The Stožice Arena, painted red on November 20, 2022, celebrated a new medal for Montenegrin handball, but also witnessed the last victory of the "lions" over one of the world's strongest teams.
It was a triumph in Ljubljana against France (27:25) in the match for third place at the European Championship, and although our national team has practically always been at the top since then (the exception being the 2024 Olympic Games), the reality is that it has always been far from the best.
The reality is that finishing among the top eight in the world at this year's World Cup is a great success for a team that is in the process of changing generations, but the matches in Trier and Dortmund showed where the "lionesses" stand today in comparison to the strongest teams, even those in decline like Spain.
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Montenegro has played matches with the world's strongest teams since the bronze medal at the 2022 European Championship and lost every match - three times to Norway, two to Germany and Sweden and once each to Spain, France, the Netherlands and Denmark.
No one can diminish the victories of Suzana Lazović's team against the Faroe Islands, Paraguay, Iceland and Serbia; these were matches in which our national team did what it had to do at the World Cup.
Duels and defeats against Spain (31:26), Germany (36:18) and finally Norway (32:23) showed that the "Lionesses" still have a lot to work on in order to threaten the teams that are currently ahead of them.
We were a small country in 2012.
On the day of the match against Norway in Dortmund, the Handball Federation of Montenegro announced interesting figures it received from the EHF, which relate to the number of registered players in each of the European countries that reached the quarterfinals of the World Cup.
Thus, Montenegro, from the pioneer age onwards, has 893 registered female handball players, and the next on the list is Hungary with more than 24.000, and Germany has the most with the figure of 300.000.
When you know all this, it is clear what kind of success Montenegro has achieved, but such things should not be turned into mythical stories. After all, Iceland has half the population of Montenegro, so it has won Olympic and European medals in men's handball. And, it must be admitted that the competition there is, after all, much greater than in women's handball.
Likewise, in 2012, Montenegro had practically the same population as today, probably fewer registered players, so it was on the European throne and won silver at the Olympic Games.
In the end, the fact that Montenegro has less than 1.000 registered female handball players (only 426 senior women) is a worrying figure and another alarm bell about how much our handball needs other centers, and not that everything always depends mainly on Buducnost.
Defense brings results, but it's difficult without offense
For years, defense has been the trademark of Montenegro, and the greatest successes have come largely thanks to it, but in the meantime, handball has evolved, so the attack has become faster and more effective, and in most cases, crucial for victories.
It is often said in our region that defense brings the greatest results. However, it is difficult for it to help when there is no idea in attack, when over 20 mistakes are made during actions per match, and thus the Montenegrin net is often shaken before the "lionesses" can even get together in defense.
It is commendable that Suzana Lazović follows trends, so she tried to play the attack with "seven on six", but the World Cup in Germany and the Netherlands showed in the best way how much everyone in our national team still has to work on offensive play.
There is still plenty of time until the next major competition, the ticket for the 2026 European Championship is practically already in your pocket, because the "lions", after all, are a class above their rivals in the qualifiers - the Faroe Islands, Portugal and Iceland. And the end of next year may be a breakthrough, a moment that will show that our national team has come close to the best.
Bonus video:
