| Montenegro | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Information | ||||
| Nickname | Zlatne lavice (Golden lionesses) | |||
| Association | Handball Federation of Montenegro | |||
| Coach | Suzana Lazović | |||
| Assistant coach | Igor Marković | |||
| Captain | Đurđina Jauković | |||
| Mostcaps | Jovanka Radičević (192) | |||
| Most goals | Jovanka Radičević (1103) | |||
| Colours | ||||
| ||||
| Results | ||||
| Summer Olympics | ||||
| Appearances | 3 (First in2012) | |||
| Best result |  2nd (2012) | |||
| World Championship | ||||
| Appearances | 7 (First in2011) | |||
| Best result | 5th (2019) | |||
| European Championship | ||||
| Appearances | 8 (First in2010) | |||
| Best result |  1st (2012) | |||
| Last updated on Unknown. | ||||
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Olympic Games | ||
 | 2012 London | Team |
| European Championship | ||
 | 2012 Serbia | |
 | 2022 Slovenia/North Macedonia/Montenegro | |
| Mediterranean Games | ||
| 2018 Tarragona | Team |
| 2009 Pescara | Team |
TheMontenegro women's national handball team is the national team ofMontenegro. It is governed by theHandball Federation of Montenegro and takes part in internationalhandball competitions.
Montenegro's women's national handball team was formed in 2006, shortly after Montenegro gainedindependence. It was founded uponŽRK Budućnost Podgorica, a club with numerous European trophies, which produced many famous Montenegrin players.
Montenegro has been playing in official competitions since 2006.[1] They played for the first time during the qualifying tournament for the2007 World Women's Handball Championship inCheb, where they finished second with four wins and one defeat. A year later, Montenegro did not qualify for the2008 European Women's Handball Championship after a defeat in the playoffs againstCroatia. The same result occurred at qualifiers for the2009 World Women's Handball Championship inChina, as Montenegro lost toSweden in the playoffs.
Montenegro's first significant success came in 2010. After passing the qualifiers without any defeats, the team participated in the2010 European Women's Handball Championship inDenmark andNorway. Montenegro finished in sixth place, with 46 goals from Montenegro'sBojana Popović.
For the first time, Montenegro played at theIHF World Women's Handball Championship in2011. After passing the group stage, Montenegro was eliminated bySpain in the round of 16.
On 11 August 2012, Montenegro won a silver medal at the2012 Summer Olympics inLondon. On 16 December 2012, they became champions at the2012 European Women's Handball Championship inBelgrade.
At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Montenegro passed the group round with two defeats but won elimination matches againstFrance and Spain. In the final match, Montenegro was defeated byNorway 23–26. With their second place title, Montenegro won the first Olympic medal for Montenegro since their country became independent. Bojana Popović andKatarina Bulatović were prominent players on the team during this tournament.
At the 2012 European Women's Handball Championship inSerbia, Montenegro won its first title at a major handball championship. In the semi-finals, Montenegro defeatedSerbia 27–26. In the finals, Montenegro defeated Norway 34–31, winning the championship. The players Katarina Bulatović andJovanka Radičević played significant roles in the team's victory. With 56 goals, Bulatović was the top scorer of the championship.
Montenegro won both medals, in London and in Belgrade, with head coachDragan Adžić.
After two successes in 2012, Montenegro was eliminated byDenmark in the round of 16 at the2013 World Women's Handball Championship.
Montenegro did well in the2014 European Women's Handball Championship. After making it to the semi-finals, the team was defeated bySpain. In the end, Montenegro finished in fourth place.
Montenegro made significant strides in the2015 World Women's Handball Championship. After a notable win againstHungary 32–15, Montenegro eliminatedAngola in the round of 16. However, in the quarterfinals, Norway defeated Montenegro 26–25. That was the first performance of Montenegro in the quarterfinals of a World Women's Handball Championship.
At their second appearance in the Summer Olympics, Montenegro did not perform as well, in the2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. With five defeats during the group stage, Montenegro finished in nearly last place.
After the Olympics, Montenegro made big changes to the team and recruited many new young players produced byŽRK Budućnost. The first main competition for the newly formed team was at the2016 European Women's Handball Championship, where Montenegro had the youngest team. With one win and two defeats, the team finished in 13th place.
In November 2017, TheHandball Federation of Montenegro stated that the new head coach of the national team would bePer Johansson instead of Dragan Adžić, who had served the team for seven years. As a coach, Adžić led Montenegro to nine big international competitions, winning gold during the 2012 European Championship and silver during the Summer Olympics the same year.
With a new head coach, Montenegro finished sixth in the2017 World Women's Handball Championship, with equal wins and losses, 3–1–3. The next year, they played at the2018 European Women's Handball Championship in France but did not succeed. After six games, Montenegro finished the tournament in ninth place.
The Montenegrin national team has participated in many international competitions, including theSummer Olympics,World Championship andEuropean Championship.
| Tournament | Matches | Wins | Draws | Loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olympic Games | 19 | 6 | 1 | 12 |
| World Championship | 52 | 28 | 2 | 22 |
| European Championship | 46 | 27 | 1 | 18 |
| Qualifying matches EC/WC/OG | 70 | 56 | 5 | 9 |
| OVERALL | 187 | 117 | 9 | 61 |
Montenegro has participated in three Summer Olympics (2012,2016 and2020). In 2012, the women's handball team won the first Olympic medal for Montenegro since their independence.
| Olympic Games | Qualification | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Pos. | Pld | W | D | L | Pld | W | D | L | |
 2008 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | ||||||||
 2012 | 2nd | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
 2016 | 11th | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
 2020 | 6th | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 2024 | Did not qualify | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |||||
| Total | 19 | 6 | 1 | 12 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 3 | ||
Montenegro has participated in sixWorld Championships. After failing to qualify for championships2007 and2009, they have participated in seven consecutive tournaments. The best results Montenegro had were in 2015 and 2017, when they played in the quarterfinals.
| World Championship | Qualification | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Pos. | Pld | W | D | L | Pld | W | D | L | |
| 2007 | did not qualify | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | |||||
| 2009 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| 2011 | 10th | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
 2013 | 11th | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | DNP | ||||
 2015 | 8th | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
 2017 | 6th | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 2019 | 5th | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 2021 | 22nd | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
/ / 2023 | 7th | 9 | 5 | 0 | 4 | DNP | ||||
/ 2025 | qualified | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||||
 2027 | to be determined | TBD | ||||||||
| 2029 | ||||||||||
 / 2031 | ||||||||||
| Total | 46 | 27 | 2 | 17 | 24 | 18 | 2 | 4 | ||
Record against other teams at the world championship
Montenegro has participated in eightEuropean Championships. After having failed to qualify for theEuropean Championship 2008, they have participated in all subsequent tournaments. Montenegro was the European champion in2012, the bronze medalist in2022 when was a co-host along with Slovenia and North Macedonia, and a semi-finalist in2014.
| European Championship | Qualification | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Pos. | Pld | W | D | L | Pld | W | D | L | |
 2008 | did not qualify | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | |||||
| 2010 | 6th | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2012 | 1st | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | |
 2014 | 4th | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2016 | 13th | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | |
| 2018 | 9th | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | |
| /2020 | 8th | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | Cancelled | ||||
 // 2022 | 3rd | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | Qualified as co-host | ||||
 // 2024 | 8th | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | |
// / / 2026 | TBD | TBD | ||||||||
| //2028 | ||||||||||
| Total | 46 | 27 | 1 | 18 | 36 | 30 | 2 | 4 | ||
Record against other teams at the European Championship
Roster for the2025 World Women's Handball Championship.[2]
Head coach:Suzana Lazović
|
Head Coach:Suzana LazovićAssistant Coach:Igor MarkovicFitness Coach:Goalkeeping Coach:Sonja BarjaktarovicPhysiotherapist: Andrija DamjanovićPhysiotherapist: Mitar VujovićPhysiotherapist: Anđelka LekićHead of Delegation: Arijan EfovićSince independence, Montenegro has been led by six different coaches. During the first years, the head coach wasNikola Petrović. After Petrović, Montenegro was led byGyula Zsiga and then byDragan Adžić, who was the most successful head coach.
| Coach | From | To | Record* | Championship | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Nikola Petrović | 2006 | 2008 | 11 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 072.73 | None |
| Gyula Zsiga | 2008 | 2010 | 13 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 076.92 | None |
| Dragan Adžić | 2010 | 2017 | 92 | 59 | 5 | 28 | 064.13 | EC 2010 (6th);WC 2011 (10th);OG 2012(2nd);EC 2012(1st);WC 2013 (11th);EC 2014 (4th);WC 2015 (8th);OG 2016 (11th);EC 2016 (13th) |
| Per Johansson | 2017 | 2020 | 30 | 21 | 1 | 8 | 070.00 | WC 2017 (6th);EC 2018 (9th);WC 2019 (5th) |
| Kim Rasmussen | 2020 | 2021 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 037.50 | EC 2020 (8th) |
| Bojana Popović | 2021 | 2024 | 31 | 15 | 0 | 16 | 048.39 | OG 2020 (6th);WC 2021 (22nd),EC 2022(3rd),WC 2023 (7th), |
| Suzana Lazović | 2024 | |||||||
* Data are only for official matches (qualifiers, European Championship, World Championship, Olympic Games).
Since independence, Montenegro played official games against 41 different teams. The only national team against which Montenegro has never won isBrazil. Below is the list of the performances of Montenegro national handball team against every single opponent.
| Opponents' country | G | W | D | L |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Angola | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 |
 Azerbaijan | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
 Belarus | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
 Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Brazil | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
 Bulgaria | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
 Cameroon | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| China | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Croatia | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| Czech Republic | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2 |
| Denmark | 11 | 4 | 0 | 7 |
 Dominican Republic | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
 DR Congo | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
 Finland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| France | 12 | 3 | 0 | 9 |
| Germany | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
 Greece | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Great Britain | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Hungary | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
 Iceland | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
 Italy | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Japan | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
 Kazakhstan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
 Lithuania | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Netherlands | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| North Macedonia | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Norway | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
 Paraguay | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Poland | 10 | 9 | 0 | 1 |
 Portugal | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Romania | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
 Russia | 13 | 4 | 2 | 7 |
 Senegal | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Serbia | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
 South Korea | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Slovakia | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 |
| Slovenia | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 |
| Spain | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 |
| Sweden | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| Switzerland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
 Tunisia | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Turkey | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
 Uruguay | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| OVERALL | 187 | 117 | 9 | 61 |
As of February 2024[update]
