The coveted IHF World Player of the Year award return in full fledge, with four categories ready to find out their winners, after a transparent process of voting by the fans, coaches and the IHF Commission of Coaching and Methods members.

2023 marked the introduction of the IHF Young Male Player of the Year and the IHF Young Female Player of the Year, which underline the penchant for identifying and nurturing new talents. 

This will be the third consecutive year when the voting mechanisms are in place.

The fans have a say in the final standings of the IHF World Player of the Year awards, but the current formula sees an equal percentage of the final decision between three categories, for a better representation and a level-playing field for all the nominees. 

The fans will still have the power, as the votes casted will represent a third of the final standings. Another third will be reserved to the coaches who led their national teams at the 2025 IHF Men and Women’s World Championships. The IHF Commission of Coaching and Methods (CCM) will have the final third of the decision, with the awards being sealed by the player that has the best percentage throughout the three categories.

For all categories, three players have been shortlisted by the IHF Commission of Coaching and Methods (CCM), based on their performances in 2025, having impressed throughout the last year on the courts. The nominated players will be presented on a category-by-category basis.

For the 2025 IHF Female World Player of the Year, the nominees are Henny Reistad (Norway), Katrine Lunde (Norway) and Bruna de Paula Almeida (Brazil).

The voting will be open for the fans from Sunday, 25 January 2026, from 12:00 CET, to Tuesday, 10 February 2026 at 23:59 CET, therefore more than two weeks for the fans to vote for their favourites and help them win the prestigious award.

 

Henny Reistad (Norway)

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.

With this, Reistad positions herself to potentially become the second player to win three consecutive IHF World Player of the Year awards (after Cristina Neagu) and the second to win it three times overall (also after Neagu, who has four). At club level with Team Esbjerg, she was the EHF Champions League Women top scorer with 154 goals in 2024/25, securing bronze.

The 26-year-old captain's vision and scoring and leadership make her one of the world’s best and Reistad can make history by snatching up another trophy on her way to greatness.

 

Katrine Lunde (Norway)

At 45 years old, Katrine Lunde capped her legendary career by winning her third IHF Women's World Championship with Norway in 2025, adding to her collection of Olympic golds and EURO titles as handball's goalkeeping stalwart. The gold medal at the World Championship was the 21th medal won by Lunde in a major international competition, and the last, after she announced her international retirement at the end of Germany/Netherlands 2025.

She was named the All-Star goalkeeper at Germany/Netherlands 2025, delivering 86 saves at 48% saving efficiency across the tournament, peaking at 58% after six matches and 14 saves (67%) vs Brazil, absolutely fantastic numbers even by her standard.

Lunde's final masterclass included 14 saves (41%) in the gold-medal win over Germany, earning a fitting tribute from Norway captain and fellow nominee Reistad, who called up Lunde to be the first player to lift the trophy after the win in the final against Germany.

 

Bruna de Paula Almeida (Brazil)

Bruna de Paula Almeida anchored Brazil's resurgence at the 2025 IHF Women's World Championship, lifting them to the quarter-finals for the first time since 2021 with dominant preliminary wins and some excellent performances in the main round. She was named the All-Star centre back of the competition, scoring 29 goals in nine matches.

At club level, with Győri Audi ETO KC, de Paula won the EHF Champions League for the second time, holding the trophy won in 2024, and adding to her 2021 European League gold and French awards. The 29-year-old's prime leadership propelled Brazil's quarters run and provided some excellent higlight reels throughout the competition.