
A January to remember: Croatia’s true heroes revel in the chance for a new gold medal
February 1, 2025
Unity Arena sold out on 2nd of February
February 2, 2025As the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship says goodbye to Croatia, one of the three co-hosts of the event, ihf.info pays tribute to those who make the event happen – the volunteers.
In total, Croatia received over 400 applications for volunteering roles at the three venues in Zagreb, Varazdin and Porec and by the end of the Croatia part of the IHF Men’s World Championship, well over 10,000 volunteering hours had been recorded in the country.
Magdalena Tuđa and Katarina Bižanović from the Media Team at the Arena Zagreb caught up with four of their colleagues around the venue to see what goes on behind-the-scenes.
Ira Đurđek (18 years old) – Audience Guidance Team
Even though Ira is currently in the process of finishing High School, she still found the time to volunteer at the IHF Men’s World Championship, especially because she likes handball and would like to stay connected with sports.
“I have been training in synchronised ice-skating since I was four, I also did dance and trained briefly with handball in primary school,” she explains. “That is why my first choices for universities are physiotherapy and sports management. This volunteering helped me see behind the scenes what the entire process of organising the IHF Men’s World Championship looks like and how all the logistics work.”
The Audience Guidance team are the closest to the fans coming to the arena and in constant communication with them. They have to help them find their seats, be available for any information needed, and get to know the arena by working in a different sector each day.
“The best part of this volunteering is that I met new people,” she says. “I got a chance to take pictures with my favourite players, but, most importantly, I made new friends and I hope that these friendships will last.”
Antonia Barišić (24) – Team Guide: Argentina
Team Guides are a bridge between the organisation side of the event and the teams competing. The role includes being with the national team 24/7, helping them to prepare their daily schedule, making sure there are no overlaps.
During games, Team Guides are not only cheering for their team, but they also make sure that the protocol is on schedule and everything goes smoothly.
“On a daily basis I usually deliver them the schedule for the day that includes their meals, training sessions and games. I also make sure to reserve the time slot for the trainings, room for the meetings and, in general, help them with the technical nature of organisation,” so Antonia about her role.
She also shared with us how the usual day looks like for team guides, especially when it is game day.
“In the morning, we go to the gym and they would be in groups of two. Each group has a schedule of 30 minutes. After that, we go to get lunch and before the game, they would have a meeting and watch the videos of their opponents (video analysis). I am not present at those meetings.
“Usually, we go to the arena two hours before the game so that they have time to prepare and after the game, we have dinner, and in case they won, we would hang out together.”
Antonia said she really enjoyed her time with Argentinean team since they were very positive, easy going, not very picky and a cheerful group. In case of any injuries, team guides would be the contact with the doctors and accompany them to hospital.
“We were in the contact with the team the most,” she said. “So that meant we had phone numbers of everyone; security, transportation, hotel stuff, doctors, police, etc.”
About this experience Antonia said that she is still not aware what has happened, as the day and night job has, so far, not given her time reflect.
“I have been talking to the other Team Guides, and we all agreed that we feel like we are in a bubble and that we do not have a touch with reality since we have experienced the championship very closely and from the inside,” she says with a smile. “But I am so glad I had an opportunity to be a part of this and grateful for all the people and players I have met during this time.
“It was so inspiring to meet also the other volunteers, some of them were working or studying during the championship and they still had time and energy to make sure everything is working, not just smoothly, but perfectly.
The Team Guides role was a mixture of fun and responsibility since they were representing the organisation, but also Croatia, not only as a co-host country, but Croatians in general.
Danijel Vukov (45), Accreditation Team
The Accreditation Centre was working every day with volunteers there having to distribute the accreditation not only to the press and photographers, but to everyone involved that we don’t see, such as security, those working in anti-doping centre, volunteers and food control, for example.
They had to make sure everyone is registered in the system and if there were any mistakes, to correct them as fast as possible and print new accreditations.
“I have volunteer for more than 15 years, it’s a way of life,” said Danijel. “During volunteering I had an opportunity to meet amazing people from different backgrounds and ages. My favourite memory is that. Even though we didn’t know each other, I was in a team with a girl who is 16-years-old, we didn’t have any problems and everyone was included equally.”
Karla Mikulić Jelić (26), Media Team
Karla decided to join the Media Team after one of her friends that she met during volunteering at another sport event sent her the application – even though she already works two jobs and has a tight schedule.
“After the first game I knew it was a right decision,” she says. “It’s something that I like so it didn’t matter to spend extra hours at the arena instead of using that time to hang out with friends or work on myself.
“Everyone asked me why do I want to volunteer, but to me it’s clear, I gained so much from it, from friendships, to experiencing situations you can’t in real life or your standard job.”
Karla expressed gratitude to all other her fellow Media Team volunteers, since the team was working together, covering each other if someone could not make it. She is quick to point out that collaboration in the team was great as well, regarding the tasks they had to do each day.
“The best memories for sure is when Croatia was playing; the quarter-finals I don’t even have to explain,” she says. “The amount of the emotions and how everyone managed to deliver tasks on time in that stressful and emotional atmosphere was amazing.”
The daily tasks of the Media Team were different depending on the sector you were working in.
Volunteers had different tasks at the Media Centre where they had to be available to the media at any time, from 12pm to 12am. The Media Centre is connected directly to the Press Conference room, so volunteers there were working closely with not only the Media Centre but also had to prepare everything for the Press Conferences after each game, making sure that the players and coaches who have to be there come in time.
A lot of statistics are also involved with the Media Team. Before games, volunteers have to pick up and deliver the list of starting players plus during half-time and at the end of the game, they again pick up the statistics, print them and distribute to the commentators on the first floor, journalists on the third floor and those in the Media Centre.
2025 IHF Men’s World Championship – Croatia Volunteers
- Three venues – Zagreb, Varazdin Porec
- 400+ applications received
- All volunteers went through an application, selection and training process which included over seven hours of educational programmes. These included online training, workshops on teamwork, working in a stressful environment and on-site training related to volunteer work
- Zagreb: 144 volunteers – team headed by Ivana Aničić
- Varazdin: 92 volunteers – team headed by Nino Lilić
- Porec: 98 volunteers – team headed by Siniša Vernik
- Volunteers from all over Croatia, plus Slovenia, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland and Germany
- Numerous handball clubs provided volunteers, including: HC Dinamo Zagreb, HC Rugvica, HC Maksimir Pastela, MHC Sesvete, HC Pavleki, HC Orahovica, HC Slavonka Nova Gradiška, HC Buzet, WHC Trešnjevka, WHC Poreč plus those from HC Sisak, who travel by train every day to volunteer
- Volunteering teams include: Media Team, Audience Guidance Team, Sports Team, Logistics Team, Animation Team, Anti-Doping Team, Accreditation Team
Fun Facts
- Two volunteers are sisters and members of the Croatia Beach Handball national team who won bronze at the 2024 EHF Women’s Junior European Championship, another is a member of the women’s younger age Croatian national team
- Two sisters and one brother from the same family are in the volunteer team in Zagreb, plus two twin sisters
- Volunteers in the Media Team are students from related faculties, while volunteer throughout the wider team are from the ‘UniSport HR system’ (organised and implemented by the Croatian Academic Sports Association), i.e. volunteers who have already participated in the organisation of major sporting events in tennis, water polo, rowing, martial arts and many others
- Official 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship mascot ‘Foxy’ was worn by 10 different volunteers in Zagreb