During the EURO 2012 Serbia, also nicknamed the Eagles, had extra wings and took the silver medal after losing the final against Denmark. Serbia didn’t qualify for the 2015 and 2017 World Championships, but now with interim coach Ljubomir Obradovic steering the rejuvenated team, Serbia qualified for the 2019 event by leaving the surprise team of Portugal behind, which before had eliminated 2015 bronze medallists, Poland.

For the 2016 Olympic Games on home ground, Brazil had invested all resources to make their fans happy – but all were sure that the women’s team (World Champions in 2013) would make it at least to the semi-final. Both teams ended in the quarter-finals – a great result for the men’s team, which had been build up by Spaniard Jordi Ribera for many years. After the Olympic Games, he returned to his home country – and steered Spain to their first ever European title in 2018. Since 2016, Washington Nunes Silva is the new coach and he started a transition.

In almost two decades Spain has belonged in the top of world class handball. First, it were Spanish clubs which dominated European handball, then the national team grew and grew. In 2005 Spain won their first major title, the trophy of the World Championship, which they again rose in 2013. After an overall of four silver medals at European Championships, the team of new head coach Jordi Ribera won gold in 2018. First they dethroned defending EURO champions Germany by eliminating them from the final at Zagreb, followed by the victories against France in the semi and Sweden in the final.

The double Olympic Champions (1996 and 2004) and 2003 World Champions have waited for their next trophy more than 14 years. Since then, the Croats had almost been part of all semi-finals at major tournaments and took two silver medals on the world stage (2005, 2009), two on the European stage (2008, 2010) and even more bronze medals. At their EURO on home ground in 2018, finally the pressure was too huge and the early injury of their mastermind Domagoj Duvnjak hit them hard - the Croats missed the semis and finished on the fifth position.

When talking about Macedonian handball, it is mostly about Kiril Lazarov. The 38 years old shooter is a national legend - and a record-breaking star: No player ever scored more goals during a single World Championship like Lazarov in 2009 (92) and at a single EURO event (2012). Still, he is the mastermind behind all success in the Macedonian team, though others such as goalkeeper Borko Ristovski, line player Stojanche Stoilov or left wing Dejan Manaskov take more and more responsibility.

Rarely, a national bank holiday is given to a country from it’s government because of handball - this history happened in Iceland one day after the handball team won their first ever Olympic silver for their country in 2008 in Beijing. Some of those Olympic heroes are still in the current team, including Icelandic record player and scorer Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson and goalkeeper Björgvin Pal Gustavsson. Besides, both won the 2010 EURO bronze medal at Vienna with Iceland. Iceland re-engaged the mastermind behind the 2008 silver medal, former Danish national team coach Gudmundur Gudmundsson.

Since the former FC Barcelona player and Champions League winner Matteo Garralda took over the Chilean team, they have developed a lot. Under his leadership, they took their biggest success on continental level by making it to the final of the Pan American Championship on home ground in 2016. At the World Championship in France 2017, they made history by their first ever group phase win, beating Belarus. Three brothers imprinted the Chilean team in the previous years – the Feuchtmanns.

The golden era of the so-called Bengan Boys is long gone, but now Sweden have build another top generation. They made it to the 2018 EHF EURO final in Zagreb, though beaten by Spain - after the “Tre Kronors” had won the EURO title four times between 1994 and 2002. Now the Icelandic Kristjan Andresson is the head coach, following on the duo Ola Lindgren/Staffan Olsson, who had steered Sweden to the 2012 Olympic final.

The men’s national team are still aiming for their second ever medal at major events since silver at the 1986 World Championship. In 2004 and 2012, they made it to the Olympic semi-finals, but finished fourth rank twice. At the 2017 World Championship in France, Hungary eliminated Olympic Champions Denmark. In 2017 Swedish Ljubomir Vranjes took over Veszprem and the national team after he had steered Flensburg to the 2014 Champions League title.

When Qatar were awarded host of the 2017 Men’s World Championship in 2011, they started like a machine to build up a competitive team for the “home tournament”. Many players were added to the Qatar team, a whole administration was built around the team and the Qatar Handball Association (QHA). In April 2013 Qatar made the most important step towards a brilliant future, signing Valero Rivera as their coach, who had just steered Spain to the gold medal at the 2013 World Championship on home ground. With Rivera’s knowledge and experience they started their mission for 2015.