Adriana Prosenjak (born 12 July 1963) is a Croatian former

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

coach and player. Considered a legendary player and a celebrated name in Croatian handball, she was the goalkeeper and the first captain of the

Croatia women's national handball team The Croatia women's national handball team is the national handball team of Croatia. It is governed by the Croatian Handball Federation and takes part in international team handball competitions. Results Olympic Games World Champions ...

. She was named the best handball player in Croatia in 1993.

Biography

She was born on July 7, 1963, in

Labin Labin (Italian/Istriot: Albona) is a town in Istria, west Croatia, with a town population of 5,806 (2021) and 10,424 in the greater municipality (which also includes the small towns of Rabac and Vinež, as well as a number of smaller villages). Hi ...

Istria Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; ist, Eîstria; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian, Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; formerly in Latin and in Ancient Greek) is the larges ...

. She started playing at 10 for her hometown club

ŽRK Rudar Labin ŽRK Rudar Labin is a Croatian women's handball club based in Labin. It was established in 1954. It plays in the 2. HRL West. Several notable players from the club went on the play for the national team, both Croatia's and Yugoslavia's. The play ...

, and went through all the selections at the Istrian club. With Labin's first team, she managed to get promoted to the

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First Federal Football League ( Serbian: Прва савезна лига у фудбалу / ''Prva savezna liga u fudbalu'', hr, Prva savezna liga u nogometu, sl, Prva zvezna nogometna liga, mk, Прва сојузна лига, ...

. After playing for the ''swans'', she moved to ŽRK Lokomotiva Zagreb. At Lokomotiva she won the

EHF European League The EHF European League is an annual men's handball club competition organised by the European Handball Federation (EHF) since 1981. It is the second-tier competition of European club handball, ranking only below the EHF Champions League. Previ ...

and the last Yugoslav Championship before the dissolution of the country. She spent 11 years at Lokomotiva, where she also won a Croatian Championship and a Croatian Cup in 1992. She then moved to Sweden and Austria and ended her career at ŽRK Đurđevac, where she started her coaching career. After Đurđevac, she coached Varaždin,

Salerno Salerno (, , ; nap, label= Salernitano, Saliernë, ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' in Campania (southwestern Italy) and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after ...

Pula Pula (; also known as Pola, it, Pola , hu, Pòla, Venetian language, Venetian; ''Pola''; Istriot language, Istriot: ''Puola'', Slovene language, Slovene: ''Pulj'') is the largest city in Istria County, Croatia, and the List of cities and town ...

Umag Umag (; it, Umago) is a coastal town in Istria, Croatia. Geography It is the westernmost town of Croatia, and it includes Bašanija, the westernmost point of Croatia. Population Umag has a population of 7,281, with a total municipal populatio ...

, and, from 2013 to 2019,

ŽRK Zamet ŽRK Zamet (Ženski rukometni Klub Zamet) is a women's handball club from Rijeka, Croatia, formed in 1957. The club currently competes in the Croatian First League and the Croatian Handball Cup. History The club was founded in September 1957 as ...

, winning two Croatian Cups and finishing second in the 2014–15 1 HRL. In 2020, she came back to her hometown Labin, to coach the local Labin School of Handball. She also played for Croatia, of which she was the captain ever since the national team's first international appearance. She took part with Croatia in two

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

and two

European championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

. She won the

1993 Mediterranean Games The XII Mediterranean Games, commonly known as the 1993 Mediterranean Games, were the 12th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Languedoc-Roussillon, France, from 16 June to 27 June 1993, where 2,598 athletes (1,994 men and 604 women) fr ...

with Croatia. She played a total of 45 games for Croatia's national team.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prosenjak, Adriana Croatian female handball players Yugoslav female handball players Living people People from Labin Sportspeople from Istria County 1963 births