IHF World Player of the Year

Award

The IHF World Player of the Year is a handball award given annually to the player who is considered to have performed the best in the previous season, both at club and international competitions. It is awarded based on votes from experts, media and fans.

The award was awarded by IHF since 1988 in both Men's and Women's Category separately. No award was awarded in the years 1991, 1992, 1993 and 2017.

Year Winner Country Position Ref.1988 Veselin Vujović Left back 1989 Kang Jae Won Right back 1990 Magnus Wislander Center back 1991No vote199219931994 Talant Dujshebaev Centre back 1995 Jackson Richardson Centre back 1996 Talant Dujshebaev (2) Centre back 1997 Stéphane Stoecklin Right back 1998 Daniel Stephan Left back 1999 Rafael Guijosa Left wing2000 Dragan Škrbić Line player 2001 Yoon Kyung Shin Right back 2002 Bertrand Gille Line player 2003 Ivano Balić Centre back 2004 Henning Fritz Goalkeeper 2005 Arpad Šterbik Goalkeeper 2006 Ivano Balić (2) Centre back 2007 Nikola Karabatić Centre back 2008 Thierry Omeyer Goalkeeper 2009 Sławomir Szmal Goalkeeper 2010 Filip Jícha Left back 2011 Mikkel Hansen Left back 2012 Daniel Narcisse Centre back 2013 Domagoj Duvnjak Centre back 2014 Nikola Karabatić (2) Centre back 2015 Mikkel Hansen (2) Left back 2016 Nikola Karabatić (3) Centre back 2017 Not awarded2018 Mikkel Hansen (3) Left back 2019 Niklas Landin Jacobsen Goalkeeper 2020 Not awarded2021 Niklas Landin Jacobsen (2) Goalkeeper 2022 Not awarded2023 Mathias Gidsel Right back

In 1992, Gheorghe Gruia of Romania was named Best Player of All Time by the International Handball Federation. In 2000, the Swedish Magnus Wislander and the Ukrainian Zinaida Turchyna were elected Players of the 20th Century by the IHF. Additionally, in 2010 Ivano Balić of Croatia and Svetlana Kitić of Yugoslavia were voted by the website users the Best Players Ever, but they were not named directly by the IHF.

In 2000, the official bulletin of the International Handball Federation, World Handball Magazine, chose Gheorghe Gruia, Ioan Moser and Cornel Penu as members of the "Team of the Century".

In 2010, the fans voted Thierry Omeyer as world's best goalkeeper ever. And in 2011, the fans voted for Luminița Dinu (born Huțupan) as best female goalkeeper ever. Previously in 2009, Steffen Fäth and Cristina Neagu respectively won Rookie of the Year award for male and female.