My career

Research has shown that most of the readers first look at the photo, the title and then the subtitle, i.e. that which is printed out in larger font. If they find it interesting, they read on.

In 2013 alone, Domagoj Duvnjak was Bundesliga MVP, member of the tournament team of the World Championship in Spain, has won the Champions League with Hamburg and the bronze medal with Croatia at the World Championship. If this would be the subtitle of this story, then the title must be: Best in the world!
Mathematics is an exact science, and anyone who has been adding up that which is written in the ‘subtitle’, had to have come up with the same title. Being selected as the handball player of the year in 2013 according to the IHF, the International Handball Federation, an expected result after all the trophies and awards during the year, made Domagoj immortal. He became one of the chosen few, and only the true greats of world handball belong there.

Domagoj showed a lot of promise as a kid, but even then his on-court contributions were significant. It was clear that the kid was phenomenal, that he was going to make something of himself. He confirmed that when he put on the jersey of the Croatian youth national team. Croatia was the best at the European Championship, and championship MVP was none other than Domagoj. A year following the youth national team and excellent games with the Đakovo jersey on his back, he already became a member of the junior and the senior national team.

He replaced the jersey of his hometown club Đakovo with the one of the powerful Zagreb. Even then Domagoj was neck-to-neck with other Croatian handball greats.

Then came the senior national team. His first goal at a major tournament came against Spain at the 2007 World Championship, and his first medal a year later at the European Championship in Norway (silver), and at the 2009 World Championship, played at home in Croatia, when the silver medal ultimately hung around his neck, the great coaching legend Spaniard Valerio Rivera 'gave him the gold':
'Duvnjak is the best in the world'.
Four years after the World Championship in Croatia Domagoj was crowned as the best handball player in the world. In the meantime, there were two other European Championship medals with Croatia (silver in Austria in 2010 and the bronze in Serbia in 2012), a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics, and bronze at the World Championship in Spain.

At only 21 years of age, he joined Bundesliga, the best league in the world. He went all the way with Hamburg and ended Kiel’s domination. What stood out:
'Domagoj leads Hamburg to the German national championship'.
Before that, he took the German Cup and the Supercup two times, and in 2013, he became the European Champion with Hamburg. With 11 goals in the semifinal, Domagoj brought down Kiel, and was then the deciding factor in the Cologne final against Barcelona.

If you can’t beat them, make them join you. The richest clubs wanted to get him. His priority was to play in the best situation, with the best players, with the toughest competition, where the arenas are full. That is why stayed in the Bundesliga. Today he is in the mighty Kiel.
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