Over the years, men’s handball in Norway has been further developed, steadily and step by step, but nevertheless the team of Coach Robert Hedin has not been able to overcome the biggest hurdle – stepping out from the shadow of the Norwegian women’s teams.

At the World Championships in Croatia, it was a matter of seconds that led to the national team of Norway missing out on the semi-finals, at the EHF EURO in Austria the team ranked 7th and ranked 9th at the 2011 World Championship in Sweden – a quantum always seemed to be missing barring them from entering the ranks of the world leaders.

But the qualification to the EHF EURO 2012 in Serbia, the Norwegians performed strongly, losing only one match against the Czech Republic, and became the dominant group winner.

In the high north much importance is attached to the promotion of young people, for the lack of internationally competitive clubs has led to the individual strongly trained players to move swiftly abroad with priority to Denmark or Germany.

An exception to this is the fast left wing Havard Tvedten, who accumulated several years in Spain, where also back court player Christoffer Rambo is now under contract.

Playmaker and defence speciallist Börge Lund and pivot Bjarte Myrhol play for Rhein-Neckar Löwen. In goal, Ole Erevik is a strong substitute for injured Steinar Ege; moreover Kjetil Strand has been played more forward over the past years.

After the World Championship in Sweden and after missing the chance to participate in the 2012 Olympic qualification tournament, the Norwegian have one goal in Serbia.