Ivano Balić

Ivano Balić (pronounced [ǐʋano bǎːlitɕ, - bǎ-]; born 1 April 1979) is a Croatian former professional handballer, World and Olympic champion.[1] He was voted 5 times in a row as the most valuable player in major international competitions,[2][3] and is one of only four male handball players who received the IHF World Player of the Year award on two occasions (2003, 2006). He was voted the best handball player in history in an online poll organized by the International Handball Federation.[4]

Ivano Balić
Balić in August 2009
Personal information
Full name Ivano Balić
Born (1979-04-01) 1 April 1979
Split, SR Croatia,
SFR Yugoslavia
Height 1.89 m (6 ft 2 1⁄2 in)
Playing position Centre back
Senior clubs
Years Team
1997–2001
 RK Brodomerkur Split
2001–2004
 RK Metković Jambo
2004–2008
 Portland San Antonio
2008–2012
 RK CO Zagreb
2012–2013
 Atlético Madrid
2013–2015
 HSG Wetzlar
National team
Years Team
1998–1999
 Croatia U20
1998–1999
 Croatia U21
2001–2012
 Croatia 198 (535)

Early life

Born in Split, Ivano was the only child of handball players Žarko and Stjepanka Balić. After the first three months of his birth, Balić moved with his parents to Italy because of his father's professional career. During his time in Italy, Balić lived in Rovereto near Milan and in Prato. At the age of seven, Balić and his mother returned to Split. When his father came back playing for RK Split in the Yugoslav Second League, Balić would always love to watch his father's play.

Balić started playing basketball with KK Split due to him being a big fan of the club, which at the time was three time European champion. He played basketball until 1995 when his father's friend and coach in RK Split, Mate Bokan, at the time suggested he should play handball.[5]

Career

Balić began his handball career with RK Brodomerkur Split which competed in the top tier Croatian First A League. In his first season, Brodomerkur finished second in the league and got to the semi-finals of the EHF Cup where they lost to THW Kiel which won the cup.[6] He played for Brodomerkur for three more seasons reaching top positions in the league and reaching the quarter-finals of the EHF Cup.

In 2001 Balić moved to RK Metković Jambo. His first season started out with winning the Croatian Cup and league championship. Even though Metković won the league, their title was stripped away administratively and given to Badel 1862 Zagreb. This season was also his first season playing the EHF Champions League. The next few seasons Balić spent perfecting his game which was mostly seen in 2003 when he became the first Croatian handballer to win the IHF World Player of the Year award and was voted Croatian Handballer of the Year in 2004.

Balić moved to Portland San Antonio in 2004. He chose San Antonio so he could play with his idol Jackson Richardson. During his first season, he helped the club win the league championship and reached the quarter-final of the Champions League. The next season saw Balić in his first and only Champions League final. Unfortunately, San Antonio lost to a very strong BM Ciudad Real in both final matches (losing 19–25 in the first and 28–37 in the second game). Although he did not win the Champions League, he got his second IHF World Player of the Year award in 2006.[7] In 2007 Balić was voted best Croatian athlete by Sportske novosti.

Between 2008 and 2012, Balić played for Croatian powerhouse RK CO Zagreb, winning the Premier League and Croatian Cup four times.

In 2012 Balić returned to Spain to play for Atlético Madrid. He stayed for only a season because the club went through bankruptcy. At the club, he had a fantastic season winning the IHF Super Globe and Copa del Rey while finishing second in the league championship.[8]

In 2013 Balić signed for German team HSG Wetzlar.[9] After two seasons spending at Wetzlar, Balić announced his retirement from professional handball at the beginning of the 2014–15 season.[10] On 5 June, Balić played his last professional handball game in a 29–24 win against Göppingen, in which he has scored one goal and made five assists.[11]

International career

In 1998 Balić started playing for Croatia under-20 and Croatia under-21 at the same time. Next year, he was called up to play for the senior Croatian men's national team, but he got pneumonia. He came to training and the physiotherapist noticed that he was sick so they gave him some antibiotics and sent him home.

In December 2000 Balić was called up to train for the 2001 World Championship. In training, Balić got injured by trying to catch a reflected ball to witch Petar Metličić fell on his foot and ruptured his ligaments. Because of this injury, Balić had to rest for 20 days and missed the World Championship in France.[12]

Balić finally made his debut for the senior national team at the 2001 Mediterranean Games in Tunisia where Croatia won first place. Next year, Balić played at the 2002 European Championship in Sweden where Croatia finished in last place. Although they finished last in the tournament, they shocked the world a year later at the 2003 World Championship in Portugal where they won first place; after losing their first match against Argentina (29–30), they beat Saudi Arabia, Russia, France, Hungary, Egypt, Denmark, Spain, and Germany in the final.

Ivano Balić, Renato Sulić, Denis Špoljarić, Nikša Kaleb, Slavko Goluža, Mirza Džomba and Goran Šprem celebrating winning the 2003 World Championship in Portugal

In January 2004 Balić was called up to play at the 2004 European Championship in Slovenia. Croatia had a good start in the group stage beating Spain and Denmark, and conceding a draw against Portugal. Croatia came all the way to the semi-finals where they lost against hosts Slovenia and finished fourth losing to Denmark in a third place match. Balić was included in the all star team and was voted the best player and the best play maker at the tournament. In August of the same year Balić was selected to play at the 2004 Summer Olympics where the national team won first place. Croatia went undefeated through the tournament and Balić was selected in the all star team and was the best play maker at the tournament. For winning the gold medal, all players were awarded the Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport yearly award. Balić won the award with the team and he also won another yearly award by himself.[13]

At the 2005 World Championship in Tunisia, Croatia came in second place losing to Spain in the final game. Balić was voted MVP of the tournament and the best play maker. At the 2006 European Championship in Switzerland, Croatia came in fourth. Balić was once again voted MVP of the tournament and the best play maker, also being the fourth top goalscorer with 43 goals and top field goalscorer. The same year Balić was also part of the team that won the Stratoil World Cup in Sweden and Germany. During this tournament Balić invented the nickname of the Croatian national team: Kauboji (English: The Cowboys).

At the 2007 World Championship in Germany, Croatia came in fifth. Balić was voted MVP yet again. Balić also played during the 2008 European Championship in Norway where Croatia suffered a defeat from Denmark in the final. That silver medal was the first European championship medal Balić had won. Balić was also voted best centre back and was joint top goalscorer alongside Nikola Karabatić and Lars Christiansen with 44 goals.

Balić at the 2010 European Championship

In the 2008 European Championship, he was the equal top scorer with 44 goals as he led Croatia to a silver medal and was also voted to the All-Star Team of the tournament. The same year Balić was selected to be Croatia's flagbearer at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Unfortunately, the tournament did not go so well. Croatia finished in fourth place losing the third place for the bronze medal to Spain in an awful defeat of 29–35. Balić did not play his best at the tournament failing to receive an award. The next national team challenge Balić faced was the 2009 World Championship in Croatia. Even though Croatia went undefeated throughout the tournament, France beat them in a painful final match. During the match, a rivalry emerged between Balić and Nikola Karabatić witch the media named clash of the titans.[14] At the 2010 European Championship in Austria, Croatia won another silver medal losing to France in the final game.

Following unsuccessful 2011 World Championship, where Croatia came in fifth, in 2012, Balić won two bronze medals with Croatia at the European Championship in Serbia and at the Summer Olympics in London. Prior to the 2013 World Championship in Spain, Balić was dropped from the national team by then head coach Slavko Goluža, thus he retired from the national team.[15] After the match, there was a special ceremony dedicated to Balić. During the ceremony, Jackson Richardson, his handball idol, came to congratulate him on his career.[16]

Retirement

Following his retirement from playing professional handball, Balić joined the Croatian national team coaching staff of newly appointed coach Željko Babić, alongside his old colleagues Petar Metličić and Valter Matošević. As part of the coaching staff he won the bronze medal at the 2016 European Championship in Poland with the rest of the team and was also part of the 5th place placement at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.[17]

Personal life

From 1999 to 2006 Balić was married to his wife Ivana. The couple had one son together Dino who was born 2000. In 2014 Balić got his second child, first with girlfriend Mirela Delić, a son named Vigo.[18] In 2016 Balić became a father for the third time.

Balić enjoys watching basketball.

Honours

Orders

See also
  • 2008 Summer Olympics national flag bearers

References
  1. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Ivano Balić". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2016-12-04.
  2. "World Handball Players of the Year 2006: Nadine Krause (GER) and Ivano Balic (CRO)". International Handball Federation. June 14, 2007. Archived from the original on November 15, 2008. Retrieved 2010-05-13. To make a long story short: an all-rounder you may not have seen before in handball. Balic is a real star. The handball director, who fully deserved the award as Most Valuable Player of the 2007 World Championship, knows that. He knows the ritual since 2003, at least every second year. Given these facts, it seems to be a little bit surprising that this is only the second time after 2003 that the exceptional player has been elected World Handball Player of the Year.
  3. "Ivano Balic, the MVP of all MVPs". European Handball Federation. November 6, 2013. Retrieved December 4, 2013. No other handball player to date has been awarded 'Most Valuable Player' more often than Ivano Balic, making him - figuratively speaking - the MVP of all MVPs. The 34-year-old playmaker received the honour at five consecutive major events, first at the EHF EURO 2004 in Slovenia followed by the 2004 Olympic Games, the World Championship 2005, the EHF EURO 2006 and the World Championship 2007.
  4. "Ivano Balic voted best male player ever". ihf.info. August 12, 2010. Retrieved 2013-01-23.
  5. "Ivano Balić - rukometna slava flegmatičnog Splićanina". arhiva.nacional.hr (in Croatian).
  6. "RK Brodomerkur Split 1997-98". eurohandball.com (in Croatian).
  7. "Ivano Balić". hrtsport.net (in Croatian).
  8. "BM Atletico Madrid bankrupt". handball-magazine.com.
  9. "Ivano Balić potpisao za Wetzlar!". Večernji list (in Croatian).
  10. "Ivano Balić okončao je igračku karijeru, a ovdje se prisjetite njegovih najvećih uspjeha". telegram.hr (in Croatian).
  11. "Oprostio se rukometni bog Balićeva mastorija za kraj". 24 sata (in Croatian).
  12. "13 ozljeda rukometnog ratnika". arhiva.nacional.hr/ (in Croatian).
  13. "Dodjela državne nagrade u športu Franjo Bučar u Splitu". Index.hr (in Croatian).
  14. "Balić vs Karabatić obračun titana". Index.hr (in Croatian).
  15. "Ivano Balić progovorio o reprezentaciji i Slavko Goluži". Tportal.hr (in Croatian).
  16. "Ivano Balić igra posljednju utakmicu karijere". sport.hrt.hr (in Croatian).
  17. "IVANO BALIĆ 'Nikomu, pa ni Gobcu, ništa ne zamjeram, ne mora moja biti zadnja'". nacional.hr (in Croatian).
  18. "IVANO BALIĆ dobio sina". story.hr (in Croatian).
  19. "Skelini-sportaši Dalmacije za 2003.g." hvk-gusar.hr (in Croatian).
  20. "Ivano Balić biography". hoo.hr (in Croatian).
Awards
Preceded by
Bertrand Gille		 IHF World Player of the Year
2003		 Succeeded by
Henning Fritz
Preceded by
Árpád Sterbik		 IHF World Player of the Year
2006		 Succeeded by
Nikola Karabatić
Olympic Games
Preceded by
Dubravko Šimenc		 Flagbearer for  Croatia
Beijing 2008		 Succeeded by
Venio Losert
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