• Chronicle. Handball things: Spain trains against the amateur Uruguay

  • Next match. Spain is already in the quarterfinals and now ... to be beaten?

Not so long ago,

Rubén Marchán

played for his

hometown

team, Manzanares, in the First Territorial Division, that is, in the fourth category of Spanish handball.

Malagón, Pozuelo de Calatrava, Pedro Muñoz, Almagro, Madridejos ... every Sunday in a town in Castilla-La Mancha while he was looking for a job to give himself to.

Today, however, at 27 years old, he is the starting pivot of the selection that next Sunday could win his third World Cup.

From one moment to the next, there are a couple of surprise calls, an 'express' professionalization, the decline of

Julen Aguinagalde

and, ultimately, a very strange path that make him the exception in Spain.

The rest of his teammates were formed at Barcelona, ​​Ciudad Real, Granollers or Ademar, they were international in youth and mostly play abroad.

Marchán, none of that.

It is quite the opposite.

His story begins at age 20 with something of a miracle.

One who knew another, who spoke of his 2.04 meters and 120 kilos of weight and ... 'ring, ring'.

"I was playing in my town, with my friends, and suddenly the Ciudad Encantada de Cuenca, from Asobal, called me to sign me. They never explained very well why, but I think that, since I was playing against their subsidiary, they saw me in some party and they thought I could help them. Today's Asobal is not a shadow of what it was, but it also changed my life, "explains Marchán, who then had a rather modest termination clause.

Manzanares asked Cuenca for 3,000 euros for their training rights, the Asobal team refused to pay them and the negotiation ended at an intermediate point, it is assumed.

The arrival of Marchán to the elite was a success, so much so that he scored 45 goals in his first year, so much so that he signed for Benidorm the following summer, so much so that in the end he received a second call.

At the age of 25, in 2019, the former coach

Manolo Cadenas

offered him a position at Ademar and the pivot thus promoted to Europe, to the national team.

Just two months ago he made his debut with Spain and for the World Cup.

He did not even have time to live with his new companions.

"The first days of the tournament I was very short. I am the only novelty in a group that has been made for a long time and there are players here that I watched on TV to learn. But they have all welcomed me very well, they have included me in everything, They have helped me a lot, "says Marchán, whose challenge now is to find a place for the Tokyo 2021 Games. Aguinagalde is the only doubt for the Olympic event because of his back problems and, there Marchán is offered, with 10 goals already so far this tournament.

From Manzanares to Japan, what a trip.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • handball

  • Handball World Cup

Handball World CupSpain is already in the quarterfinals: now win to avoid France

Handball World CupSpain suffers the ailments and gives a draw to Brazil

Spain plays it against a strange Germany

See links of interest

  • Work calendar

  • Huesca - Villarreal

  • Rome - Spezia

  • 1. FSV Mainz 05 - RB Leipzig

  • Alavés - Real Madrid, live

  • Elche - Barcelona, ​​live