Luka Cindric Nominated for World’s Best Handball Player

Daniela Rogulj

July 3, 2020 – Croatia national team player Luka Cindric has been included among the five candidates for the best handball player in the world in 2019, the International Handball Federation (IHF) announced.

Gol.hr writes that among the candidates for this prestigious award are the Danes Mikkel Hansen (PSG), Rasmus Lauge Schmidt (Flensburg / Veszprem) and Niklas Landin Jacobsen (Kiel), and the Norwegian Sander Sagosen (PSG).

The IHF also announced five candidates for the best female handball players of the year, namely Dutch Estavana Polman (Team Esbjerg), Lois Abbingh (Rostov-Don) and Tess Wester (Odense), Russian Anna Vjakhireva (Rostov-Don) and Norwegian Stine Bredal Oftedal (Gyori Audi ETO KC).

“Cindric started 2019 with a sixth-place finish with Croatia at the 2019 IHF Men’s World Championship. The centre back went on to reach the Champions League finals, the VELUX EHF FINAL4, with his club PGE Vive Kielce, ultimately ranking fourth. He contributed 59 goals towards the club’s Champions League effort during the season and was also part of Kielce claiming their 16th Polish championship title. He was voted best centre back of the Polish championship 2018/19. 

Over the summer of 2019, Cindric transferred to Barcelona. With Barça, the Croatian playmaker celebrated titles immediately, including the 2019 IHF Super Globe trophy. Cindric was instrumental in Barça taking their record fifth Super Globe title, leading the Spanish side with 22 goals in the competition, including 11 in the final,” the IHF explained.

Interestingly, Cindric won as many as six trophies in the first season with Barcelona, and he also hopes for the European Champions Cup. But there are more than five months left until the Champions League Final Four.

In addition to the Club World Cup, he also won the Spanish Championship, the Copa del Rey, the ASOBAL Cup, the Spanish Super Cup, and the Super Cup of Catalonia.

The fans will decide on the best handball players in 2019, and the voting lasts until July 18 on the IHF website.

Ivano Balic (2003, 2006) and Domagoj Duvnjak (2013) have already won the award for the best handball player in the world.

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.

 

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