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.
History and records
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.
Records
Largest victory 41:27, – , 6 January 2007, Budva
Largest defeat 39:23, – , 24 January 2011, Stavanger
Highest home attendance approx. 6,000, – 33:25, 17 April 2022, Podgorica
Highest away attendance 11,835, – 37:26, 13 April 2019, Copenhagen
Competitive record World Championship 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 ChampionshipQualificationYearPos. 2009did not qualify 2 1 0 1 2011 2 1 0 1 2013 22nd 7 1 0 6 6 5 0 1 2015did not qualify 2 1 0 1 2017 2 0 0 2/ 2019 2 0 1 1 2021Cancelled/ 2023 18th 6 2 0 4 2 1 0 1// 2025did not qualify 2 0 0 2 2027did not qualify 4 2 0 2/ 2029TBD TBD// 2031Total1330102013112
European Championship 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 ChampionshipQualificationYearPos. 2008 12th 6 0 1 5 149188 8 7 1 0 2010did not qualify 8 4 0 4 2012 6 1 0 5 2014 16th 3 0 0 3 6684 6 4 0 2 2016 16th 3 0 0 3 7690 6 3 1 2 2018 16th 3 0 0 3 6689 6 2 3 1// 2020 18th 3 1 0 2 7084 6 3 1 2/ 202211th 7 3 0 4 195216 6 3 0 3 202414th 3 1 0 2 8486 6 3 0 3// 202623rd 3 0 0 3 90121 6 4 1 1// 2028 To be determined TBD 2030 2032Total8/13315125 7969586434723
Team Current squad Squad for the 2026 European Men's Handball Championship.
Head coach: Didier Dinart
Coaching staff 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
Head coaches Since independence, Montenegro was led by eight different coaches. Most matches as a Montenegro coach has Zoran Roganović (34). CoachFromToRecord*ChampionshipMWDLWin % Pero MiloševićOctober 2006June 2007 Ranko PopovićAugust 2007November 2009EC 2008 Kasim KamenicaNovember 2009April 2010 Miodrag PopovićApril 2010March 2011 Zoran KastratovićMay 2011February 2014WC 2013, EC 2014 Ljubomir ObradovićMarch 2014November 2016EC 2016 Dragan Đukić November 2016July 2018 EC 2018 Zoran Roganović August 2018January 2023 EC 2020, EC 2022, WC 2023 Vlado Šola February 2023May 2024 EC 2024 * Data is only for official matches (qualifiers, European Championship, World Championship).
Notable former players
See also List of official matches of the Montenegro handball team Handball Federation of Montenegro Montenegro women's national handball team
References
External links
IHF profile