“His heart is like ‘tick-tock, tick-tock’, just for Croatia,” says Croatia’s Igor Karacic to ihf.info after his side defeated Slovenia in Zagreb on Sunday (26 January) to confirm a quarter-final spot at the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship.

The heart in question belongs to Croatia captain Domagoj Duvnjak, known to all of Croatia as ‘Dule’.

And his total contribution on court in the 29:26 victory? 2:57 minutes and one goal. 

Dule was restricted from playing having injured his calf in Croatia’s second game of the tournament, against Argentina 10 days ago (Friday 17 January).

It was feared that it would rule him out of the competition – his last in a Croatia shirt, having announced previously he would retire from national team duties after the conclusion of his home co-hosted event.

But one week later, he was back in the squad, the 15,000+ capacity Arena Zagreb cheering his presence in the warm-up against Iceland, a game in which he provided two assists in his 2:58 minutes-worth of playing time.

Against the northern European side, Dule was a hive of activity on the bench in the do-or-die game, assisting his team and coach Sigurdsson where and how he could throughout the 60 minutes.

That assistance then went up a level against Slovenia in another do-or-die game, one in which the home side found themselves down 5:0 just after the six-minute mark.

Croatia went into the break all-square (15:15) with Sigurdsson emerging after just a few minutes back to his bench, leaving his captain and his squad in the locker room, deep in the vastness of the Arena Zagreb.

“At half-time, he just asked us, ‘please, please don't let this be my last game’,” explained Croatia’s line player Marim Sipic to ihf.info. “That meant so much. When you think about it, this could really have been his last game and we really didn't want it to happen. So, we put our best on the court in the second half, and, luckily, we beat them.”

With restrictions on court time here in Zagreb, Dule has metamorphosised into a hybrid of teammate-coach-captain from the bench.

Evidenced in a more controlled manner against Iceland, where he discussed issues on court he had seen with Sigurdsson and then spoke to players, against Slovenia, he was the heartbeat of the side.

And it was not just from the bench. It was standing. It was running up and down. It was being on his hands and knees. It was taking time to speak intently to players who had either just rotated out onto the bench, or who were closest to him when the game had paused.

 

 

 

 

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Pure energy

One such poignant moment was between Dule and right wing Filip Glavas – himself a ball of energy of which, if bottled and sold, would make someone a millionaire. 

Glavas found himself shortly off court, behind the bench and Dule the other side. They looked at each other and it was a moment. A moment in the heat and battle of pulsating clash.

“I think he had scored, or we had an extra player or something,” said an almost starstruck Glavas to ihf.info when reminded of this moment between him and the Croatian handball legend. 

“Just from the emotions side, he's the heart of our team, you know? He's a leader and when somebody like him gives his all, I mean, you have to do better than him because he expects me to. I love him. I can say I love him, and I want him to keep dancing.

“Me and Dule, we are the craziest on the bench. I don't know if Dagur (Sigurdsson) likes it, that's a question for him, but we just need to keep on giving like that,” adds Glavas, with his trademark smile.

“I always appreciate the support. When I'm playing, it gives me confidence and gives me a boost. It’s advice in some situations where I'm maybe standing wrong or doing something wrong. He puts the pressure under me and I don't know what to do, you know? It's crazy. We're crazy.

“When something is verbal (from him) he gives advice – he has many games in his legs. He's our leader and our captain. When he says something, it has a meaning. If he tells you; ‘jump under the bus’, you jump under the bus. It's like that and as simple as that. When he speaks, I listen. I try to experience it, enjoy it and take the advice.

“Non-verbal contact is also contact too. So, when he looks at you, even when you know that you did something wrong, it’s like; ‘Okay, I messed up’, and, basically, you don't want that look [from him] again.”

Sipic and Sostaric on Dule

The go-ahead goal from Croatia against Slovenia came from Sipic, his strike in the 39th minute putting the home side 20:19 ahead and they were not behind again.

And, like Karacic and Glavas, a wide smile envelopes Sipic’s face when asked about Dule.

“He's an amazing person. He's fighting with this injury and playing in a state that I don't know if anybody [else] would play in,” said the HC Kriens-Luzern player in relation to Duvnjak’s injury. “Everybody I know, everybody, wishes they can have a captain like this. You just want him on the field and even without him playing, just having him on the bench means really, really a lot.

“Dule is present all the time because he loves to shout and scream, so whatever happens, he's screaming,” adds Sipic, who won the hummel Player of the Match award against Slovenia. 

“Sometimes, you don't know if you did it good, if you did it bad, but you know that Dule is screaming and you just know how much it means to him, how much he loves this team, this game and this country.”

Right wing Mario Sostaric, crowned ‘Super Mario’ inside the Arena Zagreb, also underlined the importance of the player from the bench, despite his injury.

“Domagoj Duvnjak is one of the greatest in this sport,” says the player, who was born in Slovenia, but who now represents Croatia after switching countries back in 2022. “He motivates, he plays when he can, he limps into the game and I take my hat off to him. Just his presence on the bench means a lot, but when he enters the court and the Arena explodes, it gives us all even more power.”

A long relationship nearing the end

Having played alongside Dule for Croatia across three decades, Karacic is, perhaps, best-placed to give an insight into his teammate and friend with their journey together coming to an end soon.

“I'm almost 20 years in this national team,” he explained to ihf.info. “When I started, it was 2005 and it was some tournament for some new generation (of players) and then, in 2006, Duvnjak and me won the Europe Championship (the U18 continental event where they beat Denmark for gold in Tallinn, Estonia where Duvnjak was top-scorer, All-star Team member, MVP and led the assists charts too).

“So, it's sometimes difficult when you know that maybe it's your last game and you want to give everything just to be in this game, to feel it again, this energy, this hall that is just cheering for you. It's really difficult to describe.

“But, for Dule, he's the captain, he's the leader and he's the soul of this team. In these moments like he cannot help us 100%, but he knows this, and everyone knows this. However, he is with us, with a lot of advice, with energy, with everything, and in some crucial moments, in some really difficult moments, he just calls me and says, ‘Kara, please do this, this, this’ and that's good.

“It's a mix, 50/50,” smiles Karacic, when asked about if what Dule says to him is good or bad. “Against Iceland, it was really, really good things, but against Slovenia, he looked at me like maybe 10,15 times, just like, with an ‘oh’ expression and I thought ‘that’s not good’ so, I said ‘OK coach’.

“But he’s my friend and my teammate. He can be whatever he wants. If he wants to be a coach. He can be a coach. If he wants to be a leader. He can be a leader.”