Thursday 12 September 2024 – SPORTEL Awards, the international cultural event celebrating the best of sport and champions, is today unveiling the 2024 Lifetime Sport Achievement Award.
Nikola Karabatic, who has just completed his sixth Olympic Games aLer Athens (2004), Beijing (2008), London (2012), Rio (2016) and Tokyo (2021), will be honoured in Monte-Carlo on Monday 28 October 2024 during the SPORTEL Awards ceremony taking place at the Grimaldi Forum.
Best handball player in history, the left-back, who has won 61 club titles, including three in the Champions League, 22 in the national championship (including 16 in France and 9 with Paris Saint-Germain) in 23 professional seasons, who is now 40, has recently retired after competing at the Paris Olympics.
Born in Serbia on April 11, 1984, Nikola Karabatic quickly demonstrated a natural talent for his passion, handball. He joined the Montpellier training centre in 2001, played his first match for the professional team at the age of 17, and won the 1st Champions League for a French club in 2003. After four seasons in Germany with THW Kiel, where he dominated the Bundesliga thanks to his exceptional performances (a total of 306 goals in 49 games in his first year), he moved back to France in 2009. His talent and popularity continued to increase, and he soon became a firm favourite with the fans. After two seasons in Catalonia with FC Barcelona, Karabatic signed with Paris Saint-Germain in 2015.
This wonder boy, blessed with incredible technical skills and a rare vision of the game, is the most successful player in world handball history, with 11 titles in the French national team: three-time Olympic Champion, one silver medal, four-time World Champion, four-time European Champion and a total of 17 international medals.
Three-time named Best Player of the World by the Interna6onal Handball Federa6on and 2011 Champion of Champions by L’Équipe newspaper, the French international with 364 caps and 1,303 goals will be receiving the Lifetime Sport Achievement Award during the SPORTEL Awards ceremony.
‘We are very proud to host Nikola Karabatic in Monaco, who has been proving for over 20 years his exceptional talent on the world stage. This charismatic player has left an indelible mark on the biggest clubs in the world where he has performed. His physical strength, technical ability and tactical intelligence have all made him a complete and versatile player. We’re going to honour this special champion, and the SPORTEL Awards Lifetime Sport Achievement Award will be a wonderful tribute to his remarkable career,’ said Marine Picoulet, Head of the SPORTEL Awards.
After Didier Deschamps in 2018, Alain Prost in 2019, and Katarina Wie in 2023, Nikola Karabatic unanimously recognised as the G.O.A.T. of Handball, will be honoured in Monaco for his immense talent and exceptional career.
