In the Gull family, handball runs through the veins. It is impossible not to have seen Eric, the father, play for club or country. He wrote history in Argentinian handball, becoming the first player from the country to feature and win the IHF Men’s Super Globe, in 2010, with Spanish powerhouse Ciudad Real.

He was also one of the most selected Argentinian players in history and an icon of the sport, featuring at the IHF Men’s World Championship in six different editions while playing 137 matches and scoring 349 goals for his national team.

The right back was also named the Argentine Athlete of the Year in 2003 and 2004, an astonishing award for a handball player delivering some excellent performances over his career. In fact, alongside Diego Simonet, Gull is widely considered as the greatest handball talent Argentina have ever produced in their history.

After his retirement, the former right back remained close to handball, more so after his children started forging a path for themselves. Sofia, his daughter, has already represented Argentina at the 2022 IHF Women’s Youth World Championship. And now Juan, his son, is on Argentina’s roster at the 2023 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship.

“What I remember from my father’s career is just a few matches in Qatar, when he was playing for Al Sadd, and his stint at Ciudad Real, but I was very, very little. I knew, however, that handball was going to be a huge passion for me because I started when I was four or five years old,” says Juan Gull.

Handball could not have started differently, though, for Juan, whose first steps were at Asociación Alemana de Cultura Física de Quilmes, the same club his father featured for at the start and at the end of his star-studded career.

The 19-year-old left back has already earned plaudits for his physical qualities, his strong shot and handball IQ, which he definitely inherited from his father.

“From what I can remember, my father was always my model. I think he taught me a lot. However, there is still a long way to go before reaching the level he had in his career, or beating that level, because he had a very successful career, and it is difficult to replicate that,” adds Gull.

“I am very, very happy that my parents introduced me to handball since I was a little boy because I now cannot imagine how life looks without handball. This is an excellent sport, one that I am very happy to play.”

 

 

The next step for Juan’s development was to exit his comfort zone and try to improve in a different league. While Eric Gull moved from Quilmes to Brazil in 1997 and featured for two clubs, Santo André and São Caetano, Juan has decided to play for powerhouse Esporte Clube Pinheiros, a team which represented the continent at the IHF Men’s Super Globe in 2011, 2017 and 2021.

“I think I am growing a lot in my current club. I feel excellent both in the group and as an individual in my training sessions. I think it is an excellent moment to improve, and I found the right fit for myself,” says Gull.

But what are the targets for the future? Juan has laid out his plan for becoming even better and improving himself. “Of course, the target is to go to Europe and play in a good league. Why not the Bundesliga? I love the handball played there,” says the Argentina men’s youth team’s left back.

As Gull himself admits, one of his favourite players is Denmark’s Simon Pytlick, who was the breakthrough star at the 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship, his emergence on the biggest of stages, which also earned him a place in the All-Star team at Poland/Sweden 2023, helping Denmark seal a gold medal.

But back to the 2023 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship, where Argentina secured a win against the United States of America (33:21) in the first game of the competition before saving a draw against Saudi Arabia (29:29) in the second game.

That means that the South American side, continental champions, need to limit the damage against Germany in the last game, as they hold a 23-goal advantage over Saudi Arabia before the last day of the preliminary round.

“Playing for Argentina, for the national team, is something amazing, something that you cannot describe in words. There were a lot of sacrifices made to play in this shirt, and whenever I put the shirt, with blue and white, it feels like the dreams you had as a child are fulfilled,” adds Gull.

Photos: Croatia 2023/Kolektiff images