The IHF World Player of the Year is a handball award given annually to the player who is considered to have performed the best in the previous season, both at club and international competitions. It is awarded based on votes from experts, media and fans.
About The award was awarded by IHF since 1988 in both Men's and Women's Category separately.
No award was awarded in the years 1991, 1992, 1993, 2017, 2020 and 2022.
Men Year Winner Country Position Ref.1988 Veselin Vujović Left back 1989 Kang Jae-Won Right back 1990 Magnus Wislander Centre back 1991Not awarded199219931994 Talant Dujshebaev Centre back 1995 Jackson Richardson Centre back 1996 Talant Dujshebaev (2) Centre back 1997 Stéphane Stoecklin Right back 1998 Daniel Stephan Left back 1999 Rafael Guijosa Left wing2000 Dragan Škrbić Line player 2001 Yoon Kyung-Shin Right back 2002 Bertrand Gille Line player 2003 Ivano Balić Centre back 2004 Henning Fritz Goalkeeper 2005 Arpad Šterbik Goalkeeper 2006 Ivano Balić (2) Centre back 2007 Nikola Karabatić Centre back 2008 Thierry Omeyer Goalkeeper 2009 Sławomir Szmal Goalkeeper 2010 Filip Jícha Left back 2011 Mikkel Hansen Left back 2012 Daniel Narcisse Centre back 2013 Domagoj Duvnjak Centre back 2014 Nikola Karabatić (2) Centre back 2015 Mikkel Hansen (2) Left back 2016 Nikola Karabatić (3) Centre back 2017 Not awarded2018 Mikkel Hansen (3) Left back 2019 Niklas Landin Jacobsen Goalkeeper 2020 Not awarded2021 Niklas Landin Jacobsen (2) Goalkeeper 2022 Not awarded2023 Mathias Gidsel Right back 2024 Mathias Gidsel (2) Right back 2025 Mathias Gidsel (3) Right back
Women Year Winner Country Position1988 Svetlana Kitić Centre back1989 Kim Hyun-Mee 1990 Jasna Kolar-Merdan Left back1991Not awarded199219931994 Mia Hermansson Centre back1995 Erzsébet Kocsis Line player1996 Lim O-Kyeong Centre back1997 Anja Andersen Left back1998 Trine Haltvik Centre back1999 Ausra Fridrikas Left back2000 Bojana Radulović Right back2001 Cecilie Leganger Goalkeeper2002 Zhai Chao Centre back2003 Bojana Radulović (2) Right back2004 Anita Kulcsár Line player2005 Anita Görbicz Centre back2006 Nadine Krause Left back2007 Gro Hammerseng Centre back2008 Linn-Kristin Riegelhuth Right wing2009 Allison Pineau Centre back2010 Cristina Neagu Left back2011 Heidi Løke Line player2012 Alexandra do Nascimento Right wing2013 Andrea Lekić Centre back2014 Eduarda Amorim Left back2015 Cristina Neagu (2) Left back2016 Cristina Neagu (3) Left back2017 Not awarded2018 Cristina Neagu (4) Left back2019 Stine Bredal Oftedal Centre back2020 Not awarded2021 Sandra Toft Goalkeeper2022 Not awarded2023 Henny Reistad Left back2024 Henny Reistad (2) Left back2025 Henny Reistad (3) Left back
Previous awards While the IHF has only reported awards since 1988, other players have been voted best players in the world before.
Thus, the Romanian Ștefan Birtalan was elected World Player of the Year in 1974, 1976 and 1977. And Ioan Moser of Romania was also named "Best Handball Player in the World” in 1964.
Best players of all time In 1992, Gheorghe Gruia of Romania was named Best Player of All Time by the International Handball Federation.
In 2000, Magnus Wislander of Sweden and Zinaida Turchyna of Ukraine were elected Players of the 20th Century by the IHF.
In 2010, Ivano Balić of Croatia and Svetlana Kitić of Yugoslavia were voted Best Players Ever in an online poll organized by the IHF.Ivano Balic voted best male player everSvetlana Kitic voted best female player ever
Team of the century In 2000, the official bulletin of the International Handball Federation, World Handball Magazine, chose Gheorghe Gruia, Ioan Moser and Cornel Penu as members of the "Team of the Century".
Other awards In 2010, the fans voted Thierry Omeyer as world's best goalkeeper ever.Voting of the IHF users: Omeyer world’s best goalkeeper And in 2011, the fans voted for Luminița Dinu (born Huțupan) as best female goalkeeper ever.Fans vote for Luminita Dinu as best female goalkeeper ever
Previously in 2009, Steffen Fäth and Cristina Neagu respectively won Rookie of the Year award for male and female.
See also EHF Players of the Year
References
External links All the previous World Handball Players on the IHF homepage World Handball Awards on the IHF homepage