - 6th place
 Andrija Banjanin
 Vojislav Bjegović
 Vinko Dekaris
 Ivan Đuranec
 Lujo Györy
 Jerolim Karadža
 Nenad Kecman
 Zvonko Kocijan
 Josip Milković
 Fehvad Mostarac
 Dragan Stevanović
 Rešad Šarenkapa
 Vladimir Vićan
 Albin Vidović
 Zlatko Žagmešter
Head coach: Ivan Snoj
vteYugoslavia squad – Men's handball – 1967 World Championship - 7th place
 Andrija Banjanin
 Vinko Dekaris
 Ivan Đuranec
 Hrvoje Horvat
 Jerolim Karadža
 Milorad Karalić
 Branko Klišanin
 Slobodan Koprivica
 Boris Kostić
 Josip Milković
 Branislav Pokrajac
 Miroslav Pribanić
 Dobrivoje Selec
 Ninoslav Tomašić
 Vladimir Vićan
Selector: Ivan Snoj
Head Coach: Irislav Dolenec
vteYugoslavia squad – Men's handball – 1970 World Championship - Bronze medal
 Abas Arslanagić
 Boris Kostić
 Branislav Pokrajac
 Đorđe Lavrnić
 Dragutin Mervar
 Zlatko Žagmešter
 Josip Milković
 Marijan Jakšeković
 Milan Krstić
 Milan Lazarević
 Milorad Karalić
 Miroslav Pribanić
 Nebojša Popović
 Petar Fajfrić
 Slobodan Mišković
 Hrvoje Horvat
 Čedomir Bugarski
Selector: Ivan Snoj
Head Coach: Vlado Štencl
vteYugoslavia squad – Men's handball – 1974 World Championship - Bronze medal
 Abas Arslanagić
 Bogoslav Perić
 Branislav Pokrajac
 Đorđe Lavrnić
 Zvonimir Serdarušić
 Zdenko Zorko
 Zdravko Miljak
 Zdravko Rađenović
 Željko Nimš
 Milan Lazarević
 Nebojša Popović
 Petar Fajfrić
 Radisav Pavićević
 Slobodan Mišković
 Hrvoje Horvat
 Čedomir Bugarski
Selector: Ivan Snoj
Head Coach: Josip Milković
vteYugoslavia squad – 1978 World Men's Handball Championship – 5th place
 Dizdar
 Bojović
 Prodanić
 Jovović
 Pavićević
 Fejzula
 Horvat
 Makarić
 Krivokapić
 Grubić
 Miljak
 Zovko
 Vidaković
 Rađenović
 Delahmetović
 Nimš
Selector: Snoj
Head coach: Matulić
vteYugoslavia squad – 1982 World Men's Handball Championship – Silver medal
1 Bašić
2 Rnić
3 Grubić
4 Obran
5 Elezović
6 Zovko
7 Štrbac
8 Jurina
9 Vujović
10 Bojović
11 Fejzula
13 Krivokapić
14 Rađenović (c)
15 Isaković
16 Velić
Coach: Pokrajac
vteYugoslavia squad – 1986 World Men's Handball Championship – Gold medal
1 Arnautović
2 Rnić (c)
3 Vuković
4 Saračević
5 Elezović
6 Grubić
7 Mrkonja
8 Portner
9 Vujović
10 Cvetković
11 Holpert
12 Bašić
13 Mladenović
14 Memić
15 Isaković
16 Pušnik
Coach: Živković
vteYugoslavia squad – 1990 World Men's Handball Championship – 4th place
1 Stojanović
2 Jelčić
3 Vuković
4 Saračević
5 Puc
6 Prokić
7 Smajlagić
8 Portner
9 Vujović
10 Kljaić
11 Kuzmanovski
12 Bašić
14 Tomljanović
15 Isaković (c)
16 Velić
Coach: Stanković
Goodwill Games
vteYugoslavia squad – 1990 Goodwill Games – Silver medal
1 Stojanović
2 Adžić
3 Prokić (c)
4 Kljaić
5 Đorđić
6 Škrbić
7 Knežević
8 Jovanović
9 Brajdić
10 Butulija
11 Gudelj
13 Ćavar
15 Peruničić
16 Perić
Coach: Stanković
Mediterranean Games
vteYugoslavia squad – Men's handball – 1967 Mediterranean Games Winners (1st Title)
 Boris Kostić
 Zoran Živković
 Josip Milković
 Hrvoje Horvat
 Ivan Uremović
 Albin Vidović
 Branislav Pokrajac
 Petar Fajfrić
 Nebojša Popović
 Milorad Karalić
 Slobodan Koprivica
 Miroslav Klišanin
Selector: Ivan Snoj
Head Coach: Vlado Štencl
vteYugoslavia squad – Men's handball – 1975 Mediterranean Games Winners (2nd Title)
 Abas Arslanagić
 Predrag Timko
 Branislav Pokrajac
 Petar Fajfrić
 Milorad Karalić
 Zdenko Zorko
 Zdravko Miljak
 Zdravko Rađenović
 Željko Nimš
 Miroslav Pribanić
 Nebojša Popović
 Radisav Pavićević
Head Coach: Ivan Snoj
vteYugoslavia squad – Men's handball – 1979 Mediterranean Games Winners (3rd Title)
 Adnan Dizdar
 Momir Rnić
 Spaso Janjić
 Drago Jovović
 Radisav Pavićević
 Zdravko Zovko
 Zdravko Rađenović
 Radivoje Krivokapić
 Velibor Nenadić
 Željko Vidaković
 Rusmir Delahmetović
 Zoran Jovanović
Head Coach: Jezdimir Stanković
vteYugoslavia squad – Men's handball – 1983 Mediterranean Games Winners (4th Title)
 Zlatan Arnautović
 Momir Rnić
 Veselin Vuković
 Jovica Elezović
 Zdravko Zovko
 Pavle Jurina
 Veselin Vujović
 Željko Vidaković
 Mirko Bašić
 Dragan Mladenović
 Mile Isaković
 Stjepan Obran
Head Coach: Branislav Pokrajac
vteYugoslavia squad – Men's handball – 1991 Mediterranean Games Winners (5th Title)
 Igor Butulija
 Tomislav Farkaš
 Nedeljko Jovanović
 Aleksandar Knežević
 Senjanin Maglajlija
 Valter Matošević
 Mehmedalija Mulabdić
 Vladimir Novaković
 Dejan Perić
 Nenad Peruničić
 Vladica Spasojević
 Rastko Stefanović
 Dragan Škrbić
 Zoran Tomić
Head Coach: Jezdimir Stanković :

## Succeeding national teams

| Team | Federation |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | Handball Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Croatia | Croatian Handball Federation |
| Kosovo | Handball Federation of Kosovo |
| North Macedonia | Macedonian Handball Federation |
| Montenegro | Handball Federation of Montenegro |
| Serbia | Handball Federation of Serbia |
| Slovenia | Handball Federation of Slovenia |
| Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro | Defunct |