Ambros Martin, one of the most decorated coaches in women's handball, will return to Spain for the first time in 11 years, immediately taking over the Spain women's senior national team.

Martin, who has previously coached two other national teams, Romania and Russia, winning the bronze medal at the 2019 IHF Women's World Championship with the latter, will take over Jose Ignacio Prades, who will continue as an assistant coach. 

"I have been away from Spain and from my family for many years, and it was time to return. Last night I could not sleep, thinking about what to say here because I am a man who does not like words and only does the job," said Martin at the unveiling press conference, according to the official website of the Spanish Handball Federation (RFEBM).

"I am competitive to the maximum level. I have lived every day with teams and players of great quality, and this has made me improve, and with the Spain national team, we have to change the term' obligation' to "hope" because there is a lot of hope to reach the highest possible ceiling."

A former left wing, Martin started his coaching career at Naranco Oviedo, but his first major position was at SD Itxako Navarra, a true powerhouse in Spanish handball, where he won the Women's EHF Cup and played the final of the EHF Champions League Women.

After eight years at Itxako, Martin moved to Györi Audi ETO KC, where he led the team in its most successful period, winning the European premium competition four times, in 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2018, as well as securing the Hungarian title five times and the Hungarian cup five times.

He was also named the All-Star coach in the EHF Champions League Women in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 before moving to Rostov-Don, where he also made the EHF FINAL4.

As a national team coach, Martin had two stints in Romania between 2016 and 2019, and in Russia, in 2019, where he won the bronze medal at the 2019 IHF Women's World Championship.

"I like to plan everything, to leave nothing to chance, I am aware of my limitations, and I try to work on them, but I am as competitive as possible. Since I'm going to be demanding before we start training because the players must understand that the only objective for which they are called up is because we want to win it," said Martin.

Spain will now be looking forward to the 2023 IHF Women's World Championship, where they qualified after a hard-fought battle with Austria in the play-offs of the European Qualification, with a 54:52 aggregate win.

"We have been working for some time to improve, to provide the Guerreras with the best and the best, and finally, we have managed to get Ambros Martín to return to Spain. We are now reinforcing with the arrival of Ambros Martín, who we hope will be a turning point for our team so that they continue to improve," added Francisco V. Blazquez, the President of the RFEBM.

Surely, a place among the top teams at Denmark/Norway/Sweden 2023 will be one of the big objectives for Martin, as well as taking a chance to be present at the Olympic Qualification Tournaments for Paris 2024, a competition which Martin earmarked as a challenge, as he has never led a team at the Olympic Games before.

Photo: RFEBM / J.L. Recio