Coach: Alberto Suarez Menendez

 

Key Players: Daniel Dujshebaev (Left Back), Jaime Fernandez (Left Wing), David Fernandez (Right Back)

Qualification information: 3rd Place, 2014 EHF Men’s European Championship 18

History in Tournament: 2005: DNP, 2007: 7th, 2009: 6th, 2011: 2nd, 2013: 4th

 

 

Spain have a good history in the IHF Men’s Youth World Championship, celebrating 10 years at Russia 2015. 

Having competed at four of the five past tournaments, their best-ever result was a silver medal in Argentina in 2011 where they lost in the final to Denmark 24:22, despite leading at half-time by four goals (17:13).

Last time around, at Hungary 2013, they had a fourth-place finish, after losing in the semi-finals to eventual winners Denmark and the 3/4 Placement Match against Germany, again, despite leading at half-time.

For Russia 2015, they are again lead by Head Coach Alberto Suarez who has had some impressive results with Spanish handball at its grassroots level.

He was responsible for leading the 1992/93 generation to the silver medal at EHF EURO 2010 and that silver at Argentina 2011. But they went one better at the U20 Men’s EHF EURO in 2012, winning gold by beating Croatia in the final.

 

He also lead the U21 squad to a silver medal at the last IHF Men’s Junior World Championship in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2013 after his side lost to Sweden in the final 28:23 and bronze at the 2014 EHF Men’s European Championship 18 in Poland where they lost in the semi-final to France but beat Denmark in the 3/4 Placement match.

 

Suarez, who has been with Spanish Handball Federation since 2008, has coached the youth team in 74 matches and juniors in 32.

 

Spain will leave from Madrid for Russia on 3 August after playing an impressive 10 warm-up games.

These games included two warm-up matches in Poland, against the hosts on the 24 and 26 July where they won 29:19 and 27:23 whilst using a 5-1 defensive formation.

 

Following these games they then went to Qatar for a four-nation tournament where they beat Serbia (26:19), Tunisia (25:18) and Qatar (24:20) with coach Mendez not only making decisions regarding his final squad for Russia, but “providing them with many not only sports but also social and cultural experiences that enriches them much in their growth and training,” he explained.

 

The initial stage of selection for his squad and many others was the EHF European Open Championship which took place in Gothenburg in Sweden at the end of June, early July and featured other teams bound for Russia including Sweden, Iceland and Russia.

 

Spain took the bronze medal in the tournament, despite losing against their fellow Russia 2015 group members Iceland, 28:27 in the main round.

 

The provisional 28-man squad, submitted at the beginning of July includes a famous name with Daniel Dujshebaev, son of the legendary Talant Dujshebaev. Dani, as he is known, is a left back for FC Barcelona and has made eight

international appearances so far.

He was one of the top scorers in their preparation games and along with Jaime Fernandez, the Ademar Leon left wing and David Fernandez, the BM Nava right back, Spain should not be short of goals in Russia.

You can follow the Spain Men’s U19 Youth team on social media using the Spanish Handball Federation twitter account, @RFEBalonmano or their Facebook at www.facebook.com/RFEBalonmano. 

For Russia 2015 they are using this hashtag #HispanosJuveniles. You can also follow their players on Twitter too - Xoan M. Ledo: @xoan_16_ledo, Xavi Castro: @_xavi_5, Dani Dujshebaev: @dani_dujshebaev and Kauldi Odriozola: @kauldi4. Coach Suarez is also on Twitter too: @asma1963.

 

Group at Russia 2015: 

Group B: Egypt, Norway, Venezuela, Germany, Iceland, Spain

Games at Russia 2015: 

Saturday 8 August:          ESP-EGY (16:00)

Sunday 9 August:          ISL-EGY (18:00)

Tuesday 11 August:          ESP-VEN (10:00)

Wednesday 12 August: GER-ESP (18:00)

Friday 14 August:          ESP-NOR (14:00)

 

Squad