For Radicevic, the 2024/25 season will be all about club handball, as she retired from the national team after the EHF EURO 2022, which Montenegro co-hosted with North Macedonia and Slovenia. The tournament was essentially “Joka’s EURO.” As captain of the side, Radicevic led Montenegro through a perfect preliminary round campaign, which ended with an emotional farewell to the home crowd in the emblematic Moraca Arena, on to a main round that secured the team a place in the semi-finals, and ultimately the bronze medal after an overtime victory against France.
Radicevic was named in the All-star Team for that EHF EURO, which was her third time doing so at the continental championship. She was also part of the All-star Teams at the 2015 and 2019 World Championships. Her first appearance in the EHF EURO All-star Team occurred in 2012, when Montenegro won the title, with Joka contributing 40 goals to that effort. She was a key player in Montenegro’s only Olympic medal to date — across all sports: Silver at London 2012.
The proof of Joka’s legacy is there in the huge number of goals scored, her presence in the final stages of the top-level competitions, and her status of legend in her own country and for any fan familiar with Montenegrin handball. But there is one more way she has been one of the most notable players in the women’s game: Her infectious passion and power on the court, which have not only inspired her teams to great achievements, but have invited spectators onto the court to live the game with her time and time again.
There is no doubt Joka will be missed when her time to hang up the handball shoes comes, but for now we have one more season to enjoy with the charismatic right wing and watch her incredible number of Champions League goals climb higher.
