Croatia have won the 19th edition of the Mediterranean Handball Confederation’s (MHC) Women’s Championship which took place in Prishtina, Kosovo, from 8 to 15 February.

The MHC Men’s and Women’s Mediterranean Handball Championships play to slightly different rules than the standard IHF Rules of the Game. Up until the final, games in the championships consist of three 15-minute thirds – 45 minutes in total. The final is 60 minutes, consisting of three 20-minute thirds. All games allow for three timeouts per team.

In each third, one more point is available for the winner and in case of draw, the point is divided by both teams (0.5 each) – each match should add up to five points in total.

The 12 participating teams in this event reserved for Under-16 players have been divided into two groups of six teams each, with a round robin format being played throughout the first five days, with the winner of the competition being decided by the final, played between the winner of the two groups.

In Group A, Spain dominated their opponents, starting with a win against Kosovo, 39:13 (14:4; 13:5; 12:4), following up with another win against Montenegro, 23:19 (8:5; 6:6; 9:8). After a clear win against Bulgaria, 30:8 (7:2; 12:2; 11:4) and another one against Türkiye, 30:20 (11:8; 10:6; 9:6), the decider against Romania came.

Spain lost one of the thirds, 9:10, but won the other two, 8:6 and 9:8, clinching a 26:24 win to secure the first place and the finals berth, with 23,5 points, ahead of Romania (20 points), Montenegro (13 points), Türkiye (11 points), Kosovo (5,5 points) and Bulgaria (2 points).

In Group B, Croatia were the dominating force, starting with a 21:7 win against Slovenia and followed up with a 31:23 win against Italy (11:7; 11:7; 9:9), where they lost half a point. They dominated Greece, 24:15 (9:5; 8:4; 7:6) and Slovakia, 23:17 (8:8; 6:6; 9:3), before finishing off with their clearest win yet, 27:8 against North Macedonia.

Croatia won the group, with 23,5 points, followed by Slovakia (17), Slovenia (16,5), Italy (10), North Macedonia (7) and Greece (1).

In the final, Croatia pulled no punches and were clearly better than reigning champions Spain, taking the first third, 12:10. Ela Grubisic Cabo scored nine goals, while Ena Gotal, Lena Kolenko and Marija Zorica each scored five goals, to help their side win the other thirds, 9:6 and 10:8, on their way to the 32:24 win which helped them seal the title.

In the bronze medal match, Romania took a 25:24 win against Slovakia to secure the last place on the podium.

Final ranking 
1. Croatia  
2. Spain  
3. Romania  
4. Slovakia  
5. Slovenia  
6. Montenegro  
7. Italy  
8. Türkiye
9. Kosovo  
10. North Macedonia  
11. Greece  
12. Bulgaria

Credit photo: Federata e Hendbollit e Kosovës