Paris 2024 | 10 players to watch in the men's competition

23 Jul. 2024

Paris 2024 | 10 players to watch in the men's competition

Ask any player about the Olympic Games and they will say it is the pinnacle of sports, the most important competition they are ever going to play in and it is an honour to represent your country in it. Once every four years, only 12 men’s teams and only 12 women’s teams punch their tickets and aim for a medal on the biggest of stages.

Paris 2024 might be the strongest Olympic competition ever, with France as hosts, therefore creating even more space for powerhouses to secure a place and clinch their ticket to Paris. As nearly all the teams have hopes for a medal, we tried to see what is the logic behind their big ambitions.

Therefore, we tried to select some star players, from both the men’s and the women’s competitions at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, whose performance can make the difference, despite handball being a sport team.

These players are presented in no particular order and there are no two players from one side.

Nikola Karabatić (France)

17 medals at major international competitions. A three-time Olympic champion. Over 1200 goals in 356 international matches. There is no question that Nikola Karabatić is one of the greatest handball players of all time. Some say he is the greatest. And at 40 years old, the French left back is aiming to leave the court in style.

At Paris 2024, Karabatić will become the first player to feature at six editions of the Olympic Games. He will also aim to become the first to clinch four Olympic titles, an outstanding performance, never heard of before. 

While he is not the most prolific scorer and is not the first choice on his position anymore and cannot feature for 60 minutes, his talent and knowhow are unparalleled. And his exit will definitely be celebrated, at the end of a farewell tour which took the left back throughout Europe in the past season. 

Jim Gottfridsson (Sweden)

The All-Star centre back at the 2021 IHF Men’s World Championship and the MVP of the EHF EURO 2018 and the EHF EURO 2022, Jim Gottfridsson is definitely Sweden’s main asset as they challenge for their maiden gold medal at the Olympic Games, the only title missing for the star-studded team.

At 31 years old, Gottfridsson is in his prime and the second most experienced player in Sweden’s roster in terms of appearances (155 matches), after Andreas Palicka, and the one with the largest number of goals, 495.

But Gottfridsson brings much more to the table than goals, it is all about the way he understands the game, the way he plays the game and the way in which he can transform a team on the court into a behemoth, with his playmaking skills, rendering him unstoppable at times.

Juri Knorr (Germany)

Since Tokyo 2020, when he made his debut at the Olympic Games, Juri Knorr has been transformed, becoming one of Germany’s top players, if not the team’s top player. At the 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship, the centre back made  the All-Star team as the best Young player. One year later, at the EHF EURO 2024, Knorr was also the All-Star centre back.

At 24 years old, Knorr became the leader of Germany, even if he concedes that role, explaining that the whole team deserves props for their ascension over the last years, when they became one of the most consistent sides in world handball.

A natural-born scorer, the third best at both the 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship and at the EHF EURO 2024, Knorr also dishes plenty of assists, becoming the focal point of Alfred Gislason’s side, with hopes residing on his shoulders once again at the Olympic Games, where Germany hope to get in the conversation for a medal.

Sander Sagosen (Norway)

Despite being only 28 years old, Sander Sagosen is only 100 goals away of becoming the all-time top scorer for Norway, setting his eyes on Roger Kjendalen’s record of 839 goals, scoring one goal per match more than Kjendalen, with an average of 4.99 goals per match.

Since his emergence on the big stages, Sagosen has been nothing short of superb, helping his side secure silver medals at the 2017 IHF Men’s World Championship and at the 2019 IHF Men’s World Championship – where he was the All-Star left back - , as well as a bronze at the EHF EURO 2020.

He suffered a devastating Achilles injury in 2022, but he is back in business and still driving strong, being the main force behind Norway’s drive, as the Scandinavian side secured back-to-back appearances at the Olympic Games for the first time in their history.

Diego Simonet (Argentina)

Aged 34, Simonet featured over 100 times for Argentina and has made his debut at the Olympics at London 2012, when the South American side also made their first appearance in the competition.
He is also the most experienced player in the team, having played for Montpellier HB since 2013, where he won the EHF Champions League Men, being the MVP of the EHF FINAL4 in 2018, as well as being named the All-Star centre back of one of the strongest domestic leagues in the world, France, in 2014 and 2015.
However, Simonet has definitely navigated through some tough moments, including a devastating injury, torn ligaments in his knee, which saw him miss out on playing at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, a huge blow for the centre back, who was just entering the prime of his career. Now, the centre back is aiming for glory once again at the Olympics with a plucky Argentina side.

Mikkel Hansen (Denmark) 

A three-times MVP at the IHF Men’s World Championship (2013, 2019, 2021) and the MVP of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Mikkel Hansen is also a three-time IHF World Male Player of the Year, in 2011, 2015 and 2018. The resume goes on and on, with 11 medals won at major international competitions and 1350 goals scored for the Denmark men’s national team. 

If that is not enough, well, Hansen, the all-time top scorer at the Olympic Games, with 165 goals, will stop his career after the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, aiming to end on a high what has been arguably one of the best careers in handball’s history.

A natural-born scorer, which has added layers and layers on his fantastic qualities, Hansen has made a step or two back in the past years, but his experience and sheer star quality could not be overlooked by Nikolaj Jacobsen, the coach who led the Scandinavian side to the last three titles at the IHF Men’s World Championship.

Yahia Omar (Egypt)

Three years ago, at Tokyo 2020, Egypt had their best performance in history at the Olympic Games, finishing on the fourth place. That surge was driven also by Yahia Omar, who was the All-Star right back of the competition, scoring 38 goals, enough for the sixth place in the standings.

Since then, Omar went through a serious knee injury, but came back and is ready to deliver other excellent matches at Paris 2024, as Egypt are now more experienced and he is the top player on his position, after Ahmed Elahmar finished his international career.

Aged 26, Omar is now entering his prime, is seasoned in the top battles, having played for Hungarian giants Veszprém HC, and is one of the reasons Egypt are dubbed dark horses once again in the competition.

Gonzalo Perez de Vargas (Spain)

 

They say goalkeepers are even better as they age, adding their experience to their arsenal, but Gonzalo Perez de Vargas looks like a shot stopper there has been forever in handball. However, strange as it might seem, this is only the second edition of the Olympic Games where Perez de Vargas is representing Spain.

In 2012, he was too young to compete with Javier Hombrados or Arpad Sterbik. Spain also failed to qualify at Rio 2016. At Tokyo 2020, where he shared duties with Rodrigo Coralles, he only saved 28% of the shots he faced, therefore Paris 2024 is Perez de Vargas’ coming of age.

He has been nothing short of superb for Spain in recent times and will be a key ingredient for the team’s challenge of returning to the podium, despite some mishaps in 2024.

Domagoj Duvnjak (Croatia)

Aged 36, Duvnjak is likely to be featuring at the Olympic Games for the fourth and last time, returning to the competition after Croatia missed out at Tokyo 2020. Yet his name is already etched in history for the European side, being the top scorer and the player with the largest number of appearances, leapfrogging Igor Vori at the Olympic Qualification Tournament in Hanover back in March.

Duvnjak is not as fast as he used to be, but he balances that shortcoming with a fantastic eye for the game, both in attack and in defence. He is the leader of this Croatia team and embodies the never-say-die attitude excellently. 

With Dagur Sigurdsson instilling new life into the European side, everything changed in a team which failed to reach the high bar set over the last decades and Duvnjak will be the coach on the court, the player who can make the difference if needed in crunch moments.

Shuichi Yoshida (Japan)

Yoshida is one of the rising stars for Japan, having already made his debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, when he was only 20 years old. Since then, he took a different career path compared to other players from Japan, moving to Europe, where he played for Polish side Grupa Azoty Unia TarnĂłw between 2021 and 2023.

Now, after one year at Dunkerque HGL, he signed for French powerhouse HBC Nantes, in a move which recognizes his excellent qualities, as he also helped Japan secure the Olympic ticket for Paris in the 2023 AHF Asian Qualification Tournament and a silver medal at the 2024 AHF Asian Men’s Handball Championship.Â