For the trivia lovers, a new record has been set at the IHF Men’s Youth World Championship when Slovenia’s wunderkind Aljuš Anžič scored 23 goals in his side’s draw, 37:37, against Norway, in the main round at Egypt 2025.

But what was the previous record? By how many goals did Anžič beat the record? History says that only 11 players have scored at least 15 goals in a single match in this age category at the IHF Men’s World Championship.

Five of them have scored exactly 15 goals: Brazil’s Raul Nantes Campos, France’s Hugo Descat, Gabon’s Yorick Aubyang, Iceland’s Odinn Thor Rikhardsson and Saudi Arabia’s Husein Furaij.

Four players – Mexico’s Yahir Garcia, Bahrain’s Ahmed Fadul, Serbia’s Milan Vukas and Algeria’s Messaoud Berkous scored 16 goals. Then, Oli Mittun lit up the scoreboard in the previous edition against Sweden, when he scored 17 goals for the Faroe Islands.

And then, the former record holder, the Republic of Korea’s Eom Hyo-won, who scored 18 goals against Serbia and Montenegro in the inaugural edition of the competition, in 2005.

Write them all off, because we have a new sheriff in town. After he scored 60 goals and was the third top scorer in June at the 2025 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship, Aljuš Anžič took everybody by storm and delivered an epic performance, one for the ages, setting a record which will surely be hard to beat.

“It was really tough. I mean, from the start we were falling behind, but then at the end of the first half we came back, cut the gap by a single goal and then in the second half we were ahead. It was a crazy match, you know,” said Anžič after the match.

By his standards, his appearance at the 2025 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship was somewhat quiet, with Anžič scoring only 16 goals in the first three matches. After his outburst against Norway, the Slovenia back is the second best scorer of the competition, with 39 goals, only three behind Norway’s Vetle Mellemstrand Bore.

It's hard enough to score this number of goals in a friendly match or against a lower-tier opponent, but when a team like Norway, which is close to secure a place between the top eight sides in the world at this World Championship, cannot stop you, then the performance is really special.

Probably miraculous and very hard to copy-paste or repeat in any kind of scenario, as Anžič improved the record at this level by a whole five goals.

The centre back did almost everything he could: converted six penalties, scored on fast breaks, via breakthroughs, or from the nine-metre line. You name it, Anžič probably did it in this match.

But in the end, after the final whistle and after he received the Player of the Match award, he was inconsolable. The 37:37 draw meant that Slovenia, which had previously lost against Germany in the preliminary round, had little chances to progress to the quarter-finals, a big objective for the European side.

They are currently at a -5 goal difference, while Norway are at +8, meaning that there is a gap of 13 goals between the two sides, provided that Norway do not take a point against Germany and Slovenia force a win against France to tie the Scandinavian side.

“The whole second half we practically were leading by one or two goals, so it was tight. In the final 10 minutes, I mean, we were leading by three goals. We didn't score for four minutes, I think, in the end, and that was that for us,” adds Anžič.

But it was not for the lack of trying from Norway. For a big chunk of the second half, Anžič, who scored his team’s first five goals and finished the first half with 10 goals, was defended man-to-man. That did not deter him, rather made him even more motivated to shine.

“Every moment of the match, every second, it was so difficult. I mean, I'm mentally totally down, but we'll see what happens, we hope to win the last match and we maybe still have a hope,” says the 17-year-old centre back.

At the 2025 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship, Anžič was the youngest player in the competition. Here, he is still one of the youngest, being eligible to participate in yet another edition of the IHF Men’s Youth World Championship in 2027.

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.
But did he score 23 goals before in a single match?

With the last ounces of strength, Anžič smiles: “Yeah, I have scored 24 goals once, but not at this level, certainly not at this level.”