“No fear” – Rito and Cape Verde look to main round
20 Jan. 2025

Despite losing their first two matches, against European powerhouses Iceland and Slovenia, Portuguese coach Jorge Rito is enjoying his time with African side Cape Verde at the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship.
On Monday (20 January) they play Cuba in their final preliminary group clash for a place in the main round, with the winners moving into the last 24. And with a much better goal difference – plus goals scored and conceded – a draw will be enough for Rito’s side and their pre-tournament goal of reaching the next stage will then be achieved.
“For us, it's a final,” said the 62-year-old to ihf.info about the upcoming game. “We think we can beat Cuba, but I think that Cuba are thinking the same about us. It’s an opponent who can fight and win but we must show that we are stronger. It will be a very good game, a nervous game, of course, because we want to go to main round.
“You get nervous a little bit,” he added about his own feelings. “I'm not super ego, but at this moment we have a little nervousness, but it’s okay, I like these games.”
Rito took over the team in 2023 with a wealth of coaching experience in his native Portugal, including spells with club sides ABC Braga, Sporting Lisbon and others, plus experience with the Portuguese national youth teams.
Cape Verde is his first role as a senior national team head coach and he is the third different coach for the nation in what is their men’s world championship appearance after a covid-affected 2021 debut followed by qualification through to 2023.
Leading Cape Verde two years ago was coach Ljubomir Obradović, and before taking the role he has now, Rito spoke to the Serbian about what to expect.
“Obradović is my friend, and they did a good job at the African championships and also the last World Championships under him,” explained Rito. “I know him well because he worked in Portugal a lot of time, but he did a very, very good job with this team, and I must continue this job.
“I had never coached or work in Africa, in handball, never and for me, it's a challenge, a big challenge. Maybe, I am the oldest coach here in the world championship, but I don’t feel old, I feel young and, most importantly, I feel that I can help these players and if they think that I'm I can be useful for them then it’s okay, I am here to help them and to improve Cape Verde handball.”
While Rito does not win the prize of being the oldest coach at Croatia/Denmark/Norway 2025 – that honour goes to the Iceland coach of Germany, Alfred Gislason at 65 years old – he takes pleasure in the continued improvement of his team, a team which has impressed him since taking over two years ago.
“Since I began to work with these players, I have looked a lot about what they have done with their previous coaches, and I try understand about how I can help these players play better, because each player has their own, individual characteristics, and my job is help each player improve.
“For example, against Iceland, in our first game, we had 20 turnovers and then, against Slovenia, we just had 10 – this is a big difference, which makes a big difference in the game, but it needs a lot of work. Of course, it's, in part, the mentality of the players, most of whom are in a world championship for their second time.
“Every day, every game is an experience for us to improve our game, to take it to the next step,” he added. “Against Slovenia, our offensive game was more organised, had more concentration and the frequency of attacks were better. But I'm conscious that we have a lot of work to do. We can be better than we were against Slovenia and it’s my job to do that when we play Cuba.
“Our athletes are physical and very, very strong. They have no fear, they fight, they want to work and have a very, very big motivation. As a coach, it's fantastic to work with these players and that’s why I’m happy, very happy.”