Karabatic becomes MVP, Ilic earns the Golden Ball again

Winner of the IHF Super Globe in September, World Champion and World Championship All Star Team Member in February, Spanish champion in March and now VELUX EHF Champions League winner in May – Nikola Karabatic had a perfect season, in which he won all competitions he was part of. In addition he was also awarded Most Valuable Player of the VELUX EHF FINAL4.

In the semi-final against Kielce and the final against Veszprem, the 31-year-old left/centre back was not only Barcelona’s best scorer, but was a key in defence and in motivating the rest of the squad. Just on the eve of the tournement the French star was also voted best left back of the 2014/15 VELUX EHF Champions League.

“I transferred to Barcelona to fulfil my dream, to win the Champions League,” he had said in summer 2013, when he arrived at Palau Blaugrana.

Only a limited number of players have a list of trophies like him: Olympic champion 2008, 2012, World Champion 2009, 2011, 2015, EHF EURO champion 2006, 2010, 2014, Champions League winner 2003, 2007, 2015, World Handball Player of the Year 2007 and 2014. So right now, he holds all four major titles of international handball at the same time, like his teammate Cedric Sorhaindo.

After Kentin Mahe (HSV Hamburg) was awarded Most Valuable Player of the EHF Cup Finals two weeks ago in Berlin, another Frenchman received this trophy in Cologne.

“Winning the Champions League was my main goal in this season. I’m very proud of winning this one here in Cologne. I think the FINAL 4 in Cologne is something like the Holy Grail in handball. Actually there was a great pressure on my team to win the final this time. I’m especially proud of winning the title today because it is the first time for me to win it here in Cologne,” he said.

But as usual Karabatic remained humble, talking about his own performance and becoming MVP: “I’m very proud of my performance and on the team’s performance. The whole season is one of my best.”

The top scorer trophy has been claimed by Momir Ilic. The Serbian born Veszprem left back netted in 114 times this season to defend his 2014 “title”, when he also became the VELUX EHF Champions League top scorer.