Irfan "Pipe" Smajlagić (born 16 October 1961) is a Bosnian-born Croatian former

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 and the current coach of Borac Banja Luka. He competed in the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

for

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

and in 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, ...

for

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

. In 1988, he was part of the Yugoslav national team, which won the bronze medal at the

1988 Olympics 1988 Olympics refers to both: *The 1988 Winter Olympics, which were held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada *The 1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 () ...

. He played five matches and scored 14 goals. Eight years later, he won the gold medal with the Croatian national team at the

1996 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, ...

. He played six matches and scored 31 goals. He was inducted in the European Handball Hall of Fame in 2023.

Personal life

His son

Sven Sven is a Scandinavian masculine first name. In Old Norse the meaning was "young man" or "servant" and the original Old Norse spelling was ''sveinn''. Variants such as '' Svend'' are found in Danish and Norwegian. Another variant, '' Svein'' ...

is a professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player.

Honours

Player

;Borac Banja Luka *

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First League ( Bosnian: Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, sr-Cyrl-Latn, Прва савезна лига у фудбалу, Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, , , , , ) was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) ...

: 1980–81 *

Yugoslav Cup The Yugoslav Cup (; ; , ), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup (; , and between 1947 and 1991 as the Marshal Tito Cup (; ; ; ), was one of two major association football, football competitions in Socialist Federal Re ...

: 1979 ;Medveščak Zagreb *

: 1988–89, 1989–90 ;USAM Nîmes *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

: 1994 ;Badel 1862 Zagreb *

Croatian First League The Hrvatska nogometna liga (; ), abbreviated as HNL and also known for sponsorship reasons as the SuperSport HNL, is a professional association football league in Croatia and the highest level of the Croatian football league system. Establish ...

: 1994–95, 1995–96 *

Croatian Cup Croatian Cup may refer to: *Croatian Football Cup *Croatian Football Super Cup *Croatian Women's Football Cup *Croatian Basketball Cup, also known as Krešimir Ćosić Cup *Croatian Handball Cup *Croatian Water Polo Cup The Croatian Water Polo C ...

: 1995, 1996 *

EHF Champions League The 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 men's com ...

runner-up: 1994–95 ;Yugoslavia *

– 3rd place ;Croatia *

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 ...

– 1st place * 1994 European Championship – 3rd place * 1995 World Championship – 2nd place *

– 1st place ;Individual *Best right wing at the 1995 World Championship * 1995 World Championship Dream Team *Best Croatian handballer of 1995 by the HRS *Best Croatian handballer of 1995 by ''

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

'' *Best right wing at the

Dream Team *

Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport () is the highest recognition that Republic of Croatia gives for extraordinary achievements and contributions of remarkable meaning for the development of sport in Croatia. This award has been given since 1991. I ...

: 1996 *

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 ...

top goalscorer: 1999–00 – 174 goals *

top goalscorer: 2001–02 – 185 goals

Coach

;Croatia (assistant) * 2003 World Championship – 1st place *

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

– 1st place *

: 2004 * 2005 World Championship – 2nd place ;Croatia U-21 * 2005 World Championship – 3rd place * 2007 World Championship – 2nd place ;Egypt * 2008 African Championship – 1st place ;Bosna Sarajevo * Bosnian First League: 2009–10, 2010–11 * Bosnian Cup: 2009–10 ;Lokomotiva Zagreb *

: 2013–14 *

: 2013–14

Orders

* Order of Danica Hrvatska with face of Franjo Bučar – 1995, 2004

References

External links

* * * * 1961 births Living people Yugoslav male handball players Croatian male handball players Handball players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic handball players for Yugoslavia Olympic handball players for Croatia Olympic bronze medalists for Yugoslavia Olympic gold medalists for Croatia in handball Handball players from Banja Luka Olympic medalists in handball RK Medveščak Zagreb players RK Zagreb players RK Zamet players RK Zamet coaches Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Croatia Competitors at the 1993 Mediterranean Games Croatian handball coaches Mediterranean Games medalists in handball Bosniaks of Croatia Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in France Handball coaches of international teams Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Iran Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Egypt Croatian sportspeople from Bosnia and Herzegovina Expatriate handball coaches Croatian expatriate handball players in France USAM Nîmes Gard players {{Yugoslavia-handball-bio-stub