• World Cup Corrales and Pérez de Vargas, two goalkeepers, two friends, the key to Spain

  • Chronicle.Spain returns to the semifinals

"This has to be a before and after for handball in Spain," claimed

Dani Sarmiento

at the 2013 World Cup.

"This selection has returned to fulfill, now that the public follows us more", asked

Joan Cañellas

together with the 2018 European trophy.

"With all these successes, the situation in our handball should change,"

Álex Dujshebaev

repeated

when he won the 2020 European Championship.

After each milestone of this Spain, and many have gone lately, the same demand resounds, more attention for handball, that the fans, the sponsors and the media of 20 years ago return, but the miracle never happens.

This Friday in the semifinals against Denmark (8:30 p.m., TDP) and, above all, on Sunday if the national team reaches the final, there will be millions of spectators enjoying

Raúl Entrerríos

or

Rubén Marchán

, players from an Asobal League on the verge of bankruptcy .

The reasons are already known: the brick crisis hit the clubs -Ciudad Real, Portland, Teka or Valladolid- and Barcelona remained as undisputed champion.

Only the titles of the most successful generation in history can resurrect Spanish handball, but ... How to achieve it?

“We have to change our mindset and learn to sell our product.

Handball has lived off construction and subsidies and has failed to look beyond the classic shirt sponsorship.

In the clubs we have to start working as companies, dedicate part of our budgets to generate structure, to create areas of development, marketing, communication, social networks ... If the team wins another medal this Sunday, we would have to be prepared to take advantage of it ”, explains

Gurutz Aguinagalde

, knowingly.

Before the coronavirus, the club he chairs, Bidasoa Irún, was the one that grew the most in Asobal, had returned to the Champions League 23 years later and had repatriated Gurutz's brother, Julen, one of the best pivots in history, absent in this World Cup due to physical problems.

His signing underpinned the project and helped weather the pandemic - the club has only reduced revenues by 12% - but it was not used in other cities.

Without media references

“This is what happens: the image of the players who are a reference is not used.

Never.

In the 2013 World Cup we filled the Caja Mágica or Sant Jordi and the following week there were not even 1,000 people in the pavilions.

I have played in France and Denmark and there, when they win a World Cup or a European Championship, the players go to TV, to events with sponsors, they receive a lot of attention.

People know them, value them and that is why they are going to see them, ”explains

Antonio García,

who has lived on both sides.

When he was world champion in 2013, he received more tributes in France, where he played then, than in Spain, where he now competes, a benchmark for Granollers.

Here, he assures, the League lives outside the national team.

«I think the example we should take is basketball.

The interest generated by the selection years ago was used so that several clubs grew and that is maintained now.

We will always be a footballing country, but more things can be done, ”concludes García, whose opinion is shared by the experts.

«Asobal is an unequal league where there are clubs with tradition and a certain structure, such as Bidasoa, Ademar, Anaitasuna or Granollers, which can change things and clubs that need help.

LaLiga, the NBA or the Euroleague have departments that support clubs in many areas, also in matters such as marketing or communication, and that is the model.

In this case, a successful selection could serve for a joint initiative ", analyzes

Carlos Cantó

, CEO of SPSG Consulting and member of the Spanish Marketing Association.

According to its 2020 sports sponsorship barometer, published yesterday, there are no handball players associated with major brands - as if it happens in basketball, tennis, motor ...-, something that should improve with work: “Spanish clubs must rethink many things .

It no longer matters just where the matches are broadcast, you also have to get involved in promoting highlights, in showing the sportsmen's stories ... in short, in modernizing the product and reaching young people.

Handball like this is now facing a new opportunity, perhaps the last, perhaps the penultimate.

After the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games, part of the current generation -Raúl Entrerríos, Dani Sarmiento, Joan Cañellas, Julen Aguinagalde,

Gideón Guardiola, Viran Morros

...- will leave the national team and achieve success, although possible with the leadership of Álex Dujshebaev and

Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas

, will not be so continuous.

If they beat Denmark and stand in the final it will be their third (before, 2005 and 2013) in recent times.

"This has to be a before and after for handball in Spain," claimed Dani Sarmiento when he won the last one.

There is still much to do.

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