After 57 Years, the Club That Produced Kuzmanović and Raužan Shuts Down
Handball Club Polet from Stančić ceases to exist, having also nurtured numerous other professionals whose first steps were guided by current Gorica coach Matej Mišković.
Handball Club Polet from Stančić ceases to exist, having also nurtured numerous other professionals whose first steps were guided by current Gorica coach Matej Mišković.
After more than half a century, a unique sports story comes to an end in the Brckovljani municipality. Handball Club Polet from Stančić announced on August 5, 2026, that it will cease to exist from the next season, closing the doors of a breeding ground that gave Croatian handball its national team players Dominik Kuzmanović and Zlatko Raužan.
The club bid an emotional farewell to its followers, fans, and friends. "With heavy hearts and tears in our eyes, we inform all followers, fans, supporters, and friends of Handball Club Polet that from the next season, our club will no longer exist," reads the club's statement, as reported by City Portal VG.
Polet was founded back in 1969 in Stančić and, over more than half a century, wrote numerous beautiful stories, especially in the younger age categories. "The most successful generation was the boys born in 2002 and 2003, who won several consecutive Croatian championship titles-first in mini handball and then in full-size handball," the club emphasizes.
It was this generation that produced two Croatian national team players, Zlatko Raužan and Dominik Kuzmanović, as well as several other players who went on to have professional careers. Their first handball steps were guided by Matej Mišković, who had to end his playing career early due to injury and began his coaching career right at Polet. Today, Mišković is the coach of Gorica.
The club points out that Polet proved that even a small club, with very limited resources, could compete on equal footing with the biggest. "It's hard to accept that our beloved club will no longer exist. That we will no longer gather in the stands and cheer at the top of our lungs for our Polet, the way only we knew how. It's hard to accept that the club that brought us together, that made us friends, godparents, and one big family, will be gone," they said in their farewell message.
The closure of the club after 57 years filled with handball represents a great loss for the entire region, as well as for Croatian handball, which received players ready for the biggest stages from this small town.
