Mikkel Hansen (born 22 October 1987) is a Danish former professional handball player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest handball players of all time, Hansen has won the IHF World Player of the Year a record-tying three times.

Career

He was voted as the IHF World Player of the Year in 2011, 2015 and 2018 by the International Handball Federation. He joined FC Barcelona Handbol in June 2008. He previously played for Danish Handball League club GOG, with whom he won the Danish championship in 2007. On 2 June 2010, he returned to Denmark to play for AG København after two years of playing in Spain. After two years and two championships, the club folded in 2012 with Hansen joining the newly formed French team PSG Handball. He played for PSG for ten seasons before going back to Denmark and Aalborg Håndbold. Mikkel Hansen is an Olympic Champion, a World Champion, and European Champion with the Danish national team, winning the 2016 title in Rio de Janeiro, the 2019 title in Denmark, and 2012 title in Serbia. He was also selected into the All-Star team of the tournament as the best left back. In 2011, he was a part of the Danish team that finished second in the World Championships in Sweden. He was the tournament's overall top goal scorer. In 2019, he led Denmark to their first-ever World Championships win. He became the top scorer and MVP of the tournament. Later, that same year, he was named the best in the world for the third time of his career. In 2021, he yet again won the World Championship with Denmark and was selected both as the best left back and as MVP. In the 2020 Olympics, where Denmark got a silver medal, he was again chosen as the best left back, and he became the top goal scorer with 61 goals. With those 61 goals, he broke the record of most scored goals in one men's olympic handball tournament. During the tournament, he also became the number one goal scorer ever in the men's handball olympics, with a total of 165 goals. In April 2024 Hansen announced his retirement from handball during the following summer

Personal life

His father, Flemming Hansen (handballer, 1961), played for the Danish national handball team, where he played 120 national team matches, scored 240 goals, and participated in the 1984 Summer Olympics. He married Stephanie Gundelach in 2020. The couple have two sons, Eddie Max born in January 2019, and Vince born in May 2021.

Individual awards

Major tournament statistics

Honours

Club

International

International goals