Although it's hardly a national sport, Croatia has achieved some impressive results in handball. In 2003 Croatia won the World Handball Championship and has finished well in other international handball tournaments ever since.

So, it's only natural that Croatia was chosen to host the 2009 Men's World Handball Championship which will take place 16 January to 1 February 2009 in Zagreb. As the organizer of the event Croatia is automatically qualified and defending World Champion Germany is also qualified directly. In addition, the three best ranked teams of the Euro 2008 in Norway will qualify directly with the remaining nine places to be decided by a series of qualifying matches.

In honour of the event, Croatia will unveil an entirely new stadium in south Zagreb. Construction has already begun on the 87-million euro Zagreb Arena which should be completed by the time of the tournament. Over 15,000 handball fans are expected to descend upon Zagreb and the arena will seat 16,000.

The dome-like modern structure fills a large gap on the Croatian sports scene. Although Croatia has scored impressive victories in everything from skiing to football and tennis, the country is in dire need of an arena commeasurate with its achievments. After the Handball Championship the arena will still be in use and will form the centre of a vast sports, shopping and entertainment complex.

 

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