The Kosovo national men's handball team is the national

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 ...

team of

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

, representing the country in international competition. The team is governed by

Handball Federation of Kosovo The Handball Federation of Kosovo (, / ''Rukometni savez Kosova'') is the governing body of team handball in Kosovo, based in Pristina. It is a member of the European Handball Federation and of the International Handball Federation. History The ...

. The national handball team started competing in international competitions in 2014, following Kosovo's full status recognition from 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 C ...

(IHF).

History

Handball first arrived in Kosovo in the late 1940s, and by 1948 there were several registered clubs starting to compete in informal domestic competitions. By 1951, indoor handball was introduced. Two years later, in 1953,

was founded, under the auspices of the Yugoslav Handball Federation. In 1979, whilst part of the former Yugoslavia, Kosovo hosted the 1979 Women's Junior World Handball Championship. Following the breakdown of Yugoslavia and subsequent independence of Kosovo as a nation, Handball Federation of Kosovo began operating independently. In 2014, six years after Kosovo declared independence, the

European Handball Federation The European Handball Federation (EHF) is the umbrella organisation for European handball. Founded on 17 November 1991, it is made of 50 member federations and two associated federations (England and Scotland), and is headquartered in Vienna, Au ...

(EHF) recognised Kosovo as a full member state and immediately the Kosovo national handball team started competing in international competition. After a difficult start, Kosovo's national team has started to gain notoriety in international competition. After twice winning the bronze medal in the international IHF Trophy for emerging nations, in Kosovo 2015 on home soil and as well in Bulgaria 2017 the team is no longer considered an emerging nation. Kosovo after this tournament advanced to the 2nd phase of qualification for EURO 2020. Following a lengthy campaign in the 2020 European Men's Handball Championship qualification where Kosovo defeated Israel and drew Poland, the team won a direct spot in the second phase of the upcoming 2022 qualification tournament. Most recently, at the

2021 World Men's Handball Championship – European qualification The European qualification for the 2021 World Men's Handball Championship, in Egypt, would have been contested by the teams that did not qualify for the 2020 European Men's Handball Championship and the 20 teams that played the tournament but were n ...

tournament, Kosovo drew with Italy and defeated Georgia to take the second place, behind Romania, in the qualifying group.

IHF Emerging Nations Championship

Team

Current squad

*The squad selected for the

2024 European Men's Handball Championship The 2024 EHF European Men's Handball Championship was the 16th edition of the tournament and the third to feature 24 national teams. It was hosted in Germany from 10 to 28 January 2024. The two opening games of the tournament were attended by ...

qualification matches. *Updated: 22 December 2022 *Head coach: Bujar Qerimi

Coaches

Captains

* Ylber Mjeku (2014–2016) * Valon Dedaj (2016-)

Individual all-time records

Most matches played

Total number of matches played in official competitions only.

Most goals scored

Total number of goals scored in official competitions only.

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

*
IHF profile
{{National sports teams of Kosovo Men's national handball teams National sports teams of Kosovo