Adriana Prosenjak (born 12 July 1963) is a Croatian former

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

coach and player. Considered a legendary player and a celebrated name in Croatian handball, she was the goalkeeper and the first captain of the

Croatia women's national handball team The Croatia women's national handball team is the national handball team of Croatia. Competitive record Champions Runners-up Third place Fourth place Olympic Games World Championship ...

. She was named the best handball player in Croatia in 1993.

Biography

She was born on July 7, 1963, in

Labin Labin (Italian language, Italian/Istriot language, Istriot: Albona) is a town in Istria, west Croatia, with a town population of 5,806 (2021) and 10,424 in the greater municipality (which also includes the small towns of Rabac, Rabac-Porto Albona a ...

Istria Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; ; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian: ; ; ) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. Located at th ...

. She started playing at 10 for her hometown club

ŽRK Rudar Labin ŽRK Rudar Labin is a Croatian women's handball club based in Labin. It was established in 1954. It plays in the 2. HRL West. Several notable players from the club went on the play for the national team, both Croatia's and Yugoslavia's. The playe ...

, and went through all the selections at the Istrian club. With Labin's first team, she managed to get promoted to the

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First League ( Bosnian: Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, sr-Cyrl-Latn, Прва савезна лига у фудбалу, Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, , , , , ) was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) ...

. After playing for the ''swans'', she moved to ŽRK Lokomotiva Zagreb. At Lokomotiva she won the

EHF European League The EHF European League is an annual men's handball club competition organised by the European Handball Federation (EHF) since 1981. It is the second-tier competition of European club handball, ranking only below the EHF Champions League. Previo ...

and the last Yugoslav Championship before the dissolution of the country. She spent 11 years at Lokomotiva, where she also won a Croatian Championship and a Croatian Cup in 1992. She then moved to Sweden and Austria and ended her career at ŽRK Đurđevac, where she started her coaching career. After Đurđevac, she coached Varaždin,

Salerno Salerno (, ; ; ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Campania, southwestern Italy, and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after Naples. It is located ...

Pula Pula, also known as Pola, is the largest city in Istria County, west Croatia, and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, seventh-largest city in the country, situated at the southern tip of the Istria, Istrian peninsula in western Croatia, wi ...

Umag Umag (; ; ) is a coastal town in Istria, Croatia. Its patron saint is Peregrine (martyr), St. Peregrine. Geography It is the westernmost town of Croatia, and it includes Bašanija, the westernmost point of Croatia. Demographics According to the ...

, and, from 2013 to 2019,

ŽRK Zamet ŽRK Zamet (Ženski rukometni Klub Zamet) is a women's handball club from Rijeka, Croatia, formed in 1957. The club currently competes in the Croatian First League (women's handball), Croatian First League and the Croatian First League (women's h ...

, winning two Croatian Cups and finishing second in the 2014–15 1 HRL. In 2020, she came back to her hometown Labin, to coach the local Labin School of Handball. She also played for Croatia, of which she was the captain ever since the national team's first international appearance. She took part with Croatia in two

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

and two

European championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

. She won the

1993 Mediterranean Games The XII Mediterranean Games, commonly known as the 1993 Mediterranean Games, were the 12th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Languedoc-Roussillon, France, from 16 June to 27 June 1993, where 2,598 athletes (1,994 men and 604 women) fr ...

with Croatia. She played a total of 45 games for Croatia's national team.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prosenjak, Adriana Croatian female handball players Yugoslav female handball players Living people Sportspeople from Labin 1963 births