27 Champions League stars win medal in Egypt
The Men’s IHF World Championship 2021 is done and dusted - and once more have players from Europe’s elite handball leagues starred in the main roles.
No less than 40 from the 48 players in the three medal-winning squads play for clubs in the EHF Champions League (27) or the EHF European League (13): 15 won gold with Denmark, 11 silver with Sweden, and 14 bronze with Spain.
Three clubs had players in the squads of both finalists: Danish side Aalborg Håndbold and German teams SG Flensburg-Handewitt and Füchse Berlin.
Flensburg and PSG have two players in All-star Team
Flensburg and Paris Saint-Germain Handball were the only two EHF Champions League teams with two players each in the All-star Team: the French side was represented by MVP Mikkel Hansen (DEN) and right wing Ferran Sole (ESP), the German side by Swedish duo Hampus Wanne and Jim Gottfridsson.
Barça (Ludovic Fabregas, FRA) and EHF European League clubs GOG (Mathias Gidsel, DEN) and Rhein-Neckar Löwen (Andreas Palicka, SWE) represented the remaining All-star Team players.
Mikkel Hansen received his fourth MVP award at World Championships after 2011, 2015 and 2019.
Also, the top scorer of Egypt 2021 plays in the EHF European League: Frankis Carol of Qatar plays for Sporting CP in Portugal.
Denmark, the 2019 and 2021 world champions, counted on nine EHF Champions League and six EHF European League players in the final, while Sweden had five Champions League and six European League players.
Bronze medallists Spain led with 13 EHF Champions league players plus one European League player.
Number of medallists per EHF Champions League club:
5: Aalborg Håndbold (2 DEN/3 SWE), SG Flensburg-Handewitt (3 DEN/2 SWE), Barça (4 ESP/1 DEN)
3: Paris Saint-Germain HB (1 DEN/2 ESP), Lomza Vive Kielce (3 ESP)
2: Telekom Veszprém HC (2 ESP), THW Kiel (2 DEN)
1: Pick Szeged (1 ESP), HBC Nantes (1 ESP)
Number of medallists per EHF European League club:
4: GOG (4 DEN)
3: Füchse Berlin (2 DEN/1 SWE)
2: Rhein-Neckar Löwen (2 SWE), Montpellier HB (2 SWE)
1: SC Magdeburg (1 SWE), Ademar Leon (1 ESP)
Clubs from the All-star Team players:
Goalkeeper: Andreas Palicka (SWE/Rhein-Neckar Löwen)
Left wing: Hampus Wanne (SWE/SG Flensburg-Handewitt)
Left back: Mikkel Hansen (DEN/Paris Saint-Germain HB)
Centre back: Jim Gottfridsson (SWE/SG Flensburg-Handewitt)
Right back: Mathias Gidsel (DEN/GOG)
Right wing: Ferran Sole (ESP/Paris Saint-Germain HB)
Line player: Ludovic Fabregas (FRA/Barça)
MVP: Mikkel Hansen (Denmark/Paris Saint-Germain HB)
Top scorer: Frankis Carol (Qatar/Sporting CP) - 58 goals
