Žarko Marković

Žarko Marković (; born 1 June 1986) is a Montenegrin-born Qatari handball player who plays for Al Gharafa on loan from Al Rayyan.

Club career After starting his career at Serbian club Jugović, Marković spent three seasons in Hungary with Tatabánya and MKB Veszprém. He later also played for Budućnost Podgorica, Al Ahli Jeddah, Metalurg Skopje, Frisch Auf Göppingen, HSV Hamburg, El Jaish, Zagreb, Al Duhail, Al Wakrah, Al Gharafa and Al Shamal.

International career Youth At youth level, Marković won two gold medals for Serbia and Montenegro. He was a member of the winning squad at the 2004 European Under-18 Championship. Subsequently, Marković helped the nation win the 2005 World Under-19 Championship.

Senior A Montenegro international since its inception, Marković participated at the 2008 European Championship in the nation's debut appearance in major tournaments. He was later omitted from the national team for the 2013 World Championship, before switching allegiance to Qatar. After being cleared to play, Marković made his debut for the Qatar national team at the 2015 World Championship, helping them finish as runners-up. The result was however controversial due to the many naturalized players of Qatar, of which Marković was one of them. According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine, only four of the 17 players in the squad were native to Qatar. The practice was criticised by Austrian goalkeeper after his team's loss to Qatar in the round of 16, saying "It [felt] like playing against a world selection team" and "I think it is not the sense of a world championship." Furthermore there were claims of favourable refereering for the hosts. After the final whistle of their semifinal against Poland, the Polish players showed their discontent by ironically applauding the three referees.

He also won the gold medal at the 2016 Asian Championship and took part in the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Honours Metalurg Skopje Macedonian Handball Super League: 2011–12 Al Duhail Qatar Handball League: 2017–18 Al Gharafa Arab Handball Championship of Champions: 2019 Al Shamal Arab Handball Championship of Winners' Cup: 2020