Luka Karabatić
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Luka Karabatic (born 19 April 1988) is a French professional
handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor 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 thr ...
player for
Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...
and the French national team. He is the younger brother of
Nikola Karabatić Nikola Karabatić (born 11 April 1984) is a French former professional handball player. He is regarded as one of the greatest players in handball history. With the French national handball team, he won three Olympic gold medals (Summer Olympics ...
.


Biography

Karabatic was born in
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
to Croatian dad and Serbian mom. He came from a handball family – his father,
Branko Branko (Cyrillic script: Бранко; ) is a South Slavic male given name found in all of the former Yugoslavia. It is related to the names Branimir and Branislav, and the female equivalent is Branka. People named Branko include: * Branko (DJ), P ...
who is originally from
Trogir Trogir () is a historic town and harbour on the Adriatic coast in Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia, with a population of 10,107 (2021) and a total municipal population of 12,393 (2021). The historic part of the city is situated on a small island ...
, Croatia, is a former Yugoslavian handballer who played as goalkeeper in the national team. His older brother,
Nikola Nikola () is a given name which, like Nicholas, is a version of the Greek '' Nikolaos'' (Νικόλαος) and it means "the winner of the people". It is common as a masculine given name in the South Slavic countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bul ...
, is one of the best handball players in the world who was named best player in the world by IHF two times, but Karabatic decided to play tennis and won France championship for 10 years old in 1998. In 2007, when he was 19, Karabatic started to train handball with the youth team of
Montpellier Handball Montpellier Handball, formerly named Montpellier Agglomération Handball, is a professional handball club from Montpellier, France. Montpellier is the only French club to ever have won the EHF Champions League. History The team was founded as ...
as center back. In 2009, he joined the senior team of the club, in the same year his older brother returned to Montpellier AHB again. In his first two years as professional player, Karabatic won the French championship two times in 2009 and 2010. After his two successful seasons in Montpellier, the club decided to extend his contract until 2016. He became the second pivot in rotation after Issam Tej. In June 2006, Karabatic debuted for
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
in a friendly tournament in
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
. On 30 September 2012, he was involved in a
match-fixing In organized sports, match fixing (also known as game fixing, race fixing, throwing, rigging, hippodroming, or more generally sports fixing) is the act of playing or officiating a contest with the intention of achieving a predetermined result, v ...
and arrested with his brother Nikola and his wife. On 2 October, he was indicted and then released for €4,500. Few days after his release from custody, Karabatic released from Montpellier AHB because of "serious disciplinary offenses". He signed for Pays d'Aix Université, which only promoted to
LNH Division 1 LNH Division 1, doing business as Starligue and currently known as Liqui Moly Starligue for sponsorship reasons, is the premier men's professional handball league in France. It is administered by the Ligue Nationale de Handball, under delegatio ...
, with his brother Nikola. In their first season in the club, the Karabatic brothers took the team to the 9th place in the league. In 2014, Karabatic played for the first time with
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
in an official competition in EHF Euro in Denmark. In 2015 he won the
World Championship 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 ...
with France. At the 2025 World Championship, he won bronze medals with France, losing to Croatia in the semifinal and beating Portugal in the third place playoff. He retired from the French national team in February 2025, 8 months after his brother had done so.


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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Karabatic, Luka 1988 births Living people French male handball players French people of Serbian descent French people of Croatian descent Sportspeople from Strasbourg Olympic handball players for France Handball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for France Olympic medalists in handball Montpellier Handball players Handball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for France Handball players at the 2024 Summer Olympics Paris Saint-Germain Handball players 21st-century French sportsmen