The IHF World Player of the Year is a

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 ...

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 and 2017.

Men

Women

Previous awards

While the IHF has only reported awards since 1988, other players have been voted best players in the world before. Thus, the

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

n 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 The International Handball Federation (IHF) is the administrative and controlling body for handball and beach handball. IHF is responsible for the organisation of handball's major international tournaments, notably the IHF World Men's Handball ...

. In 2000, the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

Magnus Wislander Hans Einar Magnus Wislander (born 22 February 1964) is a Swedish former handball player, who has been voted ''Handball Player of the Century''. Since his debut in the national team in 1985 he has played over 380 games and scored over 1,000 goals ...

and the

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

Zinaida Turchyna Zinaida Mykhaylivna Turchyna ( ua, Зінаїда Михайлiвна Турчина, née ''Stolitenko'' on 17 May 1946) is a retired Ukrainian handball player. Coached by her husband Igor Turchin she competed for the Soviet Union in all maj ...

were elected Players of the 20th Century by the IHF. Additionally, in 2010

Ivano Balić Ivano Balić (; born 1 April 1979) is a Croatian former professional handballer who is currently working as assistant coach of the Croatia national handball team. He was voted five times in a row as the most valuable player in major internatio ...

of Croatia and Svetlana Kitić of Yugoslavia were voted by the website users the Best Players Ever, but they were not named directly by the IHF.

Team of the century

In 2000, the official bulletin of the

, ''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 Thierry Omeyer (born 2 November 1976) is a retired French handball goalkeeper. A member of the French national team since 1999, he has won all major titles with the team: world champion (five times), European champion (three times) and Olympic ch ...

as world's best goalkeeper ever. And in 2011, the fans voted for Luminița Dinu (born Huțupan) as best female goalkeeper ever. Previously in 2009,

Steffen Fäth Steffen Fäth (born 4 April 1990) is a German handball player for Rhein-Neckar Löwen and the German national team. He participated at the 2019 World Men's Handball Championship. Achievements *Summer Olympics: **: 2016 * European Championship: ...

and

Cristina Neagu Cristina Georgiana Neagu (; born 26 August 1988) is a Romanian professional handballer who plays as a left back for CSM București (women's handball), CSM București and the Romania women's national handball team, Romanian national team. Often co ...

respectively won ''Rookie of the Year'' award for male and female.Neagu, “World’s best Rookie of the Year 2009”
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References

External links

All the previous World Handball Players on the IHF homepageWorld Handball Awards on the IHF homepage
{{IHF World Player of the Year Women International Handball Federation awards Awards established in 1988