Valter Matošević (born 11 June 1970) is a former Croatian

team 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 ...

player who was at the goalkeeper position. He played for professional teams in Croatia,

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Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. He is current handball coach. He was part of the national team for 12 years and won gold medals at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, 2003 World Men's Handball Championship and

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Career

Matošević started his career in his hometown club RK Zamet where he competed in

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, ...

and

Croatian First League The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football (soccer), football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, i ...

. At a very young age he was recognized as a goalkeeper prodigy so at the age of 16 he made his debut for Zamet II. In 1993 he left to join Badel 1862 Zagreb later Croatia Banka the Croatian handball title holders. At

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

Matošević had three successes, winning the league and cup while reaching the Champions League finals in 1995. He returned to Zamet in 1996, who had just come out of the Croatian Second League, and spent four years there helping return the club to the top of Croatian handball. During this time he captained his team. Later his career took him to Metković Jambo, Bologna 69, Wilhelmshavener HV, two more spells at Zagreb,

Poreč Poreč (; it, Parenzo; la, Parens or ; grc, Πάρενθος, Párenthos) is a town and municipality on the western coast of the Istrian peninsula, in Istria County, west Croatia. Its major landmark is the 6th-century Euphrasian Basilica, wh ...

HSG Wetzlar HSG Wetzlar is a professional handball club from Wetzlar, Germany. Currently, HSG Wetzlar competes in the German First League of Handball (Bundesliga) and the German Handball Cup. Crest, colours, supporters Kits Accomplishments * DHB ...

, Portland San Antonio and

FCK Håndbold F.C. Copenhagen Handball (or simply FCK Handball) was a Danish handball team, playing in Copenhagen. They had both a male and a female team, both playing in the best Danish leagues, the Danish Handball League (men) and Danish Women's Handball L ...

. After playing out of Croatia for a few years Matošević returned to RK Zamet in 2009 to end his career. In December 2010

TuS Nettelstedt-Lübbecke TuS Nettelstedt-Lübbecke is a handball club from Lübbecke, Germany, that plays in the Handball-Bundesliga. Accomplishments *2. Handball-Bundesliga: 5 ** : 1994, 2002, 2004, 2009, 2017 * DHB-Pokal: ** : 1981 * EHF Cup Winner's Cup: ** : 1981 * ...

called up Matošević to play for half a season due to the injury of their goalkeeper

Nikola Blažičko Nikola Blažičko (born 13 September 1977) is a former Croatian handball goalkeeper and co-trainer at Nettelstedt-Lübbecke. Early life Blažičko grew up in Rijeka. His parents Duško and Nada were also handball players, so him becoming a hand ...

. In 2015. he came out of retirement again to play for ThSV Eisenach so they could get promoted to the A rank bundesliga. They finished second in the league and were promoted to the 1. bundesliga.

International career

Matošević made his first appearance for the Yugoslav national team in 1989. He competed for

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

at 1991 Mediterranean Games in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. He played for the Croatian national team from 1992 till 2004. Matošević was a member of the Croatian national team that won gold

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

medals two times: at the

and at the

. He played in the 1994 European Championship, 1995 World Championship, 1996 European Championship, 1997 World Championship, 1998 European Championship, 2000 European Championship 2001 World Championship, 2002 European Championship and 2003 World Championship, where Croatia was the world champion. He also played in various friendly tournaments for Croatia such as the Croatia Cup, Elfag Cup, Paris tournament and Super League. Matošević scored a goal against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 2001. He also scored a goal at the 2003 World Championship Qualification Tournament against

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. After the

he went into retirement from the national team.

Coaching career

After his second retirement he started coaching the goalkeepers of Croatia U-19, RK Zamet where he is also the assistant coach and the Croatian national team. Matošević has also been a part of the RINA handball academy, coaching children in

Rijeka Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...

and

Kastav Kastav (Italian: Castua) is a town in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Croatia, built on a 365 m high hill overlooking the Kvarner Gulf in the northern part of the Adriatic coast. It is in close vicinity of Rijeka, the largest port in Croatia, an ...

. On 31 October Željko Babić, the head coach of the Croatian national team, announced that

Venio Losert Venio Losert (born 25 July 1976) is a retired Croatian handball player who played as a goalkeeper. He is currently the goalkeeping coach of Egypt. Losert was born in Zavidovići, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, grew up in Slavonski Brod, SR Croatia ...

would be the new goalkeeper coach of the national team. Matošević responded three days later stating that Babić didn't even call him to tell him the news. He then gave the players and the team his best wishes.

Personal life

In 2016 he appeared in two documentaries, '' Od ponora do Olimpa'' and '' Prvi Put'', which follow the events of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta where Croatia won their first gold medal in

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 ...

Honours

Club

RK Zamet * Croatian First A League **Vice-champions (1):

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

* Croatian Cup **Finalist (1): 2000 *

Yugoslav Second League Yugoslav or Yugoslavian may refer to: * Yugoslavia, or any of the three historic states carrying that name: ** Kingdom of Yugoslavia, a European monarchy which existed 1918–1945 (officially called "Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes" 1918–1 ...

**Winner (1): 1986-87 RK Zagreb *Croatian First League **Winner (5): 1993-94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 2002–03, 2004–05 *

Croatian Handball Cup The Croatian Handball Cup ( hr, Hrvatski rukometni kup) is a national team handball competition in Croatia operated by the Croatian Handball Federation. It has been held annually since Croatian independence in 1991 and succeeded the former Yugoslav ...

**Winner (5): 1994, 1995, 1996, 2003, 2005 *

EHF Champions League The Men's EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the me ...

**Runner-up (1): 1995 *

EHF Cup Winners' Cup The EHF Cup Winners' Cup was the official competition for men's and women's handball clubs of Europe that won their national cup, and took place every year. From the 2012–13 season, the men's competition was merged with the EHF Cup. Winners ...

**Finalist (1): 2005 RK Metković *Croatian First League **Vice-champions (1): 2000-01 *

**Winner (1): 2001 *

EHF Cup 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. Prev ...

**Finalist (1): 2001 FCK Håndbold * Danish Handball Cup **Winner (1): 2009 ThSV Eisenach * 2. Bundesliga **Promotion (1): 2014-15

Individual

*2nd best goalkeeper at World Championship in Iceland 1995 *Best

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

n handballer of 1995 by CHF &

Sportske novosti ''Sportske novosti'' () is a Croatian daily sports newspaper based in Zagreb. It was established on 9 August 1945 as ''Ilustrirane fiskulturne novine'' weekly newspaper. Several months later, on 10 December 1945, its name got changed to ''Narodn ...

*Sportsperson of the year by Novi list - 1995 * Ivica Jobo Kurtini Award - 1995 *

Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport ( hr, Državna nagrada za šport "Franjo Bučar") is the highest recognition that Republic of Croatia gives for extraordinary achievements and contributions of remarkable meaning for the development of sport in Cr ...

- 1996 and 2004 *RK Zamet hall of fame - 2015 * Plack with names of Rijeka's

medalists -2014 *RK Zamet hall of fame - 2015