Abstract On a sample of 180 handball players divided into 3 subsamples number 60 participants each, who belong to the I, II and republic handball league of Serbia,a system of 9 variables (6 motor and 3 cognitive) was applied with the aim of determining the statistically significant relations between the system of variables of motor and cognitive variables. The data were processed using a canonical correlation analysis. Using Bartlett’s Chi-square test for handball players of various ranks of competition we tested the statistical significance of the coefficients of the canonical correlation which explains the linear combinations between the groups of variables, that is, the connection between two systems of variables. By solving the characteristic equations of the cross-correlation matrix we obtained, as the roots of these equations, the coefficients of the determination of the canonical correlation for I league handball players (Rc2=.23, Rc2=.10, Rc2=.08), for II league handball players (Rc2=.24) and national level handball players (Rc2=.23). By analyzing the obtained canonical factors of both groups of variables we may say that the cognitive mechanisms have a certain significance for achieving success in handball, at the level of concrete, individual and isolated motor and cognitive abilities, and thus of the greatest importance for handball in general, irrespective of the level of the competition and level of success. A further more detailed study of the connection between the effectiveness of the parallel processor which is responsible for the visual spatialization and the factor of the structuring of movement is needed. Key words: handball, intelligence, motor skills
