The Portuguese international Francisco Costa, from Sporting, was chosen as the second best young handball player in the world, also winning the choice of best right back, in a survey promoted by a website of the modality, it was announced this Thursday.
Francisco Costa, 17, son of coach Ricardo Costa and brother of fellow international Martim Costa, established himself as the best right-back against Mads Hoxer Hangaard (Aalborg Handbold, Din), Emil Wernsdorf Madsen (GOG, Din) and Zoran Ilic ( Veszprem, Hunnic).
In the World’s Best Young Player category, Francisco Costa lost by one point to 22-year-old Swedish international Eric Johansson, who moved from Norwegian club Elverum Handball to German THW Kiel in the summer of 2022.
Francisco Costa was one of the outstanding players of the 2022 Under-20 Euro Cup, in which Portugal won the silver medal, having been the top scorer in the competition, with 58 goals scored in seven games, and also the best right back.
Last season, which was a good memory for the athlete born in Vila Nova de Gaia, also marked his debut with the main team, with Francisco Costa scoring six goals in two games for the ‘quinas’ in qualifying for the 2023 World Cup .
In all the club competitions at the service of Sporting (national championship, Portuguese Cup, Super Cup and Europa League), the Portuguese international scored an impressive 263 goals in 48 games.
The only Portuguese awarded with the World Young Handball Planet award from the Handball-Planet.com website. until now it had been the central defender Luís Frade, from FC Barcelona, in the 2020 edition.
The jury team was made up of journalists from various European countries, who chose the 28 named players, and the choice was made by visitors to the Handball-Planet.com website, whose vote was included in the final result, with more than 40 thousand votes.
List of winners by category
On the left: Samuel Zehnder, Sui (TBV Lemgo, Ale).
Left side: Eric Johansson, Sue (THW Kiel, Ale).
Central: Tobias Grøndahl, Nor (Elverum, Nor).
Right side: Francisco Costa, For (Sports).
On the right: Hákun West Teigum, Far (Skanderborg, Din).
Pivot: Theo Monar, Fra (Nantes, Fra).
Goalie: Viktor Hallgrimsson, Isl (GOG Handbold, Din).
Source: TSF
