page_title: Mirza Džomba
section_title: International career
hierarchical_section_title: Mirza Džomba / International career
caption_attribution_description: Mirza Džomba, on January 24th 2007 in Mannheim , SAP-Arena (Germany), during the break of the Handball World Championchip game Denmark - Croatia (26:28)
context_page_description: Mirza Džomba is a Croatian former professional handball player, World champion in 2003 and Olympic champion in 2004.
  He played for RK Zamet, Badel 1862 Zagreb, Fotex Veszprém, BM Ciudad Real and Vive Targi Kielce before retiring in 2011.
  He was also a member of the Croatia national team from 1997 to 2008. He holds the national team's top goal scorer record with 719 goals. He was part of the golden generation that won the 2003 World Championship and 2004 Summer Olympics.
  He is noted by many critics as one of the best right wings ever. In 2013 Džomba was awarded the best right wing in the history of the EHF Champions League by the European Handball Federation.
  Džomba has also played in six EHF Champions League finals while winning one with Ciudad Real. Among other awards, he was nominated three times for the IHF World Player of the Year award reaching third place in 2004 and 2005 and second place in 2006.
  He is currently a handball pundit on RTL Television usually with former teammate Goran Šprem.
context_section_description: Džomba was first called up to play for the Croatian national team in 1997 by head coach Josip Glavaš. at the 1997 World Championship in Japan. Croatia finished in 13th place at the tournament being knocked out in the 16th round by Spain. A month later, Džomba was selected for the Mediterranean Games in Bari by new head coach Ilija Piljević. Croatia reached the finals and defeated Italy 21:20. Džomba won his first gold medal for the national team.
  In 1998 Velimir Kljaić was appointed new head coach of the national team for the upcoming European Championship in Italy. At that point, Džomba had already made 23 appearances for Croatia and scored 65 goals. Croatia failed to pass the group stage acquiring fourth place in Group B. Croatia lost the 7th place match against France 30-28.
  Džomba next represented his country at the 1999 World Championship in Egypt which was held from 1 to 15 June. Croatia passed through the group stage with 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss. They were eliminated in the 16th round in a painful loss against Yugoslavia (30-23). Croatia's final standing was in 10th place.
  Velimir Kljaić was sacked after the tournament and Zdravko Zovko was appointed head coach. From 8 to 12 September the Pre-Olympic Tournament was held. Due to recent poor results on the World and European Championship's Croatia needed to win this tournament to qualify for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Croatia finished second in the tournament losing their last match to Sweden 22:30. Džomba had failed to go on his first Olympics. A month later in October from 21 to 24 Džomba played in the Super Cup with his country in Germany. They beat Sweden 28:25, played a draw with Germany 24:24 and lost to Russia 26:27 finishing in 2nd place. 
  In January 2000 the 2000 European Championship was held in Croatia. Džomba and his teammates failed to get past the group drawing stage with France in their last group match losing a very important point. They also lost the 5th place match to Slovenia.
  Josip Milković was appointed as the new head coach after the tournament. With the departure of Irfan Smajlagić Džomba became a regular in the starting seven.
  At the 2001 World Championship in France at the second match Croatia played against United States. Džomba got injured during the match and could not compete for the rest of the tournament. Croatia won the match and made their biggest win in history 41:12. Croatia finished in 9th place. In August 2001 Džomba won another Mediterranean gold medal with Croatia. At the 2002 European Championship Croatia finished dead last in 16th place losing all of their group matches. Josip Milković was sacked after the tournament.
  In March 2002 Lino Červar was appointed as the new head coach of Croatia.
  Džomba was selected to play at the World Championship in 2003. Croatia started the tournament with a loss against Argentina. In their second match Croatia beat Saudi Arabia 18:25. Next they beat Russia (26:28), France (23:22) and Hungary (30:29). Croatia proceeded to second phase of the competition where they beat Egypt (29:23) and Denmark (33:27). In the semi-finals Croatia defeated Spain 37:29 in overtime. Džomba scored 22 goals in the tournament 8 of them in the final match against Germany where Croatia won 34:31 and became World Champions. Džomba was voted best right wing of the tournament and placed in the tournament all star team.
  Croatia's next major tournament was the 2004 European Championship in Slovenia. The tournament was held from 22 January to 1 February. Croatia went undefeated through the preliminary Group Stage defeating Spain (29:30), Denmark 26:25 and drawing with Portugal (32:32). During the main Group Stage Croatia beat Sweden (26:28), Switzerland (27:30) and played a draw against Russia (24:24). In the semi-final, Croatia lost to the host Slovenia (27:25) and lost their third place match against Denmark (27:31). Džomba was the tournaments top goalscorer with 46 goals.
  Džomba's next journey with the national team was in Athens. At the 2004 Summer Olympics Croatia played undefeated throughout the tournament a
caption: Džomba at the 2007 World Championship in Denmark
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