BIOGRAPHY
Anja Andersen is widely recognised as one of the best female handball players of all time and indeed, in 1997, was named IHF World Player of the Year. She was known as a creative, aggressive attacking player, who later became a very successful coach.
It was arguably not until her mid-20s that Andersen really made an impact in the handball world. She played for a series of Danish teams as a young player, before moving to Norway and Bækkelagets SK in 1989 for the first of two stints there. In the same year, she made her senior national team debut; she would go on to play 133 games for Denmark and score 725 goals.
The renaissance of the Danish team began in the early 1990s and Andersen was a core part of the squad throughout that decade. The team qualified for their first World Championship in 15 years in 1990, finishing 10th, but at the following edition in 1993 Denmark won silver, only their second international medal.
At the inaugural EHF EURO in 1994 Denmark picked up gold, and during Andersen’s time on the squad, they would add further titles at the Olympic Games and world and European championships. The Atlanta 1996 Olympic gold medal was particularly notable, as it was the first time Denmark had qualified for the tournament and they came back from a four-goal deficit in the first half to defeat the Republic of Korea in overtime. She was named All-star left back of the tournament.
Andersen was forced to cut her career short in 1999 due to a heart problem. Bækkelagets retired her jersey, number 11, but kept her on as a coach for a year. In 2000, Andersen went to Danish side Slagelse, where the ‘dream team’ she built won the EHF Champions League three times and the Danish league three times.
She went on to coach teams including the Serbian national team in 2006 and Viborg’s men’s team, before finally stepping away from the sport in 2015.
