After more than three weeks of intense voting, the International Handball Federation (IHF) can reveal the winners of the four 2025 IHF World Player of the Year awards.

The voting structure remained the same as in previous year, with fan votes, the votes from the coaches of the teams which featured at the 2025 IHF Men’s and Women’s World Championships, and the IHF Commission of Coaching and Methods (CCM) each contributing a third to the final standings. The players with the highest overall percentage across these three categories were crowned the winners.

In the IHF Male Player of the Year award, Mathias Gidsel had an overwhelming advantage in all three categories, securing the award ahead of Denmark teammate Emil Nielsen and making history by becoming the first male player to secure the award in three consecutive years.

Gidsel was the top choice for the CCM, had a 60,7% share of the fans’ votes and a 68% share of the coaches’ votes, marching towards his third title, tying Nikola Karabatić and Mikkel Hansen as the only players in history to secure three IHF Male World Player of the Year trophies.

In the IHF Female Player of the Year award, Henny Reistad, the reigning IHF World Player of the Year, swept the coaches’ and the CCM votes, finishing ahead of Brazil’s Bruna de Paula and teammate Katrine Lunde. 

Reistad finished first in the coaches’ vote, with 52% of the votes, while ending up on the second place in the fans’ voting, behind Brazilian superstar Bruna de Paula Almeida, who received huge backing from her fans. Reistad is only the second player in history to receive the award three times after Cristina Neagu and the first one to clinch it in three consecutive years.

As for the young player awards, consensus was reached for the IHF Young Female Player of the Year, where Viola Leuchter won the award, by sweeping all the three categories, with a 44% share in the coaches’ voting and a 37,5% share of the votes in the fans’ category, with a well-balanced share between the three nominees, with Julie Scaglione finishing second and Nina Dury third.

Portugal’s rising star Francisco Costa clinched the IHF Young Male Player of the Year award by linking the IHF CCM vote and the coaches’ vote, where he had an otherworldly 80% of the votes. In the fans’ vote, he ranked second behind Faroe Islands’ Oli Mittun, with a late surge by the Faroe centre back seeing him rank first in this category.

Mathias Gidsel (Denmark / Füchse Berlin)

Mathias Gidsel's trajectory to handball immortality seems unstoppable. He's already etched his name in the sport's history books, stacking individual accolades atop a growing collection of team medals.

Mikkel Hansen and Nikola Karabatić are the only players to have clinched the IHF Male Player of the Year trophies three times, while Talant Dujshebaev, Ivano Balić, and Niklas Landin Jacobsen had previously won the trophy two times. Gidsel is, therefore, only the third player in history to secure three IHF Male Player of the Year trophies, strengthening his grip on the status quo in male handball, taking the coaches’ vote by a whopping margin of 68%, as well as sizable leads in the other two voting categories.

In 2025, Gidsel led Denmark to their unprecedented fourth consecutive IHF Men’s World Championship title, defeating Croatia 32:26 in the final held in the Unity Arena in Baerum. He was named MVP and top scorer with 74 goals, also leading in assists with 45, marking his second straight MVP and top scorer honors at the Worlds.

At club level with Füchse Berlin in the 2024/25 Handball Bundesliga season, Gidsel was named the MVP and finished as the second-best scorer with 275 field goals (all non-penalties), breaking his own single-season record of goals scored without penalties converted. The German side clinched their first-ever Bundesliga title, with Gidsel pivotal through 33 games, adding 124 assists and leading in steals (26). They also featured in the EHF Champions League Men final, lost against SC Magdeburg.

 

Henny Reistad (Norway / Team Esbjerg)

Prior to last year, only two players had managed to secure the IHF Female Player of the Year trophy at least two times. First, it was Hungarian back Bojana Radulovics, followed by Romanian left back Cristina Neagu, who was also the only player to have secured back-to-back trophies. Now, Neagu is joined by Norway back Henny Reistad, who became only the second player in history to receive the award three times after Cristina Neagu and the first one to clinch it in three consecutive years (2023, 2024, 2025).

Reistad finished first in the coaches’ vote with 52% of the votes, while ending up in second place in the fans’ vote behind Brazilian superstar Bruna de Paula Almeida, who received huge backing from her fans. This marks her third IHF Female Player of the Year trophy, solidifying her elite status.

Henny Reistad dominated the 2025 IHF Women's World Championship, leading Norway to their fifth world title – her second gold medal at the event. She was named MVP and top scorer with 55 goals, earning her second consecutive MVP award at the World Championship after the one in 2023.

At club level with Team Esbjerg, she was the EHF Champions League Women top scorer with 154 goals in the 2024/25 season, securing bronze and closing with 93 career EHF FINAL4 goals as the all-time top scorer in Budapest. 

 

Francisco Costa (Portugal / Sporting CP)

Costa is the first Portguese player to win the IHF World Player of the Year award and follows into the footsteps of Elias Ellefsen á Skipagøtu and Renars Uscins, who were the recipients of the IHF Young Male Player of the Year awards in 2023 and 2024. 

The 20-year-old right back confirmed his credentials as the next big thing in handball in 2025, proving himself as one of the world's top young right backs with explosive scoring and playmaking. At just 19 years old, he starred at the 2025 IHF Men's World Championship in Croatia/Denmark/Norway, where Portugal achieved their best-ever fourth place.

Costa won the 2025 IHF Young Male World Player of the Year award by linking the IHF CCM vote and the coaches’ vote, where he had an otherworldly 80% of the votes. In the fans’ vote, he ranked second behind Faroe Islands’ Oli Mittun, with a late surge by the Faroe centre back seeing him first in this category, though Costa had the largest number of votes in the coaches’ voting in any category.

Costa was named the Best Young Player presented by LIDL (awarded for the best Under-21 player in the competition), included in the All-Star team, scoring 54 goals (tied for second overall, 69% conversion rate) with 22 assists - directly involved in 77 of Portugal's goals.

At club level with Sporting CP, Costa finished the previous season of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League with 79 goals. In the 2025/26 season, he has continued his form, providing standout performances including multiple double-digit goal games early on.

 

Viola Leuchter (Germany / Odense Håndbold)

Viola Leuchter was spotted early as a rising star in women’s handball, earning back-to-back All-Star Best Young Player presented by LIDL awards at the IHF Women's World Championships in 2023 and 2025. She proved invaluable for hosts Germany at the 2025 event in Germany/Netherlands, helping secure the silver medal - their best finish since 2007.

Consensus was reached between the three demographics for the IHF Young Female Player of the Year, where Leuchter won the award by sweeping all three categories, with a 44% share in the coaches’ voting and 37.5% share of the votes in the fans’ category. This well-balanced performance placed her ahead of the three nominees, with Julie Scaglione finishing second and Nina Dury third.

The 21-year-old right back overcame a prior knee injury from the 2023 Worlds, scoring 28 goals from 55 attempts (51% efficiency) with nine assists.