“You are crazy people” – Sigurdsson and Croatia squad return to heroes’ welcome in Zagreb

After capturing the hearts of the nation with their 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship silver medal, the Croatian men’s handball team returned home on Monday (3 February) to a heroes’ welcome.

Tens of thousands of fans packed into the central Ban Josip Jelacic Square in Zagreb to welcome the squad back after they were edged out in the final by Denmark on Sunday in Oslo, Norway.

Croatian online sports portal Gol.hr suggested upwards of 40,000 fans were in attendance, while the Croatian Handball Federation said it was closer to 50,000, with them all entertained by numerous bands, singers and speeches as the sun set in Croatia’s capital. Many observers compared it to the scenes that followed the men’s football team return after their silver medal at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

With a team suffering injuries and including three players playing their last national team games – captain Domagoj Duvnjak, Igor Karacic and Ivan Pesic, after making their debuts in the mid-2000s – the world championship was an emotional rollercoaster for all involved.

After playing eight games at home in Zagreb, which included a last-second win against Hungary in the quarter-finals and an impressive semi-final dismantling of France, the team inspired a whole country to get behind them.

Despite that emotional final loss against Denmark, which saw the Danes take an unprecedented fourth, successive title, the Croatian spirits were not dampened – even before the team arrived back home.

Having enjoyed the previous night and morning, with little, if not any, sleep, the entire squad boarded their Croatia Airlines flight, singing and cheering for the whole journey, with their flight becoming the most popular one tracked in the world on the well-known FlightRadar24.com tracking website. Upon entering Croatian airspace, three Croatian Air Force ‘Rafale’ fighter jets escorted them on the last leg home, to Zagreb’s Franjo Tudman Airport.

Just after 3pm the flight touched down and the players – many wearing sunglasses – were then received formally, by the Croatian Minister of Tourism and Sports, Mayor of Zagreb, Mayor of Velika Gorica and the President of the Croatian Handball Federation, Tomislav Grahovac, as well as hundreds of schoolkids chanting their names.

At 4pm the squad then boarded their specially-branded team bus to make the journey to the city square, which had been partying since the early afternoon thanks to performances from Daleka obala, Prljavo kazaliste and the Zapresic Boys, amongst others.

On arriving in the centre of the city around 4:40pm, every single one of the support and coaching staff, plus the players, were introduced on stage, ending with Duvnjak.

On-stage interviews were then conducted, with a shocked Croatia coach Dagur Sigurdsson first. When asked by the interviewer what he thought of the welcome, he succinctly responded: “You are crazy people,” with the crowd greeting this by chanting “o-vdje ni-tko ni-je normalan” (e-very-body he-re is insane) in return. He then went on to conclude his interview by saying “I love you all. I love my team. But I love (Ivan) Pesic the most.”

Duvnjak, known as ‘Dule’, was up next, using the opportunity to thank the supporters for their help in achieving their highest ranking since 2009 and imploring them to keep it up now that he has retired. “This team wouldn’t have made it to the finals if it weren’t for you, that’s for sure,” he said. “Please support these guys in the future, whatever happens. Thank-you Zagreb. Thank-you Croatia.”

“I couldn’t even imagine this many people,” added goalkeeper Dominik Kuzmanovic, one of the key players for Croatia at the world championship. Thank you all for the welcome.”

At this point, Duvnjak asked for another song and so it continued, with Pesic and Ivan Martinovic even getting on the microphone to perform an acapella version of the aptly-named Petkovic song ‘Moj Ivane’ (My Ivan).

Once the on-stage interviews and singalongs were concluded, players took part in media commitments, with over 200 accredited media in attendance, before continuing their festivities and joining up with their family, friends and loved ones.

“I still can’t believe what we managed to do, to have so many people come to one place and support us. It’s really fantastic, I have no words. I’m overjoyed,” said goalkeeper Ivan Pesic, who also announced his international retirement, to national television broadcaster HRT later on.

“We never dreamed that so many people would come. Thank you to everyone, their support throughout this tournament in Croatia meant a lot to us, their non-stop positive energy.”

“Thank you to the wonderful people, the (Croatian Handball) Federation, the guys for letting me experience this at the end of my career,” added Duvnjak to HRT. “This jersey is the most beautiful jersey in the world and I hope that what happened today is an encouragement to young handball players.”

Further city-specific and regional welcomes and receptions are planned over the coming days.