For the seventh time in a row, Chile are present at the IHF Men’s World Championship, a streak dating back to 2011, when the South American side first announced themselves to the world of handball.

Back then, the side was hardly known, but featured players like the Feuchtmann brothers, Emil and Erwin, line player Marco Oneto and a young stalwart right back who went by the name of Rodrigo Salinas Muñoz.

Salinas, a player with a powerful shot but and an excellent eye for creating chances for his teammates, was a player with a huge upside but limited experience, having just made the first steps in Spain, where he signed for Escubal Badajoz.

12 years later, the 33-year-old Salinas is Chile’s captain, has scored 230 goals at the IHF Men’s World Championship in his career and is the only player from the South American side to have featured in Chile’s roster in every edition of the IHF Men’s World Championship.

He finished in the top 10 goal scorers in three editions of the competition, including fourth place at Qatar 2015 when he scored 52 goals. At Egypt 2021, he was also the eighth-best scorer with 38 goals. But how does Salinas cope at Poland/Sweden 2023?

“In fact, it was on a knife’s edge. I never had an injury in my life, but last year I had to undergo two surgeries on my meniscus and I was close to losing the chance to play in the World Championship. I would have been devastated, to say the least. But I tried to be back in top form. I had some pain before the start of the event, yet immediately after the matches started, it disappeared and I was back at full strength,” says Salinas.

Unfortunately, his 11 goals in the matches against the Islamic Republic of Iran, Spain and Montenegro did not help Chile to secure their first-ever main round berth. They lost by a single goal against Iran, 24:25, in the opening match and by only two goals against Montenegro, 33:35.

It seems like no matter how hard they try; they will fall short again after two years. They missed the cut due to a 29:32 loss against North Macedonia in the last match of the preliminary round, where Salinas scored seven goals.

“Losing a chance like that is surely painful. Because you have it in your hands and then it is just gone. Against Iran, we were very, very close, we were even leading, but eventually the points went to them. And we are now in the President’s Cup, trying to win the matches we have and end the competition on a high,” says Salinas.

His journey has been amazing, from a young and inexperienced player to one of the best scorers in the tournament in the last decade, rivalling the likes of Mikkel Hansen.

Now at his seventh edition of the IHF Men’s World Championship in his career, Salinas is enjoying himself and is in a select company of players who have played more times in the tournament than he has. France’s Nikola Karabatić has nine editions under his belt. At the same time, Mikkel Hansen, Niklas Landin, Hans Lindberg, Joan Cañellas and Domagoj Duvnjak are at the world handball flagship competition for the eighth time.

“Yes, it is amazing to say it and even to feel it. Just remembering the first World Championship is something that gives me goosebumps, because I was just a kid, had little experience and I was feeling amazing. Now I am the captain of the team and I am trying to help my younger teammates to deliver their best performances,” says Salinas.

“We have nice memories at the World Championship and we want to create more and more, so hopefully the Chile team will become better in the future.”

However, Chile underwent a serious makeover, with a coaching change last autumn, as Mateo Garralda left to take over the Egyptian club Zamalek. He was replaced by another Spanish coach, Aitor Etxaburu, who is at his first major international tournament.

“Of course it was difficult, but the transition was somewhat smooth because Aitor [Etxaburu] is also a Spanish coach, knows us quite well and he had some experienced players at his disposal who are featuring in European clubs. So we tried to make the best of this experience and went with the flow,” adds Salinas.

Now 33 years old, Salinas is still playing at a good level for Spanish outfit Bidasoa Irún, who is featuring in the EHF European League Men, the second tier of the European club pyramid. In the domestic league, Salinas has scored 23 goals despite playing only six times due to his injury.

But what does the future hold?

“Well, I will not say that I will take part in the next World Championship editions, that is for sure, but I would certainly like it if I am still playing well and delivering good performances. Why not? Maybe I would play in two more editions if everything is ok,” says Salinas.

As the captain, he is also responsible for integrating new players, as Chile lost some stalwarts like Marco Oneto. At the same time, experienced back Emil Feuchtmann is 39 years old now and is closer to the end of his career than the start.

“Let’s see how the future looks, but I think Chile have a future in handball because there are still a lot of young, talented players that are emerging,” concludes Salinas.