14.01.2013, 12:50
Facts and figures around the World Championship

Who is the tallest, who is the smallest player? Which team has the most experience? eurohandball.com had a look at some of these statistics

Facts and figures around the World Championship

The host nation has won the Men’s World Championship on four occasions. Germany in 1938 and 2007, Sweden in 1954 and France in 2001.

All previous champions have been European. The best result from a non-European country is Egypt’s 4th place in France 2001 and Tunisia’s 4th place at home in 2005.

Only three times the Men’s World Championship has been held outside of Europe, in 1997 (Japan), 1999 (Egypt) and 2005 (Tunisia).

Croatia have the highest win percentage from their previous World Championship  matches, having won 55 of 75 matches (73,3 %)*.

Australia have lost all 22 previous World Championship matches against the teams that participate in 2013. In fact, they have won only one out of their total 37 matches, against Greenland in 2003 (26:21).

Croatia have played in three of the last five finals, since 2003, the most of all nations. France and Germany have played two.

Russia (and the Soviet Union) have played six finals, most of all participating teams. Sweden hold the record with seven.

Montenegro are the only team in this World Championship that are participating for the first time. The second least experienced teams are Chile and Belarus with each two participations.

Denmark are playing their 20th World Championship. Only Germany and Sweden have been in more with 21. Iceland have the second most tournaments for a team that has not been crowned champions yet, with 17.

France can become the first country to win three consecutive titles.

France could become the second team ever to play three consecutive finals. Sweden were in three finals 1997 to 2001, winning one (1999) and losing two.

Facts and figures about the squads*

Being tall is not everything, but the 12 tallest teams come from Europe. In terms of height Tunisia is the best non-European team. The smallest team is Saudi-Arabia with an average players' height of only 1,83 metres which means that their players - on average - are 11 centimetres smaller than the 'giants' from Croatia and Denmark who are 1,94m on average.

With 2,12m respectively, Nikolaj Markussen (Denmark) and Angel Montoro (Spain) are the tallest players.

1. Croatia 1,94m

1. Denmark 1,94m

3. Hungary 1,93m

3. Germany 1,93m

3. Belarus 1,93m

3. Poland 1,93m

7. Russia 1,92m

7. Spain 1,92m

9. Slovenia 1,91m

9. Serbia 1,91m

9. Iceland 1,91m

9. France 1,91m

13. Tunisia 1,90m

13. Brazil 1,90m

15. FYR Macedonia 1,89m

15. Montenegro 1,89m

17. Algeria 1,88m

18. Argentina 1,87m

19. Korea 1,86m

19. Australia 1,86m

21. Qatar 1,85m

21. Egypt 1,85m

21. Chile 1,85m

24. Saudi-Arabia 1,83m

Average number of international matches per player*

Defending champion France is way ahead taking into account this indicator for international experience and have - on average - more than ten times the number of international matches per player than Australia.

Surprisingly Egypt ranks second – and only those two teams can count on an average of more than 100 matches per matches.

In this ranking the non-European teams, except the newly formed Australians have – on paper – no major disadvantage compared to the Europeans.

However, as this World Championship is the first in the new Olympic Cycle most of the teams are in transition which usually brings fresh, young players to all of the squads.

1. France 142,6

2. Egypt 105,4

3. Iceland 99,1

4. Hungary 98,6

5. Poland 82,1

6. Tunisia 77,9

7. Argentina 75,0

8. Saudi-Arabia 74,8

9. Denmark 74,4

10. Croatia 72,9

11. Slovenia 69,2

12. Spain 65,2

13. Algeria 65,1

14. Serbia 64,4

15. Germany 63,9

16. Russia 61,0

17. FYR Macedonia 54,0

18. Korea 51,7

19. Belarus 45,4

20. Brazil 45,4

21. Chile 43,5

22. Qatar 34,9

23. Montenegro 21,9

24. Australia 12,7

Average age of the players*

Usually older players have more international matches, but this ranking looks completely different to the average match ranking – though the oldest and the youngest teams (France and Australia) also have the highest/lowest number of international matches.

1. France 29,4

2. Montenegro 28,7

3. Russia 28,6

3. FYR Macedonia 28,6

5. Belarus 28,4

5. Poland 28,4

7. Hungary 28,3

8. Spain 28,2

9. Algeria 28,0

10. Iceland 27,8

11. Serbia 27,3

11. Korea 27,3

13. Qatar 27,1

14. Germany 27,0

15. Denmark 26,8

16. Slovenia 26,7

17. Argentina 25,9

18. Croatia 25,8

19. Saudi-Arabia 25,7

20. Brazil 25,4

21. Tunisia 25,1

22. Egypt 24,9

23. Chile 24,7

24. Australia 23,9

* all statistics, facts and figures are based the status quo before the 2013 World Championship threw off on 11 January

TEXT: Björn Pazen / ts