Russia men's national handball team

The Russia national handball team (Russian: Сборная России по гандболу) is controlled by the Handball Federation of Russia. Russia is designates by IHF and EHF.

Russia
Information
Association	Handball Federation of Russia (Союз гандболистов России)
Coach	Lev Voronin
Assistant coach	Valentin Buzmakov Mikhail Izmailov
Captain	Daniil Shishkaryov
Most caps	Aleksey Rastvortsev (251)
Most goals	Eduard Koksharov (1110)
Colours
1st 2nd
Results
Summer Olympics
Appearances	4 (First in 1996)
Best result	1st (2000)
World Championship
Appearances	21 (First in 1993)
Best result	1st (1993, 1997)
European Championship
Appearances	14 (First in 1994)
Best result	1st (1996)
Last updated on Unknown.

Russia men's national handball team

Medal record
Olympic Games
	2000 Sydney	Team
	2004 Athens	Team
World Championship
	1993 Sweden
	1997 Japan
	1999 Egypt
European Championship
	1996 Spain
	1994 Portugal
	2000 Croatia

It has historically been considered one of the strongest national teams in the world, winning both the World Championship, European Championship and gold at the Olympic Games.

History

Handball in Russia as one of the sports games appeared approx. in 1909. In the first period of its development the handball in Russia had two forms, 11 players form and 7 players form. In 1955 was set up the All-Union section (federation) of handball. By early 60s was finally approved a single form of handball game – 7 players form.^[1]

The Dissolution of the Soviet Union

The Russian national team was established after the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, when the Soviet Union men's national handball team was discontinued. The Handball Federation of Russia became the legal successor to the Soviet Union.^[2][3]

Initial success

The first major international tournament that Russia participated in was the 1993 World Men's Handball Championship, which they won.^[4] During the 1990's they became one of the best teams in the world, competing for that title with Sweden's 'Bengan Boys'. Russia won the 1996 European Men's Handball Championship and the handball tournament at the 2000 Olympics.^[5][6]

2000's

At the 2021 World Men's Handball Championship Russia could not compete under their own flag as the World Anti-Doping Agency had on 9 December 2019 banned Russia from all international sports, after the Russian government was found to have tampered with laboratory data that it provided to WADA in January 2019 as a condition of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency being reinstated.^[7][8][9] Therefore they competed as a neutral team under the name "Russian Handball Federation Team".^[10][11]

Russian invasion of Ukraine

In reaction to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the International Handball Federation banned Russian athletes, and the European Handball Federation suspended all Russian clubs and the national team from competing in European handball competitions.^[12]

Honours

Competition				Total
Olympic Games	1	0	1	2
World Championship	2	1	0	3
European Championship	1	2	0	3
Total	4	3	1	8

Competitive record

Summer Olympics

Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GS	GA
1972 – 1988	As  Soviet Union
1992	As  Unified Team
1996	Preliminary round	5th	6	4	0	2	166	132
2000	Champions	1st	8	7	0	1	219	195
2004	Third place	3rd	8	4	0	4	214	216
2008	Quarter-finals	6th	8	3	1	4	216	214
2012	Did not qualify
2016
2020
2024	Banned
Total	4/7	1 Title	30	18	1	11	815	757

World Championship

1993		Champions
1995		5th place
1997		Champions
1999		Runners-up
2001		6th place
2003		5th place
2005		8th place
2007		6th place
2009		16th place
2011		Did not qualify
2013		7th place
2015		19th place
2017		12th place
2019		14th place
2021		14th place (played as RHF Team)
2023		Disqualified during qualification
2025		Banned
2027
2029		TBD
2031		TBD

European Championship

Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
1994	Runners-up	2	7	6	0	1	172	148
1996	Champions	1	7	6	1	0	172	141
1998	Fourth place	4	7	3	1	3	179	167
2000	Runners-up	2	7	5	0	2	189	175
2002	5th/6th place	5	7	5	1	1	197	172
2004	5th/6th place	5	7	5	1	1	206	190
2006	5th/6th place	6	7	4	0	3	208	204
2008	Preliminary round	14	3	0	1	2	74	88
2010	Main round	12	6	1	0	5	177	194
2012	Preliminary round	15	3	0	1	2	82	89
2014	Main round	9	6	2	0	4	168	179
2016	Main round	9	6	2	1	3	160	161
2018	Did not qualify
2020	Preliminary round	22	3	0	0	3	76	91
2022	Main round	9	7	3	1	3	194	190
2024	Disqualified during qualification
2026	Banned
2028	Future event
Total	14/18	1 title	83	42	8	33	2254	2189

Team

Current squad

Squad for the 2022 European Men's Handball Championship.

No. Pos. Name Date of birth (age) Height App. Goals Club 1 GK Artyom Grushko (1993-06-20)20 June 1993 (aged 28) 1.93 m 2 0 Chekhovskiye Medvedi 3 LB Dmitrii Santalov (1996-04-07)7 April 1996 (aged 25) 1.96 m 37 105 Meshkov Brest 6 RW Daniil Shishkaryov (1988-07-06)6 July 1988 (aged 33) 1.90 m 145 356 Chekhovskiye Medvedi 10 CB Valentin Vorobev (1995-05-27)27 May 1995 (aged 26) 1.90 m 4 6 CSKA Moscow 17 RB Alexander Kotov (1994-07-11)11 July 1994 (aged 27) 1.98 m 41 49 Chekhovskiye Medvedi 20 LB Mikhail Vinogradov (1997-04-04)4 April 1997 (aged 24) 1.94 m 10 6 Bregenz Handball 23 LW Roman Ostashchenko (1992-09-26)26 September 1992 (aged 29) 1.87 m 48 46 Chekhovskiye Medvedi 24 RW Dmitry Kornev (1992-06-16)16 June 1992 (aged 29) 1.86 m 26 39 Chekhovskiye Medvedi 25 LB Evgenij Dzemin (1997-08-30)30 August 1997 (aged 24) 2.07 m 0 0 Chekhovskiye Medvedi 30 P Aleksandr Ermakov (1996-01-14)14 January 1996 (aged 25) 1.95 m 26 39 Chekhovskiye Medvedi 32 GK Andrei Vereshchagin (1997-01-22)22 January 1997 (aged 24) 1.98 m 2 0 Permskie Medvedi 44 LW Igor Soroka (1991-05-27)27 May 1991 (aged 30) 1.80 m 74 211 CSKA Moscow 76 P Radomir Vrachevich (1999-05-19)19 May 1999 (aged 22) 1.96 m 0 0 Dinamo Viktor Stavropol 78 P Pavel Andreev (1992-07-19)19 July 1992 (aged 29) 1.97 m 28 59 Chekhovskiye Medvedi 87 GK Viktor Kireyev (1987-05-05)5 May 1987 (aged 34) 1.90 m 89 1 CSKA Moscow 89 CB Dmitry Zhitnikov (1989-11-20)20 November 1989 (aged 32) 1.97 m 147 383 Orlen Wisła Płock 98 RB Nikita Kamenev (1998-04-14)14 April 1998 (aged 23) 1.98 m 2 4 Chekhovskiye Medvedi 99 LB Sergei Kosorotov (1999-06-16)16 June 1999 (aged 22) 2.00 m 43 118 Orlen Wisła Płock

Coaching staff

HUR Management Personnel:	Andrey Lavrov
Head Coach:	Velimir Petković
Coaches:	Valentin Buzmakov / Mikhail Izmailov
Videooperator:	Andrei Seregin

Notable players

• Andrey Lavrov
• Talant Dujshebaev
• Pavel Sukosyan
• Vyacheslav Gorpishin
• Eduard Koksharov
• Vasily Kudinov
• Dmitry Filippov
• Denis Krivoshlykov
• Serguei Pogorelov
• Dmitri Torgovanov
• Aleksandr Tuchkin
• Stanislav Kulinchenko
• Valeri Gopin
• Oleg Kisselev
• Alexey Kamanin
• Alexey Kostygov
• Alexander Chernoivanov
• Vitali Ivanov
• Vasily Filippov
• Lev Voronin
• Vyacheslav Atavin
• Oleg Grebnev
• Pavel Bashkin

Statistics

Most capped players

Player	Games	Position	Years
Andrey Lavrov	320	GK
Vyacheslav Atavin	288	OB
Vyacheslav Gorpishin	270	?
Alexey Rastvortsev	251	OB
Vitali Ivanov	236	CB
Eduard Koksharov	226	W
Dmitri Torgovanov	219	P
Dmitry Kovalyov	213	W
Timur Dibirov	212	W
Mikhail Chipurin	208	P
Vasily Kudinov	196	OB
Sergey Pogorelov	194	OB
Dmitry Filippov	160+	CB, W
Denis Krivoshlykov	158	W
Oleg Grams	150	GK
Pavel Sukosyan	145	GK
Talant Duyshebaev	140	CB
Egor Evdokimov	132	P
Alexey Kostygov	131	GK
Stanislav Kulinchenko	125	CB
Daniil Shishkarev	122	W
Dmitry Zhitnikov	119	CB
Alexander Chernoivanov	116	P
Samvel Aslanyan	111	OB
Konstantin Igropulo	110	OB
Pavel Atman	107	CB
Vasily Filippov	101	CB
Valery Gopin	100+	W
Oleg Kiselyov	100+	CB, OB
Oleg Grebnev	100+	P

Top scorers

Player	Goals	Average	Position	Years
Eduard Koksharov	1110	4.91	W
Alexey Rastvortsev	898	3.58	OB
Talant Duyshebaev	726+		CB
Dmitri Torgovanov	689	3.15	P
Vyacheslav Atavin	600+		OB
Timur Dibirov	600		W
Vitali Ivanov	522	2.21	CB
Konstantin Igropulo	505		OB
Mikhail Chipurin	505		P
Denis Krivoshlykov	448	2.84	W
Sergey Pogorelov	446	2.30	OB
Dmitry Kovalyov	439		W
Vasily Kudinov	300+		OB
Dmitry Filippov	300+		CB, W
Aleksandr Tuchkin	299	3.25	OB