Slovenia’s tradition of producing talented centre backs is well-known in handball and the European country seems to have hit the jackpot with yet another fantastic prospect in Aljuš Anžič.

The 17-year-old centre back was integrant for the junior team at the 2025 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship in Poland, delivering fantastic performances for the team which finished on the seventh place, scoring 61 goals and delivering 20 assists throughout the competition.

All while being by far the youngest player to feature at Poland 2025, the only one born in 2008, six months younger than any other player in the competition. And despite being only 17 years old, he finished third in the top goal scorer standings, behind Oli Mittun (73 goals) and Axel Mansson (70 goals) and also in the top-25 of the assists providers.

“I just got the opportunity, you know, to play and I played a lot in this World Championship. And I wouldn't be here without my teammates, without the coaches, without the staff,” said Anžič, after Slovenia won their last match at the 2025 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship, 24:23 against Norway, to finish seventh.

Anžič’s best performance came three days earlier, in the quarter-finals, when Slovenia lost against the Faroe Islands, 33:35, in a fast-paced, high-octane match. The 17-year-old rising star scored 14 goals, in a fantastic show of display and determination.

It was, basically, the validation of the high expectations which Anžič created over the last months, as his talent was there to be seen in the development teams of RK Celje Pivovarna Laško, where he scored over 1000 goals.

Soon after Poland 2025, the 17-year-old centre back signed a contract running until 2028 with the Slovenian club team, as he prepares to transition to a more important role at club level.

“My father was also a handball player. He's also a coach in the staff at Celje, he's the goalkeeper coach. Since I was a kid, I always liked handball. I think I started when I was only seven years old. So, handball has been my whole life,” adds Slovenia’s centre back.

Anžič comes from a sporting background, with his father, Aleš, playing for Prevent Slovenj Gradec and Gorenje Velenje, before transitioning to a goalkeeping coach, where he spent time at Velenje and now coaches Celje’s goalkeepers. His mother, Alenka Potočnik Anžič, is the President of Celje and a former member of the Slovenia basketball women’s national team.

And, of course, his excellent performances prior to the 2025 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship have earned the centre back rave reviews, with Slovenian media roaming around him, dubbing him as the “next big thing” for the handball world.

One Slovenian media outlet even compared him to another 17-year-old prodigy, Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal, adding even more pressure for the young Anžič to deliver good performances in the future.

Yet the centre back is unfazed.

“It comes with the territory, no? Everyone is talking about you, writing articles about you. But I don't take it so much personal. I mean, it's a privilege to be here and be called, you know, the Lamine Yamal of Slovenian handball, when you are only 17 years old. So, regarding this focus on me, I try to look at it positively and just play,” says Anžič.

Slovenia have had their share of fantastic centre backs in the past, with the likes of Uroš Zorman, the current senior national team coach, Dean Bombač or Miha Zarabec shining in the last decade or so, when Slovenia even took a bronze medal at the 2017 IHF Men’s World Championship and finished fourth at the 2013 IHF Men’s World Championship.

Last year, at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the small European country, with a population of 2.1 million, finished fourth, conceding losses in the semi-final against Denmark and in the bronze medal match against Spain, coming agonisingly close to a fantastic performance.

And the conveyor belt of talent still seems to be producing excellent players. Next in line is Anžič, who will probably make his debut in the national team sooner, rather than later, with his fantastic skills propelling him into the conversation.

“I hope I will play for the senior side as soon as possible, you know, it would be a huge honour. But I've got a lot of competition. Now, there are Makuc, Ovnicek, Zarabec, all of those players playing on the centre back position are very good. So, I hope my time comes as soon as possible. But everything at the right time,” adds the young prodigy.

Next in line for Anžič, who mentions Nikola Karabatic and Mathias Gidsel as his favourite players and inspiration, will be a new World Championship, this time the 2025 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship in Egypt.

Having already impressed at the junior level in Poland, Anžič should dazzle once again in Egypt, where his team faces Germany, Uruguay and the Faroe Islands in the preliminary round, in one of the most balanced groups in the competition.

Regardless of the result, though, Slovenia have another gem on their hands, ready to be the fulcrum of a national team which has provided excellent performances time and time again.