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1
Magnus Wislander
Born
Centre back and later pivot, Sweden and THW Kiel. Wislander was voted the IHF's Player of the Century and holds Sweden's records for caps (386) and goals. He ran the play of the great Swedish side of the 1990s from centre back, then moved to pivot, the player who works among the defenders on the six-metre line, and read space well enough to excel in both roles.
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Talant Dujshebaev
Born
Centre back, Soviet Union, Russia and Spain. Dujshebaev played for four national teams as the map of Europe changed, winning Olympic gold with the Unified Team in 1992, and was a playmaker known for slowing or speeding the game at will. That reading of tempo carried into coaching: he built Kielce into a European power and now coaches France.
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Jackson Richardson
Born
Centre back, France. Richardson was IHF World Player of the Year in 1995 and won world titles in 1995 and 2001, and was voted most valuable player at the World Championships of 1990 and 1995. Small for a back-court player, he relied on quick feints and passes to the pivot rather than long-range shooting, and his creativity laid the foundations of France's later dominance.
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Anja Andersen
Born
Playmaker, Denmark. Andersen was IHF World Player of the Year in 1997 and won Olympic, world and European titles with the Danish side that dominated women's handball in the 1990s. Her improvisation, including passes and shots that defenders did not expect, made her one of the first stars of the women's game, and she later won titles as a coach.
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Ólafur Stefánsson
Born
Right back, Iceland. Stefánsson led a country of a few hundred thousand people to Olympic silver in 2008 and won the Champions League four times with Magdeburg and Ciudad Real. A left-hander on the right side, he was famous for unorthodox passes and shots from angles defenders had not covered, the product of thinking about the game differently rather than overpowering it.
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Ivano Balić
Born
Centre back, Croatia. Nicknamed "the Handball Mozart", Balić won the 2003 world title and 2004 Olympic gold and was voted most valuable player at five consecutive major tournaments. His speed of thought, dummies and no-look passes to the pivot and wings made him the defining centre back of the 2000s, and the best example of a playmaker who creates more than he scores.
More about Ivano Balić7
Thierry Omeyer
Born
Goalkeeper, France. Omeyer won two Olympic golds and five world titles and was IHF World Player of the Year in 2008, a rare honour for a goalkeeper. He was a student of opponents, studying shooters' habits so that he was already moving to the right corner, and his saves were the base of the French side that dominated men's handball for a decade.
More about Thierry Omeyer8
Nikola Karabatić
Born
Centre back and left back, France. Karabatić won three Olympic golds, the last in 2024, plus several world and European titles, and was IHF World Player of the Year three times. He could shoot, pass and defend in the middle of the block, and his decisions in the final minutes of tight matches, when to attack the gap and when to release the ball, are a model for any back-court player.
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Anita Görbicz
Born
Centre back, Hungary and Győr. Görbicz, known as "the Queen of Handball", was IHF World Player of the Year in 2005 and spent her club career at Győr, helping turn it into a Champions League winner. Not tall for a back-court player, she controlled the tempo with quick one-two passes and well-timed breaks through the gaps, and the city has made her an honorary citizen.
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Katrine Lunde
Born
Goalkeeper, Norway. Lunde holds records for the most gold medals, the most appearances at major tournaments and the most caps for Norway, with Olympic, world and European titles. Her reading of shooters, staying big and waiting rather than diving early, made her the last line of a Norwegian side that ran fast breaks from her saves.
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Luc Abalo
Born
Right wing, France. Abalo won Olympic gold in 2008, 2012 and 2021 plus three world and three European titles, and is one of the most creative wings the sport has seen. Wings shoot from the tightest angles on the court, and his timing of runs behind the defence and his spin and lob shots showed how much a wing can create with very little space.
More about Luc Abalo12
Julen Aguinagalde
Born
Pivot, Spain. Aguinagalde was the line player of the Spanish team that won the 2013 world title at home and European titles in 2018 and 2020. The pivot works among the defenders, setting blocks and finding gaps for a pass, and he was a master of positioning his body so that the back-court players always had a target.
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Domagoj Duvnjak
Centre back, Croatia and THW Kiel. Duvnjak was IHF World Player of the Year in 2013, has won more than twenty club titles in Croatia and Germany and captains Kiel. He combines organising the attack with hard work in the middle of the defence, and his habit of directing team-mates' positions before each play makes him the coach on the court.
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Niklas Landin Jacobsen
Born
Goalkeeper, Denmark. Landin captained Denmark from 2012 until 2024, winning Olympic gold in 2016 and 2024 and three straight world titles from 2019, and is the only goalkeeper to be IHF World Player of the Year twice. At just over two metres tall, he narrows angles by stepping out at the right moment, and his saves often come from reading the shooter's arm before release.
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Cristina Neagu
Born
Left back, Romania. Neagu is the only woman to be IHF World Player of the Year four times and the European Championship's all-time leading scorer. She belongs here for how she chose her shots: a left back who could shoot from distance, she also read when the defence stepped out to her and released the ball to the open player instead.
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Stine Oftedal Dahmke
Centre back, Norway. Stine Oftedal (now Oftedal Dahmke) captained Norway for nine years, winning Olympic, three world and five European titles, and was IHF World Player of the Year in 2019. Her speed in the transition game and her choice of when to push and when to settle into a set play were the rhythm of the most successful women's side of the era.
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Mathias Gidsel
Born
Right back, Denmark and Füchse Berlin. Gidsel is the first player to be IHF World Player of the Year three years running, from 2023, and won Olympic gold in 2024 and the 2025 world title as tournament MVP and top scorer. Beyond the goals, watch his anticipation in defence and his first steps after a turnover: he is often away on the fast break before the opponents realise possession has changed.
More about Mathias Gidsel18
Henny Reistad
Born
Back-court player, Norway and Team Esbjerg. Reistad was named IHF World Player of the Year three years in a row from 2023 and won Olympic gold with Norway in Paris. She is famous for beating defenders one on one, but what makes her worth studying is how she uses that threat: as soon as two defenders come to her, she finds the free team-mate.
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