STUDY REGARDING THE VALUE OF THE PLAYERS ANTHROPOMETRIC INDICATORS MEMBERS OF THE ELITE EUROPEAN HANDBALL TEAMS QUALIFIED AT THE FINAL TOURNAMENTS

Abstract

Introduction. Handball players who manage to perform at the highest level have certain specific qualities. Through the results obtained in all world competitions, European national teams are considered the best teams in the world. Aim. The aim is to determine the current trend about the value of anthropometric indicators, primarily the body mass index, and its role in achieving performance. Materials and methods. The data of anthropometric parameters (age, height, weight, and body mass index - BMI) from 966 handball players who participated in 2016, 2018, and 2020 editions of the European Men''s Handball Championship had been analyzed. Next, the finalist and non-finalist teams'' BMI was analyzed, and then its evolution according to playing position. Results. The analysis shows that in the last three editions of the European Championship, an approximately constant value of the studied indicators is kept. The differences between the editions are not statistically significant. The average age is 27 years, the average weight is about 94 kg, the average height is 1.92 cm, and the BMI is 25. The body mass index did not register statistically significant differences for the same playing position in the last three editions analyzed. Conclusions. The data obtained from the study show what the current values of the leading anthropometric indicators of elite European handball players are. These indicators do not play an essential role in ranking in the first positions of the final tournament.