Montenegro men's national handball team

Montenegro
Information
Nickname	Zlatni lavovi (The Golden Lions)
Association	Handball Federation of Montenegro
Coach	Didier Dinart
Assistant coach	Lazar Simić
Captain	Mirko Radović
Most caps	Nemanja Grbović (80)
Most goals	Vasko Ševaljević (258)
Colours
1st 2nd
Results
World Championship
Appearances	2 (First in 2013)
Best result	18th (2023)
European Championship
Appearances	8 (First in 2008)
Best result	11th (2022)
Last updated on Unknown.

The Montenegro national handball team represents Montenegro in international handball competitions. The national team was formed in 2006 shortly after Montenegro regained independence.

Montenegro played their first official match on 3 January 2007 in Vantaa and beat Finland (28:26). Since then, Montenegro have qualified for nine big competitions – twice for the World Cup (2013 and 2023) and for the European Championship in 2008, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2024 and 2026.

The national side first appeared in the Euro 2008 qualifiers, which started in January 2007. After the great success in the qualifying matches, Montenegro participated at the European Championship 2008, where they finished in the second group phase.
A year later, Montenegro failed to qualify for the World Championship 2009 and after that, there was a crisis in the results of national team.
From 2012, results improved. After a surprise win against Sweden in the qualifiers, Montenegro qualified for the World Championship 2013.
In June 2013, Montenegro eliminated Germany in the final round of qualifiers for the European Championship 2014. At the Championship, Montenegro was eliminated in the first phase.
Two years later, the Montenegrin team appeared at the European Championship 2016, but was eliminated after the first phase of the competition, without any win in three matches. Same result, Montenegro made on European Championship 2018. Finally, on European Championship 2020, Montenegro made historical victory against Serbia (22-21), but failed to qualify to the second round of tournament.

Largest victory

41:27,  Montenegro –  Finland, 6 January 2007, Budva

Largest defeat

39:23,  Poland –  Montenegro, 24 January 2011, Stavanger

Highest home attendance

approx. 6,000,  Montenegro –  Greece 33:25, 17 April 2022, Podgorica

Highest away attendance

11,835,  Denmark –  Montenegro 37:26, 13 April 2019, Copenhagen

The national team of Montenegro made their first appearance at the World Cup in 2013, from their 3rd qualifying attempt. Their first World Cup match was played on 12 January 2013 against Argentina in Granollers, Spain.

World Championship							Qualification
Year	Pos.	Pld	W	D	L		Pld	W	D	L
2009	did not qualify						2	1	0	1
2011							2	1	0	1
2013	22nd	7	1	0	6		6	5	0	1
2015	did not qualify						2	1	0	1
2017							2	0	0	2
/ 2019							2	0	1	1
2021							Cancelled
/ 2023	18th	6	2	0	4		2	1	0	1
// 2025	did not qualify						2	0	0	2
2027	TBD						TBD
/ 2029
// 2031
Total		13	3	0	10		16	11	1	10

Debut on the European Championship, Montenegrin national team made after first attempt.
They participated at the Euro 2008 and made successful appearance in their first match against Russia (25:25). They qualified for the Main Phase of the European Championship.
Their second appearance was in 2014, after Montenegro sensational eliminated Germany during the qualifiers. At the tournament, Montenegro lost all three games, with elimination after the first phase.
Montenegro hoped for a better result in 2016, but it was pretty much deja vu from two years ago as they once again lost all three games and finished in last place in their group, as well as last place in the tournament claiming 16th place out of 16 teams.

European Championship									Qualification
Year	Pos.	Pld	W	D	L	GS	GA		Pld	W	D	L
2008	12th	6	0	1	5	149	188		8	7	1	0
2010	did not qualify								8	4	0	4
2012									6	1	0	5
2014	16th	3	0	0	3	66	84		6	4	0	2
2016	16th	3	0	0	3	76	90		6	3	1	2
2018	16th	3	0	0	3	66	89		6	2	3	1
// 2020	18th	3	1	0	2	70	84		6	3	1	2
/ 2022	11th	7	3	0	4	195	216		6	3	0	3
2024	14th	3	1	0	2	84	86		6	3	0	3
// 2026	23rd	3	0	0	3	90	121		6	4	1	1
// 2028	To be determined								TBD
2030
2032
Total	8/13	31	5	1	25	796	958		64	34	7	23

Squad for the 2026 European Men's Handball Championship.^[1][2]

Head coach: Didier Dinart

No. Pos. Name Date of birth (age) Height App. Goals Club 2 LW Filip Vujović (1996-04-07) 7 April 1996 1.88 m 14 11 RK Sutjeska Nikšić 6 LW Miloš Vujović (1993-09-05) 5 September 1993 1.81 m 71 195 VfL Gummersbach 7 RB Stefan Čavor (1994-11-03) 3 November 1994 1.97 m 47 78 HSG Wetzlar 9 CB Radojica Čepić (2002-07-29) 29 July 2002 1.94 m 31 82 HC Kriens-Luzern 10 P Miodrag Ćorsović (2000-02-22) 22 February 2000 1.98 m 13 27 Dijon Métropole Handball 11 RB Branko Vujović (1998-04-20) 20 April 1998 1.96 m 29 143 Dinamo București 12 GK Haris Suljević (2001-02-26) 26 February 2001 1.94 m 6 0 RK Zagreb 13 RW Mirko Radović (1990-06-15) 15 June 1990 1.85 m 66 39 RK Lovćen 17 LB Vasilije Kaluđerović (1998-10-03) 3 October 1998 1.91 m 28 31 Al-Qurain SC 20 LB Stevan Vujović (1990-04-07) 7 April 1990 1.90 m 55 47 Al-Nassr 22 P Luka Vujović (2000-04-11) 11 April 2000 1.93 m 8 9 CSM Sighişoara 24 LB Miloš Božović (1994-12-10) 10 December 1994 1.99 m 44 67 Győri ETO-UNI FKC 26 RB Risto Vujačić (1993-12-04) 4 December 1993 1.90 m 31 42 SCM Politehnica Timișoara 36 P Admir Pelidija (1994-08-26) 26 August 1994 1.93 m 13 7 Corotop Gwardia Opole 37 LB Milorad Bakić (2005-02-09) 9 February 2005 2.01 m 3 0 Eskilstuna Guif 77 RW Luka Radović (1997-12-29) 29 December 1997 1.80 m 15 37 Saran Loiret Handball 85 GK Mile Mijušković (1985-10-08) 8 October 1985 1.92 m 30 5 OAR Coruña 87 LB Vuko Borozan (1994-04-09) 9 April 1994 2.02 m 28 52 RK Vardar 1961

Role	Name
Head coach	Didier Dinart
Assistant coach	Vasko Ševaljević
Assistant coach	Goran Musić
Team manager	Petar Kapisoda
Strength coach	Anton Claesson
Team official	Maksim Šćekić
Physiotherapist	Andrija Damjanović
Physiotherapist	Hamza Mehović

Since independence, Montenegro was led by eight different coaches. Most matches as a Montenegro coach has Zoran Roganović (34).

Coach	From	To	Record*					Championship
			M	W	D	L	Win %
Pero Milošević	October 2006	June 2007	8	7	1	0	087.50
Ranko Popović	August 2007	November 2009	16	5	1	10	031.25	EC 2008
Kasim Kamenica	November 2009	April 2010	2	1	0	1	050.00
Miodrag Popović	April 2010	March 2011	4	1	0	3	025.00
Zoran Kastratović	May 2011	February 2014	24	10	0	14	041.67	WC 2013, EC 2014
Ljubomir Obradović	March 2014	November 2016	13	4	1	8	030.77	EC 2016
Dragan Đukić	November 2016	July 2018	11	3	3	5	027.27	EC 2018
Zoran Roganović	August 2018	January 2023	34	12	1	21	035.29	EC 2020, EC 2022, WC 2023
Vlado Šola	February 2023	May 2024	7	2	0	5	028.57	EC 2024

* Data is only for official matches (qualifiers, European Championship, World Championship).

• List of official matches of the Montenegro handball team
• Handball Federation of Montenegro
• Montenegro women's national handball team

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Montenegro national handball team.

• Official website
• IHF profile