Handball has been definitely on the rise in Slovakia in the past few years, hosting the IHF Women’s Youth (U18) World Championship in 2016 and the Men’s EHF EURO 2022. 

With progress in mind and younger generations coming of age in both men’s and women’s national teams, Slovakia made a step further and decided to think outside the box by hiring Jorge Dueñas as the women’s senior national team coach.

Duenas, 59, is a long-tenured Spanish coach, who has started his career in 1995, spending years at club level in the domestic league, before being offered the coaching position at Spain’s senior national women’s team.

He won the bronze medal at the 2011 IHF Women’s World Championship, two silver medals at the EHF EURO in 2008 and 2014 and the bronze medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games, before switching to Brazil’s senior national women’s team in 2017.

A member of the IHF Commission of Coaching and Methods, Dueñas has also worked with the International Handball Federation analysing the matches from the most important international competitions.

"It is an honour for me. The offer came as a surprise for me, but I decided to accept it because there is a perspective of improvement. Slovakia have players at a good level, not the highest, but surely everything can be improved,” said Dueñas.

With an experienced coach at the helm, Slovakia want to kick start their ambitious plan to build a team that can qualify for the major tournaments. Currently, Slovakia have been present at two IHF Women’s World Championship editions, first in 1995, when they finished 12th, and then in 2021, when they finished 26th.

At Spain 2021, Slovakia secured three wins, after finishing last in the preliminary round in a group with Germany, Hungary and the Czech Republic, losing the final of the President’s Cup 21:23 against Angola.

“We need to improve our defence and play a more modern handball in attack. It is a challenge, but Slovakia have the advantages to meet these goals and reach a level that will allow us to participate in the major tournaments on a regular basis,” added Dueñas. 

The Spanish connection is not a first for Slovakian handball, which is trying to apply some of the principles used by ‘Los Hispanos’ and ‘Las Guerreras’, as they have also named Fernando Gurich Mina as the Technical Director of the Slovakian Handball Federation (SZH) in October 2018.

Gurich Mina is also building the men’s teams future for Slovakia, being the head coach of Slovakia’s youth national team since March 2017. Dueñas will also take up a role in developing young talent for the future, as he will work closely with other coaches to create a better pipeline of talent for the future.

“We have signed a contract for three years with Jorge Dueñas and the agreement is that he will not only coach the women’s senior team, but he will also work with youth and junior teams, participate in the education of our next generation and at the same time create a system for women's handball.

“Of course, our cooperation with the Spanish Handball Federation also played a role, as did the fact that our sports director is the Fernando Gurich, so it was logical to combine these interests. I am personally looking forward to working with Jorge and I believe in her joint successes,” said SZH Vice-President Ernö Kelecsényi.

Dueñas will make his debut as Slovakia’s national team coach in February, during a training camp, which will be held from 18 to 20 February. The first official games will be on 3 and 6 March, against Portugal in the EHF EURO 2022 Qualification Phase 2.

Slovakia’s path to the final tournament in Montenegro, North Macedonia and Slovenia is difficult, as they are third in the standings of Group 5, with Hungary and Spain leading with four points. Dueñas will face his country’s team on 20 April in Mihalovce.

Header photo: Slovakian Handball Federation