BIOGRAPHY
There is no doubt that many people would instantly list Ivano Balic among the world’s greatest ever handball players - indeed in 2010 fans voted him as the best male handball player ever in an International Handball Federation poll.
During his long career Balic picked up medals at all the major international tournaments, and was named MVP twice at both the World and European championships in addition to several All-star Team appearances at the Olympic Games, World Championship, and EHF EURO. He was also the IHF World Player of the Year in both 2003 and 2006.
Balic was born to handball players Stjepanka and Žarko, but his sporting life did not begin with handball. He tried football, water polo and basketball before, at the age of 16, he finally picked up a handball - and the rest is history.
He built his playing style in his hometown of Split and played his first European matches, in the EHF Cup. In 2001 he moved to Metković for his first experience of the EHF Champions League, during which time Croatia were top of the world with World Championship gold in 2003 and Olympic gold the following year.
When he found out there would be space for a centre back, alongside Jackson Richardson, at Portland San Antonio, Balic put all his effort into signing for the Spanish club. He made it, and made a new friend in Richardson with their friendship enduring to this day.
However, Portland missed out on a second EHF Champions League title during Balic’s time at the club, meaning this is the one trophy Balic never lifted.
In the wake of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, where Croatia finished fourth, Balic returned home for four years in Zagreb. But his career was to finish on foreign shores, with one year at Atlético Madrid under Talant Dujshebaev and two at HSG Wetzlar in Germany before he realised it was time to retire.
Since then, Balic has been teaching and coaching handball, in an effort to give back to the sport whIch gave him so much.
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