The world champion as a player and coach - sport does not remember many of them throughout history, but one such name, one of the true legends, arrives in Montenegro.
In a way, sensational news echoed in the handball world yesterday - Didije Dinar, a man who won everything as a player, and who also led his France to the world throne as a coach, is the new coach of our men's national team.
Those who follow handball know very well what an icon this sport is, and if a parallel were drawn with another sport, then Dinar would be what is great in football. Franz Beckenbauer.
Both were top defenders, the best in the world at the time, and both showed that they were born winners even after their playing careers. Both the unsurpassed Kaiser Franz and the "mountain" Dinar added a coaching title to their playing title from the World Cup.
The news that such a name will take over Montenegro is not something you read every day.
- I have always had excellent relations with the Handball Association of Montenegro, especially with the president Peter Kapisos. We were players and opponents on the field, and now we are part of the same team, he as the president, and I as the selector, Dinar revealed how the cooperation for our Association came about.
A product of Kanaje and Costantini
Three-time world champion, twice Olympic and European - the legendary French "experts" from the beginning of the new millennium would probably never have been so successful if they didn't have a man like Dinar in defense.
He got to the blue jersey the hard way, from Guadeloupe, a French island in the Caribbean Sea. His first French club was Dijon, but with the transfer to Montpellier and the coach Patrice Canaje he began to develop into a phenomenal defender.
They won the Champions League together in 2003, and then he was with the famous coach of France Danijela Kostantini evolved in the defensive line. The results of France, but also of his other club Ciudad Real, with which he won the Champions League three more times, best tell how it looked.
As a coach without defeat until the world crown
After a great playing career, he "swam" into coaching waters and very quickly reached the top. At the 2017 World Cup, precisely in France, he led his country from the bench to its sixth global title, the last to date.
How much are they Nikola Karabatic, Nedim Remila, Vincent Gerard and the others were dominant at that championship, it is best said that on the way to the crown they mostly easily jumped over all nine obstacles.
He led France until 2020, won two more bronzes (European and world), and then parted ways with his country's selection after finishing 14th at the EHF Euro.
After that, he worked in Nice and the Saudi Arabian national team, and currently in Ivri.
He will make his debut on the bench of Montenegro on November 6 against Finland in Podgorica when the qualification for Euro 2026 starts, and it will certainly be interesting to see how one of the better generations of our handball will play under the leadership of the great champion.
- The goal is clear, it is to qualify for the European Championship in 2026, after failing in the previous World Cup qualifiers. The Handball Federation of Montenegro, aware of the importance of returning to the international stage, expects us to do everything to achieve that goal, Dinar added to the RSCG website.
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