While the Olympic Games in 1992 took place in Barcelona, Spain have never hosted a Women's World or European Championship – until now. This year, they finally got a chance to welcome the women’s handball flagship event.

In the preliminary round, the home side played all three matches in Torrevieja, a city with a population of around 90,000 on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, and they will also stay there for the main round.

Between 2,000 and 3,000 spectators have attended Spain's matches at Palacio de los Deportes de Torevieja so far, and obviously, the vast majority loudly cheered for the home side, so 'Las Guerreras' have enjoyed a lot of support.

But does it only help the team, or is there a downside as it also puts a lot of pressure?

"We don't feel any pressure. I think it's just the opposite. It's a relief, because we have families and friends in Spain, and when things do not go well for some reason, they will always help to get through the difficulties," said head coach Jose Ignacio Prades.

"Our feelings are special, because we play at home and feel the heat of our crowd. It's very important for our way of playing, for the intensity that we've been demonstrating here. It's very rewarding to play in your home country with all the audience cheering for you. The atmosphere at the arena is just genial. We are very grateful to our fans for creating it," he added.

While this is a debut major tournament for Prades at the helm of the national team, experienced right wing Carmen Martin has performed at a number of European and World Championships, as well as at the Olympics, and playing at home also gives her some extra energy.

"A World Championship is always a World Championship, you want to be on top no matter where it is held, but this tournament is really special. We are extremely happy to play at home and feel support of the public, it's an amazing experience" said the 33-year-old, who is currently Spain's top scorer at the event with 16 goals.

During the games, Spanish fans burst into applause after any Spanish goal or goalkeeper save, and Martin says that it really gives the players a boost.

"The audience help us a lot, they give us confidence and make us fight more and more on the court," she says.

In other circumstances, Martin's family would have been happy to attend the matches, but given the COVID-19 situation, they decided not to go to Torrevieja.

"Especially for my parents, it's safer to watch the games from home," the player says.

"In the team, we also try to be careful. We can leave the hotel and walk, but we try not to. We keep the distance from other teams and always wear masks, as we don't want to ruin what we have already done and make some bad things happen."

Spain topped Group H, winning all their matches against the People's Republic of China, Argentina and Austria, and carry four points over to the main round, where they will face Japan, Croatia and Brazil.

While the team is in a good position to fight for a quarter-final berth, Martin prefers not to look far ahead.

"Right now our goal is to beat Japan, which is a very good team. And then we'll go step by step."

Two years ago, and notably in Japan, 'Las Guerreras' showed their best result at the World Championship, earning silver. Winning the trophy in their own country would be the next step in their development, yet Prades is cautious in his expectations.

"Even at home, it's very difficult to win a title. There's a number of teams who always go for it, like Norway, France and Russia, and some other sides like Netherlands, Germany or Sweden have also been doing very well. But I hope that we will fight for the medals," said the coach.

Regardless of the team's final placement, Martin thinks that the current championship will boost the development of women's handball in Spain.

"In fact, it's quite a big sport in our country, but maybe there's just less publicity compared to other countries. But I hope that it will increase now, as the World Championship has drawn a lot of attention," she said.

Photos: RFEBM / J. L. Recio