Last weekend, during the bronze medal match between France and Portugal at the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship in Norway, a small presentation took place at the half-time break.

Former IHF referee and delegate, Norwegian Terje Anthonsen, was presented with a small gift from IHF President Dr Hassan Moustafa, accompanied onto court for the presentation by Chairman of the IHF Playing Rules and Referees Commission (PRC), Per Morten Sødal and President of the Norwegian Handball Federation (NHF), Kåre Geir Lio.

The gift was in recognition for his long service and efforts towards the sport of handball in a variety of officiating roles which saw him whistle 366 international matches, including one Olympic Games final, six IHF World Championship finals and 11 EHF European Cup finals.

Anthonsen’s international career with the IHF started back in 1970 as a referee and, 54 years later, ended in the Cook Islands as an IHF delegate last year.

“I am proud of this award; it is like a reward for such a long time working,” explained Anthonsen to ihf.info.

“My first IHF nomination was as a referee in Sweden for two matches between the women’s national teams of Sweden and Germany in Bollnäs and Hudiksvall and then my last, as a delegate, involved a very long journey from Norway to New Zealand and then a further four-hour flight to the Cook Islands.

“Even though I arrived without my luggage, I had a nice time there. We played in a nice hall and I even had some spare time to play golf in my free time.”

From 1978, Anthonsen, with his referee partner Øivind Bolstad, whistled a number of IHF World Championship finals, including those in the former ‘B’ and ‘C’ world championships. In 1982, he took charge of the IHF Men’s World Championship final between the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, with the Anatoly Yevtushenko-coached Soviet Union taking a 30:27 additional time win in Germany.

“I remember that we had to wait one-and-a-half hours before getting out of the referees’ locker room after the match because so many people wanted to talk to us,” reminisced Anthonsen about that final, before turning his thoughts to his experience of whistling the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games men’s gold medal match between Yugoslavia and the former West Germany.

“I thought I was ready for the final, but realised I forgot my whistle in the locker room and had to hurry quickly back to pick it up,” smiles Anthonsen about the game which saw Branislav Pokrajac’s Yugoslavia side, including current Qatar coach Veselin Vujović, defeat the Germans 18:17.

“I came to Los Angeles after being on holiday in Hawaii for a week and thought that Disneyland was a short walk from our Olympic hotel, but it was 45 minutes.”

Playing for the Germans in that gold medal match was Ehrhard Wunderlich, with Anthonsen calling the 1978 IHF Men’s World Championship winner and former VfL Gummersbach and FC Barcelona player the best player he has ever seen.

The recognition for Anthonsen last week is an important part of the IHF paying tribute to those who have helped shape the game we know and love today.

“It’s very important that we recognise the efforts of people who have been such an important part of international handball as Terje has been for decades – we should be grateful and show the appreciation they deserve,” explains Sødal, to ihf.info. 

“The recognition Terje received last Sunday was completely deserved, just as it was for Julie and Charlotte Bonaventura, who received the IHF Referee Badge of Honour during the Olympic Games, after previously announcing their international retirement after the event.

“Terje was an IHF referee before I was even born and had almost a unique career in our sport – his contributions to refereeing and the development of referees have been enormous. The referee duo of Anthonsen and Bolstad is still legendary in the handball world and I often hear they were ‘amazingly good for their time’,” added Sødal.

“Terje has been an important contributor in my career from before I became an international referee through to me becoming a lecturer/delegate and now, as chief of the IHF referees,” added Sødal.

“When I was an 18/19-year-old coming up from the regional to the national system of referees in Norway, he was the chief of referees and set the bar high, as it should be. His feedback was always constructive, with points for improvement both short, and long term.

“I was always extra happy when Terje was happy, but when he was not, I still left the arena with a lot of new knowledge – he was straightforward and brutally honest about his opinions.”

And in such a long, distinguished career for the IHF now at an end, what is the biggest, most positive change Anthonsen has seen in the game? “Speed.”

The 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship also saw the NHF hold a referee and delegate seminar. Over two days, 27 participants took part in lectures, workshops, networking events, attended world championship games and were able to meet and hear from Slovenian IHF referees and championship nominees Bojan Lah and David Sok, plus IHF Lecturer Jørn Møller Nielsen in person.