After more than three weeks of intense voting, the International Handball Federation (IHF) can reveal the winners of the four 2024 IHF World Player of the Year awards.

The voting structure remained the same as in previous year, with fan votes, national team coaches' votes, 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 Andreas Wolff and making history by becoming the first male player to secure the award in back-to-back consecutive years.

A similar scenario unfolded in the IHF Female Player of the Year award, where Henny Reistad, the reigning Player of the Year, swept the coaches’ and the fans’ vote, finishing ahead of Norway teammate Kari Brattset Dale. She is only the second player in history to receive the award after Cristina Neagu.

As for the young player awards, consensus was reached for the IHF Young Female Player of the Year, where Petra Simon won the award, while Renars Uscins clinched the IHF Young Male Player of the Year award by linking the IHF CCM vote and the fans’ vote.

2024 IHF Male Player of the Year - Mathias Gidsel (Denmark / Füchse Berlin)

Is that anything that can stop Gidsel towards becoming a true legend? Probably not. In fact, he has already written history and is just piling up individual trophies, as the medals come along in his cabinet. After winning the MVP plaudits and the gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the Denmark right back became the first player to secure back-to-back IHF Male Player of the Year trophies in consecutive years, sweeping all the three voting categories – the fans’ vote, the coaches’ vote, as well as the IHF CCM Vote.

Mikkel Hansen and Nikola Karabatic are the only players to have clinched the IHF Male Player of the Year trophies three times, while Talant Dujshebaev, Ivano Balic and Niklas Landin Jacobsen had previously won the trophy two times. Gidsel is the sixth player in history to secure two 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 88.2%, as well as sizable leads in the other two voting categories.

The 26-year-old right back has been nothing short of superb in 2024, where he was the MVP and the top goal scorer at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where he had 62 goals for Denmark, the team which was unbeatable and secured the gold medal, the first in Gidsel’s cabinet. He was also the top assists provider, with 39 assists, underlining his importance in Denmark’s gameplan. At the EHF EURO 2024, Gidsel was also the All-Star right back and the joint top scorer, with 54 goals, with Denmark winning the silver medal.

2024 IHF Female Player of the Year – 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 Radulović, 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, the player who was also named the IHF Female Player of the Year in 2023.

Reistad dominated the fan vote, winning by a comfortable margin ahead of her rivals, with the number of votes casted for the Norway back being bigger than the combined number for the other two candidates,Estelle Nze Minko and Kari Brattset Dale. Reistad was in prime position in the coaches’ vote as well, winning it by a whopping margin, 88.2%, on her way to the second the IHF Female Player of the Year trophy.

The left back, who turned 26 years old in February, was absolutely fantastic at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where she missed the first two matches, was ushered slowly into the team, but still finished 11th in the top goal scorer standings, with 28 goals in six matches, in a competition where she helped Norway clinch the gold medal. At the EHF EURO 2024, Reistad was also excellent, being named the All-Star centre back, scoring 50 goals in the competition, while also clinching the gold medal. The Norway star was also the top goal scorer in the EHF Champions League Women for Team Esbjerg and has also scored 66 goals in the 2024/25 season in the last year, being the top scorer of the European premium competition.

2024 IHF Young Male Player of the Year – Renārs Uščins (Germany / TSV Hannover-Burgdorf)

Uščins was the fan favourite in the poll which counted for 33% of the final vote, taking more votes than his rivals, Portugal’s Francisco Costa and Croatia’s Dominik Kuzmanovic combined. The Germany right back, who has impressed for club and country in 2024, having a breakthrough year, was also the preferred player by the IHF Commission of Coaching and Methods members, therefore getting the necessary votes to secure the vote and follow into the footsteps of Elias Ellefsen a Skipagotu, the recipient of the IHF Young Male Player of the Year award last year.

2024 has cemented the 22-year-old’s place in the squad, being the first option for Alfred Gislason in Germany’s set-up. And the last year saw Uscins secure his maiden medal with the senior team, clinching the silver at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where he shined on the court.

Uscins was the fourth best scorer in the competition, with 52 goals, got a place in the All-Star team, as the best right back of the Olympics, and also was the top scorer for his club, TSV Hannover-Burgdorf, in the German Bundesliga.

2024 IHF Young Female Player of the Year – Petra Simon – (Hungary / FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria)

Simon also had a breakthrough year at only 19 years old (she turned 20 in November 2024). The diminutive centre back shined for Hungary in the Olympic Qualification Tournament in Debrecen, then became an integrant part of Hungary's set up at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where her team qualified for the quarter-finals. Simon dominated the fans' voting, earning more votes than the other two candidates - Lena Grandveau and Lylou Borg - as well as the coaches' poll, where she received 82% of the casted votes.

At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where she was one of the youngest players in the competition, Simon scored 16 goals until Hungary were eliminated in the quarter-finals, also helping her side to win the match against Brazil, where she was the top scorer, with a buzzer-beater. Simon was also named the Best Young Player at the EHF EURO 2024, where she secured her first medal in senior competitions, clinching the bronze with Hungary.