“The team had not had success in the last Olympic cycle. So what are people going to do? Well, listen to you. It was my advantage,” Juan Carlos Pastor recalls on the other end of the phone about his arrival on the bench of the Spanish handball team in November 2004. However, the coach signed as interim, just two months before the World Cup that was going to be held. in Tunisia and only until the appointment was over. His arrival also left a point of controversy because the hiring took place in the middle of an electoral process in the federation and the candidate Jesús Fernández, who had an agreement with Valero Rivera, revolted: “It doesn’t seem honest to me,” he complained to the decision of the president at the time, Jesús López Ricondo.
The team had just finished seventh in the Athens Games, so only the most optimistic could foresee that it would end up giving the great world coup to North Africa at the beginning of 2005. It was the first gold of Spanish handball, of which it is now 20 years old. years. It had been a decade since he had collected his first medals, he had won two European silvers (1996 and 1998), a continental bronze (2000), and two Olympic bronzes (1996 and 2000), but he was missing the top. And he achieved it in a World Cup. A milestone that ended up elevating illustrious names: David Barrufet, Jota Hombrados, Mateo Garralda, Rolando Uríos, Alberto Entrerríos, Juanín García, Iker Romero or Demetrio Lozano, among others.
“It was also one of the last opportunities for certain players. The locker room asked for freshness, but of course, you always need a good result at the beginning so that they follow you faithfully,” admits Pastor, who was 36 years old at the time and replaced César Argilés in office. “It did mean a change for us, although a positive one. The Games had not gone well for us and we were looking forward to something new,” admits Barrufet, the second handball player with the most international caps (280, behind Raúl Entrerríos’ 294), who was caught by that Tunisian feat in the final stretch of his time in the national team (1990-2009).
People said that my system was only valid for Valladolid. And we show that not
Juan Carlos Pastor, former Spanish coach
“They catch me because I play differently,” says Pastor, today in charge of the Egyptian team. “People said that my system was only valid for Valladolid [donde llevaba desde 1995] and that this could not be exported. And we show that it is not. It’s true that I also had a lot of help from the players. From the beginning, they did everything we wanted and the captains, Mateo Garralda and David Barrufet, had everyone squared away,” points out the coach, the banner of what has been known as the Valladolid handball school. “I saw it as a train that passes in life, and it was confirmation in my career and that my method worked outside. Then many people have copied it, although the details are given by each coach,” he points out.
Since the two preparatory friendlies against Russia, the feelings pushed in favor. In the first phase of the World Cup, Spain only lost one match, against Croatia, the Olympic champion, and just barely (31-33). “We saw that we were close,” Pastor emphasizes. In the second phase, however, the problem came after drawing with Serbia and Montenegro (28-28). “We were in the stands watching Croatia-Serbia two hours before facing Norway,” Barrufet remembers. “We needed the Croatians to win and they did it by one [24-23]and then we win [31-24]”. This is how the team reached the semifinals, for which there was no longer any brakes. They defeated the Tunisian hosts (30-33) and in the fight for gold, against Ivano Balic’s Croatia, the great festival (40-34).
It was a very comfortable final, we were able to enjoy the game, the last 15 minutes we already knew we were winning
David Barrufet
“It was a very comfortable final, we were able to enjoy the match, the last 15 minutes we already knew we were winning,” Barrufet celebrates. “I think they came out confident,” says Pastor. The 30-18 score midway through the second half turned the outcome of a final into a happy downhill one in which Juanín García scored 11 goals. Curiously, in Spain’s second World Cup gold, in 2013 in Barcelona, the title match against Denmark also ended in a defeat (35-19).
Many of those players who inaugurated the gold medal in Spanish handball are coaches today: Chema Rodríguez (with Hungary in this 2025 World Cup), Alberto Entrerríos, Garralda, Rubén Garabaya, Iker Romero and Mariano Ortega, among others. “No one thought as a technician then. But many revalued themselves after that World Cup, they changed teams, improved their contracts and relaunched their careers,” warns Juan Carlos Pastor, who, of course, stopped being interim and extended his period in the national team until 2008, with a European silver. in 2006 and the Olympic bronze in Beijing 2008. Then, yes, Valero Rivera arrived.
