Vote for the IHF’s coaches of the year 2010!

The male and female handball player of the year 2010 were already awarded at the end of January, now it’s your turn to vote for the World Handball Coaches of the Year 2010. This internet based voting contains two sections – one for the media and one for fans. You can find the media section here, and the fan section here. The voting will last from 6 April to 7 May 2011 on www.ihf.info.

And those are the, in total, six nominees in the two categories “coach of male team 2010” and “coach of female team 2010” chosen by an IHF expert jury:

Male team coaches:
1.    Claude Onesta (France): Onesta’s French national team defended the title at the World Championship in Sweden and became European Champion in 2010. So France remain the only team in handball history to own the trophies of all major tournaments at the same time: European, World and Olympic Champion. Besides Onesta led France to becoming the first men’s team since 1974 (Romania) to defend their WCh title. Onesta has already been awarded World Handball Coach of the Year 2009.

2.    Ulrik Wilbek (Denmark): Wilbek is the only coach in the world of handball who brought the EURO title to a male and female team. In January 2011 he led the Danish men’s team to the first WCh final for almost 40 years. Wilbek is the “constructor” of success in Danish men’s handball. In 2010 his Danes ranked fifth at the EURO in Vienna.

3.    Valero Lopez Rivera (Spain): He is not only the most successful club team coach in the history of handball by winning more than 70 titles with FC Barcelona, he has also been national coach of Spain since 2008. After the disappointing 13th place at the WCh in Croatia in 2009, Rivera built a new team with young talented players. This squad took the third place at the WCh in Sweden after becoming sixth at the EURO 2010.

Female team coaches:
1.    Olivier Krumbholz (France): In 2009 he surprisingly led the French women to Silver at the WCh in China, and his player Allison Pineau was awarded World Handball Player of the Year 2009. Krumbholz is the father of all French women’s successes since the Silver medal at the WCh 1999 in Norway, and he crowned himself with the WCh title 2003. In 2010 his team started weak at the EURO in Norway, but thanks to five straight victories in the final stage of the tournament France ranked fifth in the end.

2.    Jan Pytlick (Denmark): He took two Olympic titles with the Danish women in 2000 and 2004, and then became a club coach. Beforehand Pytlick had to become the saviour of the Danish women again after missing the qualification for the 2007 WCh and the Olympics in Beijing. Pytlick worked hard to make the Danish success in younger age categories continue in the women’s team. And on home ground he brought his team back to world class in 2010. He led Denmark to the EURO semi final – but then the series of success came to an end: after two defeats against Norway and Romania Denmark ranked fourth. But it was one of Pytlick’s masterpieces to come so far.

3.    Thorir Hergeirsson (Norway): There were big footprints the Icelander had to step in as the successor of Norwegian coaching legend Marit Breivik. But after winning the Bronze medal at the 2009 WCh – Hergeirsson’s first major event – he took his first title at the EURO 2010: With only one defeat in eight matches he led Norway to the fourth straight EURO title since 2004 – and qualified directly for the Olympics in London and the 2011 WCh in Brazil. Hergeirsson is a master of tactics and analysis, but can also count on a highly experienced and confident team.