Coach: Claudio Lira Mendiguren

 

Key Players: Ignacio Porta Jorquera (Centre Back), Matthias Canton Maingon (Goalkeeper)

 

Road to Qualification: 3rd – Pan-American Men’s Youth Handball Championship

 

History in Tournament: 2005-2009: DNQ, 2011: 16th, 2013: 24th

 

Overview:

 

Playing in a confederation dominated by Argentina and Brazil, Chile have been forced to focus on contesting the bronze medal at the Pan-American Men’s Youth Handball Championship for several years, making them almost the perennial third-placed team at the tournament. 

 

They participated in their first Men’s Youth World Championship in 2011, held in Argentina, where they finished 16th, before taking part again at Hungary 2013 and ranking 24th. 

 

Chile qualified for Russia 2015 with their fifth third-place finish at the Pan-American Men’s Youth Handball Championship and the tournament in August will be the South American side’s third appearance at the Men’s Youth World Championship. 

 

At the 2015 Pan-American Men’s Youth Handball Championship Chile lost their first two matches, against the region’s dominant teams, Argentina (19:15) and Brazil (37:18). They then went on to defeat Colombia (35:25) and Ecuador (42:22). Venezuela recorded wins and losses against the same teams, and so the final clash between Chile and the hosts of the San Cristobal-held tournament became a crucial one that would decide the bronze medal – though both teams had by this stage secured their spots in Russia. 

 

Nevertheless, Chile won decisively with a 13-goal scoreline (36:23), adding another bronze medal to their cabinet. 

 

Key players during the qualification stage were centre back Ignacio Porta Jorquera and goalkeeper Matias Canton Maingon. 

 

Claudio Lira Mendiguren is the coach for the Chile youth team, with Fernando Luis Capurro overseeing all of Chile’s men’s and women’s national teams since 2010. 

 

Group at Russia 2015: 

Group A: Hungary, Sweden, Korea, Poland, Chile, Serbia

 

Games at Russia 2015:  

All times local

Saturday 8 August:         KOR-CHI (14:00)

Monday 10 August:        CHI-HUN (18:00)

Tuesday 11 August:       POL-CHI (20:00)

Thursday 13 August:      SWE-CHI (16:00)

Friday 14 August:           CHI-SRB (16:00)