BIOGRAPHY
Croatian goalkeeper Jelena Grubisic is one of the few Hall of Fame members without any international titles - but her career was still extremely noteworthy.
Grubisic began playing handball aged 10 in elementary school and then joined Lokokmotiva Zagreb’s junior ranks, where she moved from being a wing player to a goalkeeper. At the age of 16 she was selected for the first team, and in her seven years with Lokomotiva’s senior side, won the Croatian championship in 2004 and the Croatian Cup twice, in 2005 and 2007.
In 2009 Grubisic was signed by Krim, and spent the next few years juggling her studies with playing in Slovenia’s top club in domestic and European competitions. Krim won five successive Slovenian championships and Slovenian cups in Grubisic’s time with the club.
But Grubisic’s career highlights came in Romania, after she joined CSM Bucuresti. She had had three knee surgeries by this point, but CSM found the form they needed in 2015/16 to win the EHF Champions League - with Grubisic named MVP of the EHF FINAL4 after a superb showing across the semi-final and final.
Grubisic also won the Romanian championship four times with CSM, the Romanian cup five times, and the Romanian Super Cup three times before finishing her career in 2022.
Grubisic played for the Croatian national team from 2005 to 2014, qualifying for world and European championships and the Olympic Games, but never quite winning a medal.
Since retirement, she has acted as an ambassador for the EHF Respect Your Talent programme.
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