Iztok Puc passes away

The European Handball Federation has received the sad news that Iztok Puc has passed away at the age of 45.

The former Yugoslavian, Croatian and Slovenian international was one of the best players of the 1980’s and 1990’s.

Born in Slovenj Gradec he started his handball career in Šoštanj. As a young, talented player he soon (1986) moved to Borac Banja Luka, where he became a national team player with Yugoslavia, winning the Olympics bronze medal at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul.

Later, Puc joined RK Zagreb and became a Croatian citizen. In 1993 he was a key figure in the Zagreb victory in the Champions Cup’s finals against Wallau.

With the Croatian national team he won a complete cabinet of medals:  Bronze at EHF EURO 1994, silver at the World Championship 1995 and gold at the Olympics in 1996.

From 1994 until 1999, Puc played his handball with RK Celje, scoring 630 goals in 136 matches before joining Prule Ljubljana, where he became sports director after finishing his active career.
Puc then became a national hero for his new home country Slovenia, when he led the national team for the first time to the Olympics 2000 in Sydney, where the Slovenians finished eighth and Puc played his third Olympics under his third national flag.

For some years Iztok Puc and his wife lived in Florida to support their son’s tennis career – there he was diagnosed with leukaemia at the beginning of 2011. On 20 October 2011 he lost the fight against the disease.

The EHF would like to offer its sincere condolences to Iztok Puc’s family and friends on behalf of the European handball family.

Photos: Courtesy of the Slovenian Handball Federation