2003 World Men's Handball Championship

The 2003 World Men's Handball Championship took place in Portugal from 20 January to 2 February 2003. It was the 18th edition of the World Championship in team handball and Croatia won the championship.

2003 World Men's Handball Championship

Tournament details
Host country	Portugal
Venue(s)	9 (in 9 host cities)
Dates	20 January–2 February
Teams	24 (from 5 confederations)
Final positions
Champions	Croatia (1st title)
Runners-up	Germany
Third place	France
Fourth place	Spain
Tournament statistics
Matches played	84
Goals scored	4,641 (55.25 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Carlos Pérez (HUN) (64 goals)
Awards
Best player	Christian Schwarzer (GER)
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Venues

9 cities were hosts for the tournament. The final match took place in the capital Lisbon.

Town	Stadium	max. spectators
Lisbon	Pavilhão Atlântico	15.000
Rio Maior	Pavilhão Polidesportivo	6.500
São João da Madeira	Pavilhão das Travessas	6.000
Guimarães	Pavilhão Multiusos	3.000
Viseu	Viseu Arena	2.600
Funchal	Madeira Tecnopolo	2.500
Caminha	Pavilhão Municipal	2.500
Póvoa de Varzim	Pavilhão Desportivo	2.500
Espinho	Pavilhão Multiusos NW	2.000

Lisbon	Rio Maior	São João da Madeira	Guimarães
Pavilhão Atlântico	Pavilhão Polidesportivo	Pavilhão das Travessas	Pavilhão Multiusos
Capacity: 15,000	Capacity: 6,500	Capacity: 6,000	Capacity: 3,000
Viseu	Lisbon Viseu Guimarães Caminha São João Póvoa Rio Maior Espinho
Viseu Arena
Capacity: 2,600
Funchal	Caminha	Póvoa de Varzim	Espinho
Madeira Tecnopolo	Pavilhão Municipal	Pavilhão Desportivo	Pavilhão Multiusos NW
Capacity: 2,500	Capacity: 2,500	Capacity: 2,500	Capacity: 2,000

Qualification

Competition	Dates	Vacancies	Qualified
Host nation		1	Portugal
2001 World Men's Handball Championship	23 January – 4 February 2001	1	France
2002 European Men's Handball Championship	25 January – 3 February 2002	3	Sweden  Germany  Denmark
2002 Asian Men's Handball Championship	10–19 February 2002	3	Kuwait  Qatar  Saudi Arabia
2002 African Men's Handball Championship	19–28 April 2002	4	Tunisia  Algeria  Egypt  Morocco
2002 Oceania Handball Championship	5–7 July 2002	1	Australia
European qualification	8 January – 9 July 2002	8	Croatia  Hungary  Iceland  Poland  Russia  Slovenia  Spain  Yugoslavia
2002 Pan American Men's Handball Championship	10–14 July 2002	3	Argentina  Brazil  Greenland

First round

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	5	5	0	0	157	106	+51	10	Second round
2	Yugoslavia	5	4	0	1	142	103	+39	8
3	Poland	5	3	0	2	140	130	+10	6
4	Tunisia	5	2	0	3	131	129	+2	4
5	Kuwait	5	1	0	4	98	168	−70	2
6	Morocco	5	0	0	5	113	145	−32	0

Source: IHF

20 January 2003 15:30	Tunisia	29–20	Kuwait	Pavilhão Multiusos de Guimarães, Guimarães Attendance: 1,500 Referees: Boye, Jensen (DEN)
		(16–10)
		Report

20 January 2003 18:30	Yugoslavia	24–20	Poland	Pavilhão Multiusos de Guimarães, Guimarães Referees: Dolejš, Kohout (CZE)
		(12–9)
		Report

20 January 2003 20:30	Spain	23–18	Morocco	Pavilhão Multiusos de Guimarães, Guimarães Referees: Kang, Lim (KOR)
		(13–8)
		Report

---

21 January 2003 15:30	Kuwait	14–36	Yugoslavia	Pavilhão Multiusos de Guimarães, Guimarães Attendance: 750 Referees: Kang, Lim (KOR)
		(3–20)

21 January 2003 18:30	Morocco	24–28	Tunisia	Pavilhão Multiusos de Guimarães, Guimarães Attendance: 150 Referees: Bord, Buy (FRA)
		(15–14)
		Report

21 January 2003 20:30	Poland	25–34	Spain	Pavilhão Multiusos de Guimarães, Guimarães Referees: Bord, Buy (FRA)
		(16–17)
		Report

---

23 January 2003 15:30	Morocco	22–25	Kuwait	Pavilhão Multiusos de Guimarães, Guimarães Referees: Dolejš, Kohout (CZE)
		(9–11)

23 January 2003 18:30	Tunisia	22–24	Poland	Pavilhão Multiusos de Guimarães, Guimarães Attendance: 800 Referees: Kang, Lim (KOR)
		(11–11)

23 January 2003 20:30	Spain	22–20	Yugoslavia	Pavilhão Multiusos de Guimarães, Guimarães Attendance: 3,500 Referees: Bord, Buy (FRA)
		(12–9)
		Report

---

25 January 2003 16:00	Spain	45–18	Kuwait	Pavilhão Multiusos de Guimarães, Guimarães Referees: Anusic, Bojsen (USA)
		(24–8)
		Report

25 January 2003 18:00	Yugoslavia	28–27	Tunisia	Pavilhão Multiusos de Guimarães, Guimarães Referees: Hansson, Olsson (SWE)
		(20–10)

25 January 2003 20:00	Poland	35–29	Morocco	Pavilhão Multiusos de Guimarães, Guimarães Attendance: 150 Referees: Repenšek, Požežnik (SLO)
		(17–12)

---

26 January 2003 16:00	Tunisia	25–33	Spain	Pavilhão Multiusos de Guimarães, Guimarães Attendance: 900 Referees: Anusic, Bojsen (USA)
		(13–18)

26 January 2003 18:00	Yugoslavia	34–20	Morocco	Pavilhão Multiusos de Guimarães, Guimarães Referees: Selim, Hassan (EGY)
		(17–9)

26 January 2003 20:00	Kuwait	21–36	Poland	Pavilhão Multiusos de Guimarães, Guimarães Referees: Repenšek, Požežnik (SLO)
		(10–15)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Germany	5	5	0	0	191	111	+80	10	Second round
2	Iceland	5	4	0	1	185	116	+69	8
3	Portugal	5	3	0	2	164	126	+38	6
4	Qatar	5	2	0	3	116	159	−43	4
5	Australia	5	1	0	4	100	192	−92	2
6	Greenland	5	0	0	5	100	152	−52	0

Source: IHF

20 January 2003 12:23	Iceland	55–15	Australia	Pavilhão Multiusos de Viseu, Viseu Referees: Anusic, Bojsen (USA)
		(23–6)
		Report

20 January 2003 14:15	Germany	40–17	Qatar	Pavilhão Multiusos de Viseu, Viseu Referees: Repenšek, Požežnik (SLO)
		(23–8)
		Report

20 January 2003 17:00	Portugal	34–19	Greenland	Pavilhão Multiusos de Viseu, Viseu Referees: Hansson, Olsson (SWE)
		(20–8)
		Report

---

21 January 2003 14:15	Australia	16–46	Germany	Pavilhão Multiusos de Viseu, Viseu Referees: Anusic, Bojsen (USA)
		(6–24)

21 January 2003 17:00	Greenland	17–30	Iceland	Pavilhão Multiusos de Viseu, Viseu Referees: Selim, Hassan (EGY)
		(8–16)
		Report

21 January 2003 19:00	Qatar	21–31	Portugal	Pavilhão Multiusos de Viseu, Viseu Referees: Johansson, Kliko (SWE)
		(10–15)

---

23 January 2003 14:15	Germany	34–20	Greenland	Pavilhão Multiusos de Viseu, Viseu Referees: Hansson, Olsson (SWE)
		(20–11)
		Report

23 January 2003 17:00	Australia	23–28	Qatar	Pavilhão Multiusos de Viseu, Viseu Referees: Selim, Hassan (EGY)
		(10–14)
		Report

23 January 2003 19:00	Iceland	29–28	Portugal	Pavilhão Multiusos de Viseu, Viseu Referees: Repenšek, Požežnik (SLO)
		(14–13)
		Report

---

25 January 2003 15:15	Portugal	29–37	Germany	Pavilhão Multiusos de Viseu, Viseu Referees: Boye, Jensen (DEN)
		(15–19)

25 January 2003 17:15	Iceland	42–22	Qatar	Pavilhão Multiusos de Viseu, Viseu Referees: Bord, Buy (FRA)
		(24–9)

25 January 2003 19:15	Greenland	21–26	Australia	Pavilhão Multiusos de Viseu, Viseu Referees: Dolejš, Kohout (CZE)
		(12–12)

---

26 January 2003 16:15	Germany	34–29	Iceland	Pavilhão Multiusos de Viseu, Viseu Referees: Dolejš, Kohout (CZE)
		(20–16)

26 January 2003 18:15	Portugal	42–20	Australia	Pavilhão Multiusos de Viseu, Viseu Referees: Kang, Lim (KOR)
		(22–11)

26 January 2003 20:15	Qatar	28–23	Greenland	Pavilhão Multiusos de Viseu, Viseu Referees: Borrotti, Marcet (FRA)
		(15–8)

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Croatia	5	4	0	1	135	125	+10	8[a]	Second round
2	France	5	4	0	1	147	103	+44	8[a]
3	Russia	5	2	1	2	132	132	0	5
4	Hungary	5	2	0	3	154	138	+16	4
5	Argentina	5	1	1	3	127	156	−29	3
6	Saudi Arabia	5	1	0	4	114	155	−41	2

Source: IHF
Notes:

1. Croatia 23–22 France

20 January 2003 15:00	Russia	31–30	Hungary	Madeira Tecnopolo, Funchal Referees: Nachevski, Nachevski (MKD)
		(15–14)
		Report

20 January 2003 17:00	Croatia	29–30	Argentina	Madeira Tecnopolo, Funchal Referees: Arnaldsson, Viðarsson (ISL)
		(18–13)
		Report

20 January 2003 20:00	France	30–23	Saudi Arabia	Madeira Tecnopolo, Funchal Referees: Goulão, Macau (POR)
		(14–10)

---

21 January 2003 15:00	Argentina	26–26	Russia	Madeira Tecnopolo, Funchal Referees: Goulão, Macau (POR)
		(11–15)
		Report

21 January 2003 18:00	Saudi Arabia	18–25	Croatia	Madeira Tecnopolo, Funchal Referees: Nachevski, Nachevski (MKD)
		(10–8)
		Report

21 January 2003 20:00	Hungary	24–29	France	Madeira Tecnopolo, Funchal Referees: Vakula, Liudovyk (UKR)
		(10–18)

---

23 January 2003 15:00	Russia	26–28	Croatia	Madeira Tecnopolo, Funchal Referees: Arnaldsson, Viðarsson (ISL)
		(10–12)
		Report

23 January 2003 18:00	Hungary	36–25	Saudi Arabia	Madeira Tecnopolo, Funchal Referees: Vakula, Liudovyk (UKR)
		(22–12)

23 January 2003 20:00	France	35–18	Argentina	Madeira Tecnopolo, Funchal Referees: Nachevski, Nachevski (MKD)
		(14–6)
		Report

---

25 January 2003 15:00	Argentina	23–35	Hungary	Madeira Tecnopolo, Funchal Referees: Arnaldsson, Viðarsson (ISL)
		(15–15)
		Report

25 January 2003 17:00	Croatia	23–22	France	Madeira Tecnopolo, Funchal Referees: Vakula, Liudovyk (UKR)
		(11–10)

25 January 2003 19:00	Russia	34–17	Saudi Arabia	Madeira Tecnopolo, Funchal Referees: Goulão, Macau (POR)
		(19–8)

---

26 January 2003 15:00	Croatia	30–29	Hungary	Madeira Tecnopolo, Funchal Referees: Goulão, Macau (POR)
		(16–13)

26 January 2003 17:00	Saudi Arabia	31–30	Argentina	Madeira Tecnopolo, Funchal Referees: Vakula, Liudovyk (UKR)
		(14–14)

26 January 2003 19:00	France	31–15	Russia	Madeira Tecnopolo, Funchal Referees: Nachevski, Nachevski (MKD)
		(15–6)

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Sweden	5	4	0	1	147	129	+18	8[a]	Second round
2	Denmark	5	4	0	1	146	125	+21	8[a]
3	Slovenia	5	3	0	2	144	137	+7	6
4	Egypt	5	2	1	2	132	139	−7	5
5	Algeria	5	0	2	3	119	136	−17	2
6	Brazil	5	0	1	4	118	140	−22	1

Source: IHF
Notes:

1. Sweden 32–28 Denmark

20 January 2003 15:00	Algeria	22–22	Brazil	Pavilhão Municipal das Travessas, São João da Madeira Referees: Breto, Huelin (ESP)
		(10–11)

20 January 2003 18:30	Sweden	29–23	Egypt	Pavilhão Municipal das Travessas, São João da Madeira Referees: Baum, Góralczyk (POL)
		(14–13)

20 January 2003 20:30	Denmark	33–24	Slovenia	Pavilhão Municipal das Travessas, São João da Madeira Referees: Lemme, Ullrich (GER)
		(17–10)
		Report

---

21 January 2003 15:00	Egypt	25–25	Algeria	Pavilhão Municipal das Travessas, São João da Madeira Referees: Lemme, Ullrich (GER)
		(13–13)
		Report

21 January 2003 18:30	Slovenia	29–25	Sweden	Pavilhão Municipal das Travessas, São João da Madeira Referees: Breto, Huelin (ESP)
		(14–12)
		Report

21 January 2003 20:30	Brazil	24–28	Denmark	Pavilhão Municipal das Travessas, São João da Madeira Referees: Hussain, Haider (KUW)
		(10–11)

---

23 January 2003 15:00	Slovenia	26–27	Egypt	Pavilhão Municipal das Travessas, São João da Madeira Referees: Lemme, Ullrich (GER)
		(14–13)
		Report

23 January 2003 18:30	Sweden	29–21	Brazil	Pavilhão Municipal das Travessas, São João da Madeira Referees: Baum, Góralczyk (POL)
		(12–12)
		Report

23 January 2003 20:30	Denmark	22–19	Algeria	Pavilhão Municipal das Travessas, São João da Madeira Referees: Breto, Huelin (ESP)
		(9–13)
		Report

---

25 January 2003 13:00	Algeria	28–32	Sweden	Pavilhão Municipal das Travessas, São João da Madeira Referees: Hussain, Haider (KUW)
		(12–17)
		Report

25 January 2003 18:00	Brazil	27–30	Slovenia	Pavilhão Municipal das Travessas, São João da Madeira Attendance: 1,200 Referees: Baum, Góralczyk (POL)
		(10–15)

25 January 2003 20:00	Denmark	35–26	Egypt	Pavilhão Municipal das Travessas, São João da Madeira Attendance: 2,100 Referees: Breto, Huelin (ESP)
		(18–12)

---

26 January 2003 16:00	Sweden	32–28	Denmark	Pavilhão Municipal das Travessas, São João da Madeira Referees: Lemme, Ullrich (GER)
		(19–14)

26 January 2003 18:00	Egypt	31–24	Brazil	Pavilhão Municipal das Travessas, São João da Madeira Referees: Breto, Huelin (ESP)
		(17–11)

26 January 2003 19:00	Algeria	25–35	Slovenia	Pavilhão Municipal das Travessas, São João da Madeira Referees: Baum, Góralczyk (POL)
		(13–16)

Second round

Group I

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	3	3	0	0	106	71	+35	6	Semifinals
2	Iceland	3	2	0	1	106	83	+23	4	5–8th place semifinals
3	Poland	3	1	0	2	89	93	−4	2
4	Qatar	3	0	0	3	63	117	−54	0

Source: IHF

29 January 2003 18:30	Iceland	33–29	Poland	Caminha Referees: Goulão, Macau (POR)
		(14–17)

29 January 2003 20:30	Spain	40–15	Qatar	Caminha Referees: Lemme, Ullrich (GER)
		(20–6)

---

30 January 2003 18:30	Poland	35–26	Qatar	Caminha Referees: Kang, Lim (KOR)
		(18–11)

30 January 2003 20:30	Spain	32–31	Iceland	Caminha Referees: Lemme, Ullrich (GER)
		(18–18)

Group II

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Germany	3	2	1	0	98	81	+17	5[a]	Semifinals
2	Yugoslavia	3	2	1	0	89	86	+3	5[a]	5–8th place semifinals
3	Portugal	3	1	0	2	84	93	−9	2
4	Tunisia	3	0	0	3	74	85	−11	0

Source: IHF
Notes:

1. Germany 31–31 Yugoslavia

29 January 2003 14:15	Germany	30–21	Tunisia	Póvoa de Varzim Referees: Vakula, Liudovyk (UKR)
		(14–13)

29 January 2003 18:30	Yugoslavia	30–28	Portugal	Póvoa de Varzim Referees: Baum, Góralczyk (POL)
		(18–7)

---

30 January 2003 14:15	Germany	31–31	Yugoslavia	Póvoa de Varzim Attendance: 800 Referees: Arnaldsson, Viðarsson (ISL)
		(15–16)

30 January 2003 18:30	Portugal	27–26	Tunisia	Póvoa de Varzim Referees: Baum, Góralczyk (POL)
		(14–12)

Group III

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Croatia	3	3	0	0	90	76	+14	6	Semifinals
2	Russia	3	2	0	1	90	78	+12	4	5–8th place semifinals
3	Denmark	3	1	0	2	90	94	−4	2
4	Egypt	3	0	0	3	71	93	−22	0

Source: IHF

29 January 2003 18:15	Croatia	29–23	Egypt	Rio Maior Referees: Bord, Buy (FRA)
		(13–11)

29 January 2003 20:30	Denmark	28–35	Russia	Rio Maior Referees: Repenšek, Požežnik (SLO)
		(16–16)

---

30 January 2003 18:15	Russia	29–22	Egypt	Rio Maior Referees: Hansson, Olsson (SWE)
		(12–11)

30 January 2003 20:30	Croatia	33–27	Denmark	Rio Maior Referees: Bord, Buy (FRA)
		(19–11)

Group IV

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	France	3	3	0	0	90	70	+20	6	Semifinals
2	Hungary	3	1	0	2	84	87	−3	2[a]	5–8th place semifinals
3	Slovenia	3	1	0	2	76	84	−8	2[a]
4	Sweden	3	1	0	2	82	91	−9	2[a]

Source: IHF
Notes:

1. Hungary 2Pts, +2GD; Slovenia 2Pts, +1GD; Sweden 2Pts, –3GD

29 January 2003 18:30	Sweden	33–32	Hungary	Espinho Referees: Boye, Jensen (DEN)
		(17–17)

29 January 2003 20:30	France	31–22	Slovenia	Espinho Referees: Breto, Huelin (ESP)
		(14–11)

---

30 January 2003 18:30	Sweden	24–30	France	Espinho Referees: Dolejš, Kohout (CZE)
		(11–15)

30 January 2003 20:30	Slovenia	25–28	Hungary	Espinho Referees: Boye, Jensen (DEN)
		(10–13)

Final round

5–8th place semifinals

1 February 2003 09:30	Yugoslavia	33–34 (ET)	Hungary	Pavilhão Atlântico, Lisbon Referees: Baum, Góralczyk (POL)
		(12–11)
	FT: 25–25 ET: 2–2, 6–7

---

1 February 2003 12:00	Iceland	27–30	Russia	Pavilhão Atlântico, Lisbon Referees: Lemme, Ullrich (GER)
		(12–13)

Semifinals

1 February 2003 15:00	Germany	23–22	France	Pavilhão Atlântico, Lisbon Referees: Dolejš, Kohout (CZE)
		(11–10)

---

1 February 2003 17:30	Spain	37–39 (ET)	Croatia	Pavilhão Atlântico, Lisbon Referees: Arnaldsson, Viðarsson (ISL)
		(14–9)
	FT: 26–26 ET: 5–5, 6–8

7th place game

2 February 2003 11:30	Iceland	32–27	Yugoslavia	Pavilhão Atlântico, Lisbon Referees: Bord, Buy (FRA)
		(16–13)

5th place game

2 February 2003 09:00	Russia	30–25	Hungary	Pavilhão Atlântico, Lisbon Attendance: 3,000 Referees: Hansson, Olsson (SWE)
		(16–11)

Third place game

2 February 2003 14:30	Spain	22–27	France	Pavilhão Atlântico, Lisbon Attendance: 7,000 Referees: Goulão, Macau (POR)
	Ortega 7	(11–16)	Narcisse 7

Final

2 February 2003 17:00	Croatia	34–31	Germany	Pavilhão Atlântico, Lisbon Attendance: 12,000 Referees: Boye, Jensen (DEN)
	Džomba 8	(20–18)	Baur 8

Final standings

Rank Team  Croatia  Germany  France 4  Spain 5  Russia 6  Hungary 7  Iceland 8  Yugoslavia 9  Denmark 10  Poland 11  Slovenia 12  Portugal 13  Sweden 14  Tunisia 15  Egypt 16  Qatar 17  Argentina 18  Algeria 19  Saudi Arabia 20  Kuwait 21  Australia 22  Brazil 23  Morocco 24  Greenland Qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympics Ineligible to qualify for the Olympics: Greenland do not have a National Olympic Committee recognized by the IOC

2003 Men's World Champions Croatia First title

Awards

MVP: Christian Schwarzer

All Star Team

• Goalkeeper: Henning Fritz
• Left Wing: Eduard Koksharov
• Left Back: Carlos Pérez
• Center Back: Enric Masip
• Pivot : Christian Schwarzer
• Right Back: Patrick Cazal
• Right Wing: Mirza Džomba

Statistics

Top goalscorers Rank Name Team Goals 1 Carlos Pérez  Hungary 64 2 Hussein Zaky  Egypt 61 3 Ólafur Stefánsson  Iceland 58 4 László Nagy  Hungary 51 Aleksey Rastvortsev  Russia 6 Markus Baur  Germany 50 Ivan Simonovič  Slovenia 8 Stefan Kretzschmar  Germany 48 Florian Kehrmann  Germany 10 Petar Metličić  Croatia 46

Top goalkeepers Rank Name Team Saves Shots % 1 Andrey Lavrov  Russia 109 325 33.5 2 Henning Fritz  Germany 99 256 38.7 3 Arpad Sterbik  Yugoslavia 97 216 44.9 4 José Javier Hombrados  Spain 94 198 47.5 5 Nándor Fazekas  Hungary 88 231 38.1 6 Vlado Šola  Croatia 78 196 39.8 7 Dejan Perić  Yugoslavia 71 180 39.4 8 Sławomir Szmal  Poland 69 155 44.5 9 Beno Lapajne  Slovenia 68 188 36.2 10 Kasper Hvidt  Denmark 68 206 33.0

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Croatia Mario Kelentrić Nikša Kaleb Renato Sulić Ivano Balić Božidar Jović Blaženko Lacković Vedran Zrnić Igor Vori Davor Dominiković Denis Špoljarić Mirza Džomba Petar Metličić Vlado Šola Tonči Valčić Slavko Goluža Valter Matošević Head coach : Lino Červar	Germany Henning Fritz Pascal Hens Mark Dragunski Stefan Kretzschmar Christian Rose Jan-Olaf Immel Christian Schwarzer Klaus-Dieter Petersen Steffen Weber Volker Zerbe Christian Ramota Markus Baur Christian Zeitz Heiko Grimm Florian Kehrmann Carsten Lichtlein Head coach : Heiner Brand	France Jérôme Fernandez Didier Dinart Cédric Burdet Bertrand Gille Christophe Kempe Daniel Narcisse Grégory Anquetil Andrej Golic Olivier Girault Bruno Martini François-Xavier Houlet Thierry Omeyer Jackson Richardson Joël Abati Patrick Cazal Head coach : Claude Onesta