It all runs in the family. If you tuned in to the IHF Men’s World Championship over the past eight editions, you surely have seen the name Feuchtmann mentioned. The Chilean family is a staple in domestic handball, being synonymous with the South American side’s appearances in the world handball flagship competition.

“My father started it all. He was the one who inspired the rest of the family to try to become professional players in Europe. Then my older brother continued the tradition. Then we all played, my brothers and my sister, Inga, who was the first professional handball player in Chile,” says the only member of the Feuchtmann family, Erwin, representing Chile at the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship.

“When my brother went to play abroad, he inspired all of us to do it,” adds Feuchtmann, who played in Germany, Romania, Türkiye, Austria, France and Spain, currently plying his trade in the French league at Fenix Toulouse, where he signed in 2021.

During their first appearance at the IHF Men’s World Championship, all three Feuchtman brothers – Emil, Harald and Erwin – were on the court. But as time passed, only the younger of the three, Erwin, is still in the squad, as Chile saw a big rebuild of their squad, as their main players become older and older and eventually had to retire.

“The other day, I was talking to a teammate, and I told him that I love playing handball, I love it, I love playing, I love competing. So I live this experience with a lot of excitement, with a lot of desire to improve what we have done in other editions of the World Championship and with passion, which I think is what characterises us,” adds Feuchtmann. 

Croatia/Denmark/Norway 2025 is the seventh edition of the IHF Men’s World Championship where Feuchtmann is featured in the Chile squad, missing out only on Qatar 2015. However, he is the joint top scorer of the South American team in the competition, with 242 goals, as he had at least 25 goals in each of the editions he featured in.

Two years ago, at Poland/Sweden 2023, he had his best performance, scoring 54 goals, being only six goals shy of the top goal scorer award, secured by Denmark’s stalwart Mathias Gidsel. At Denmark/Germany 2019, he finished seventh, with 46 goals. Two years later, at Egypt 2021, his 49 goals were enough for the fourth place in the top goal scorer standings.

Him and Rodrigo Salinas, who featured in all of Chile’s appearances at the IHF Men’s World Championship, are currently tied on 242 goals, needing only eight goals to hit the 250-goal mark, an outstanding contribution and efficiency for a player from a team which never made the main round, heading to the President’s Cup in every appearance.

“My goal is to remain in the history of our team. It’s a healthy competition with Rodrigo Salinas, but, of course, we want the team to do good and win some matches. We are not going to win the World Championship, but we want to do as good as possible and inspire more and more children to take up the sport,” adds Feuchtmann.

Of course, Chile have never finished higher than 16th place at Denmark/Germany 2019 and with the current crop of players, without such experience like the previous generation, things will probably get worse before they get better. However, Feuchtmann, as well as the Salinas brothers, are still there to inspire children play handball in the South American country, being the models the young aspiring future professionals need to continue their journey.

“I feel, I think I even have more excitement than some young players on the team. I feel more excited than in my first World Championship, it is incredible. Our target is to improve more and more, learn something in every edition of the competition we are in,” adds the Chile back.

“Our history is short compared to Spain. Spain has been playing for how long? 100 years? Or Brazil, or Argentina from our continent. Our goals seem a little humble, they seem like little things. But I think they are super realistic.”

That goal, currently, at the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship is to progress to the main round, for the first time in Chile’s history. For that, Chile will have to win either against Japan or against Sweden, with the former match being the key one, considering that the Asian side has a new, inexperienced team.

“It is going to be a tough game and we need more than we managed to do against Spain, because we can’t afford any mistakes in that match,” adds the Chile player.

At 34 years old, Feuchtmann is still brimming with confidence, playing with a smile upon his face. He is happy. He feels happy. And he wants to be doing this as much as possible in the future.

How many editions of the IHF Men’s World Championship has he got left?

“I do not know, to be honest. As long as this body lets me enjoy it. Until it tells me to stop. That is my goal,” concludes Chile’s back.