2021 has been a year of change for Xavier Pascual Fuertes. The legendary Barça coach ended a 12-year association with the Spanish champions, but not before delivering one of the best seasons in club history. Barça won all the games they played throughout the Spanish league, the Spanish Cup, the Spanish Super Cup and last, but not least, the EHF Champions League Men.

In an unprecedented streak, Barça swept their opponents on the way to their 10th trophy in the European premium competition, going on a 20-game winning streak, including a superb 36:23 win against Aalborg Håndbold in the final. However, after winning over 60 trophies with Barça, it was time for a new challenge for Pascual, who decided to sign for Romanian champions C.S. Dinamo Bucuresti.

Building a new team in Dinamo is probably the greatest challenge in Pascual’s career, who has also signed to coach the Romania men’s national team for his second stint in this position. The big challenge is to bring the former world champions back to the IHF Men’s World Championship, a feature Romania achieved only twice in the past 28 years.