2009 World Men's Handball Championship Explained

Tourney Name:	World Men's Handball Championship
Year:	2009
Other Titles:	Svjetsko prvenstvo u rukometu 2009.
Size:	300px
Country:	Croatia
Dates:	16 January – 1 February
Num Teams:	24
Confederations:	5
Venues:	7
Cities:	7
Champion:	France
Count:	3
Second:	Croatia
Third:	Poland
Fourth:	Denmark
Matches:	110
Goals:	6090
Attendance:	392550
Top Scorer:	(92 goals)
Previous:	2007 World Men's Handball Championship
Next:	2011 World Men's Handball Championship

The 2009 World Men's Handball Championship was the 21st edition of the tournament that took place in Croatia from 16 January to 1 February, in the cities of Split, Zadar, Osijek, Varaždin, Poreč, Zagreb and Pula. Croatia was selected from a group of four potential hosts which included the Czech Republic, Greece and Romania.

The opening game and ceremony were held in Split, and the final game was played in Zagreb. France won the tournament after defeating Croatia in the final. Poland took the third place after winning over Denmark. Tickets for the tournament went on sale from 15 to 20 November.^[1] For the finals, ticket prices started at 700 kuna (c. €95). To promote the tournament, the Croatian National Tourist Board launched a series of presentations in the capitals of 13 participating countries.^[2]

During the championship internal criticism arose against Hassan Moustafa, President of the IHF. The secretary general of the IHF, Peter Mühlematter, criticized Moustafa and asked for his demission. Moustafa asked to exclude Mühlematter after his criticism.^{[3] [4] [5] [6] [7]}

Venues

Seven Croatian cities were selected as hosts for the 2009 Championship: Split, Zadar, Osijek, Varaždin, Poreč, Zagreb and Pula. The sites included the new Spaladium Arena in Split and Arena Zagreb, where the final took place.

Zagreb	Varaždin	Osijek
Arena Zagreb Capacity: 15,024	Varaždin Arena Capacity: 5,200	Gradski vrt Hall Capacity: 3,538
Poreč
Žatika Sport Centre Capacity: 3,500
Pula
Mate Parlov Sport Centre Capacity: 2,132
	Zadar	Split
	Krešimir Ćosić Hall Capacity: 8,600	Spaladium Arena Capacity: 10,941

Qualification

Qualification occurred through the previous years' continental championships or qualifying tournaments:

• Host (1 vacancy)
• World Champion (1 vacancy)
• 2008 African Men's Handball Championship (3 vacancies)
• 2008 American Handball Championship (3 vacancies)
• 2008 Asian Handball Championship (3 vacancies)
• 2008 European Men's Handball Championship (3 vacancies)
• 2008 European qualifiers play-off (9 vacancies)
• 2008 Oceania qualifying tournament (1 vacancy)

European qualifiers play-off

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Seeding

The draw for the groups of the preliminary round was held on 21 June 2008, in Zagreb. The draw took place at Zagreb's central Ban Jelačić Square and was hosted by Filip Brkić and Kristina Krepela.^[8]

width=16%	Pot 1	width=16%	Pot 2	width=16%	Pot 3	width=16%	Pot 4	width=16%	Pot 5	width=16%	Pot 6
(hosts) (defending World Champions) (champions of Europe) (3rd from Europe)^[9]	(5th from Europe) (Euro playoff) (Euro playoff) (Euro playoff)	(Euro playoff) (Euro playoff) (euro playoff) (champion of Africa)	(Euro playoff) (Euro playoff) (champions of Asia) (champions of America)	(Euro playoff) (2nd from Africa) (2nd from Asia) (2nd from America)	(Oceania qualifiers) (3rd from Africa) (3rd from Asia) (3rd from America)

Squads

See main article: 2009 World Men's Handball Championship squads.

Each nation had to submit a squad of 16 players.

Referees

On 12 October 2008, the match officials for the tournament were confirmed.^[10] But due to injury, the Swedish referee couple Rickard Canbro and Mikael Claesson had to withdraw from the championship, and was replaced by Danish couple Per Olesen and Lars Ejby Pedersen.^[11]

Referees
	Andrei Gousko Siarhei Repkin
	Jesus Nilson Aires Menezes Rogério Aparecido Pinto
	Matija Gubica Boris Milošević
	Jiří Opava Pavěl Válek
	Martin Gjeding Mads Hansen
	Per Olesen Lars Ejby Pedersen
	Moustafa El-Moamli Mohamed Shaaban
	Nordine Lazaar Laurent Reveret
	Frank Lemme Bernd Ullrich

Referees
	Mohsen Karbaschi Majid Kolahdouzan
	Mindaugas Gatelis Vaidas Mažeika
	Mirosław Baum Marek Góralczyk
	Ivan Caçador Eurico Nicolau
	Constantin Din Sorin-Laurenţiu Dinu
	Zoran Stanojević Slobodan Višekruna
	Nenad Krstič (referee)	Nenad Krstič Peter Ljubič
Withdrawn due to injury
	Rickard Canbro Mikael Claesson

Preliminary round

All times are local UTC+1.

Group A

----------------

Group B

--------------------

Group C

----------------

Group D

----------------

President's Cup

Group I

--------

Group II

--------

Placement games

13th place game

Main round

Group I

--------

Group II

--------

Final round

Semifinals

----

Final

GK	12		0/1			00:14
GK	16		10/28			59:46
LB	2		2/3			42:09
P	3		0/0			33:19
CB	5		0/1			45:00
CB	8		6/6			21:48
LB	13		2/5			54:25
P	14		0/0			00:00
LB	15		0/0			00:00
RW	18		0/0			00:00
RW	19		2/4			60:00
P	20		2/4			43:19
LW	21		10/12			56:25
LW	24		0/1			3:35

width=70		width=110	Statistics	width=70
24/36	Goals scored	19/36
67%	% success	53%
7/7	Jets of 7m	4/4
4 min	Suspensions	6 min
4	Yellow cards	4
0	Red cards	1
10/29	Total shots	7/31
34%	% total shots	22%

GK	1		1/7			9:07
GK	25		6/24			50:53
CB	4		1/2			18:34
CB	5		2/6			41:10
LB	6		4/7			29:43
RB	8		0/0			7:29
P	9		2/2			58:28
LB	10		0/0			13:45
RW	13		0/0			4:17
LW	17		3/8			48:00
CB	18		0/0			5:23
RB	19		1/5			40:10
LB	24		0/0			35:21
RW	27		6/6			57:40

Ranking and statistics

Final ranking

Rank	Team
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24

All Star Team

The All Star Team and MVP was announced on 1 February 2009.^[12]

Position	Player
Most valuable player
Goalkeeper
Right wing
Right back
Centre back
Left back
Left wing
Pivot

Top goalscorers

Rank	Name	Team	Goals	Shots	%
1			92	167	55
2			66	81	81
3			61	87	70
4			58	87	67
				73	79
6			55	100	55
7			54	102	53
8			52	66	79
				100	52
10			50	98	51

Source: IHF

Top goalkeepers

Rank	Name	Team	%	Saves	Shots
1			44	52	118
2			41	79	195
				41	99
				110	266
5			39	62	157
				54	139
7			38	95	249
				44	116
9			37	91	244
				56	150

Source: IHF

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze

IHF broadcasting rights

RTL

BHRT (BHT 1)

ESPN Brasil

TV 2, TV 2 Sport

Nile Sport

Sport+

RTL, DSF

Sport TV

Kuwait Sport Channel 3 and Kuwait Sport +

Sitel

TV 2, TV 2 Zebra and TV 2 Sport

TVP (TVP2 and TVP Sport)

TVR, Sport 1

NTV Plus

• (Middle East): Al Jazeera Sports
• Serbia

RTS (RTS 1)

RTV Slovenija

TVE (TVE2, Teledeporte)

TV 4

Tunis 7

High Definition

TV2 Sport HD

TVP (TVP HD)

NTV Plus HD

• (Middle East): Al Jazeera Sports HD

TV4 HD

External links

• IHF website

Notes and References

1. http://sportal.vecernji.hr/vld/sportal/ostalo/rukomet/3193753/index.do Ulaznica za finale Svjetskog prvenstva 700 kuna
2. http://sportnet.hr/Vijest.aspx?ID=367634 Krenule rukometno-turističke prezentacije
3. http://www.tagesspiegel.de/sport/;art272,2715347 Kritiker vor dem Ausschluss IHF-Generalsekretär ist im Verband isoliert
4. http://www.sueddeutsche.de/855384/681/2725431/Moustafa-soll-gehen.html Moustafa soll gehen
5. http://www.focus.de/sport/mehrsport/handball-wm-muehlematter-legt-moustafa-ruecktritt-nahe_aid_364076.html Mühlematter legt Moustafa Rücktritt nahe
6. http://sport.zdf.de/ZDFsport/inhalt/12/0,5676,7507532,00.html?dr=1 Mühlematter fordert Moustafas Rücktritt
7. http://sport.zdf.de/ZDFsport/inhalt/27/0,5676,7507739,00.html?dr=1 Handball Doping: "Da wird ohne Ende gelogen"
8. http://www.hrs.hr/novosti.php?id_novost=1195 Izvlačenje skupina na Trgu bana Jelačića
9. Runners-up Croatia and 4th-placed Germany had already secured their places at the World Championship before the European Championship.
10. News: Imenovani suci za rukometno SP. sportnet.hr. hr. 12 October 2008. 9 September 2020.
11. News: 2009 Men's World Championship in Croatia: updated list of referees. IHF. 17 December 2008. 9 September 2020. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20081223023444/http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idcat=57&idart=1610. 23 December 2008.
12. News: France 2009 World Champions. IHF. 1 February 2009. 9 September 2020.