“It is a big challenge for me, personally, but also for the team, because we are now at the point of a major reconstruction, with plenty of players from the previous squads who have either retired or are injured at the moment.
“But I am ready, I am honoured to be in this position and I really think we can do better in the future. This is the plan for the medium to long term, I think the first results will be seen in three or four years,” says Gurich Mina before his first true challenge as Slovakia’s coach.
For the qualification round 2 of the EHF EURO 2024, Slovakia have been assigned to Group 2, alongside Norway, Serbia and Finland, with the top two teams from each group progressing to the final tournament in Germany, as well as the four best third-place teams.
With a young side, Slovakia will need all the help they can get, therefore facing Norway in an away game and Serbia on their home court to start the competition will be a challenge.
“Norway and Serbia have the potential to be one of top eight teams in the world at any given time, so I think we will be the underdogs, but it is an interesting position to be in and we will try to give our best in these matches,” says Gurich.
His appointment completed a 100% pivot towards Spanish coaches for the Slovak Handball Federation, as Jorge Duenas was named the Slovakia women’s national team coach last autumn.
The former Spain and Brazil national head coach has already made his debut in the position and will try to enhance the potential of the team in the next years.
“I am sure that Jorge will improve the team, there is no doubt, because he has a lot of experience and a lot of quality. Myself? I do not know about this, let’s see, I do not want to talk about myself, but, of course, I want to do a good job,” says Slovakia’s new coach.
Spanish coaches taking over Europe
Gurich is only one of the plethora of Spanish coaches that have been appointed for teams in central and eastern Europe, as Spain’s success in handball over the last years really convinced federations to move that way.
“Los Hispanos” secured the EHF EURO title both in 2018 and 2020 and were silver medallists this January, at the EHF EURO 2022, while Barça won back-to-back titles in the EHF Champions League in 2021 and 2022, underlining just how successful Spanish handball is right now.
Over the past two years, several countries moved in that direction, with Romania pioneering that approach when they appointed Xavi Pascual in 2016. The former Barça coach had a two-year stint in that position, but came back in 2021, when he also took over Dinamo Bucuresti.
Serbia’s fortunes were vastly improved after missing the cut for the 2021 IHF Men’s World Championship, with Toni Gerona taking over, while Czech Republic have also appointed Xavier Sabate last year.
After a disappointing campaign in January, at the EHF EURO they hosted, Hungary replaced Istvan Gulyas with his assistant, Chema Rodriguez, who has also won the EHF European League Men with SL Benfica last season.
“I think this is a testament to the great work that is being done in Spain, especially in the coaching department, where many coaches work hard to get their licence and improve,” says Gurich.
Adding Jordi Ribera, Spain’s national team coach, the tally of Spanish coaches at men’s national teams improves to six, while others, like Juan Carlos Pastor, Antonio Carlos Ortega or Alberto Entrerrios feature in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League.
In total, seven of the 16 teams featuring in the European top flight are led by Spanish coaches, or an outstanding 43.5%, which really puts everything into context.
“When talking about Xavi Pascual, for example, he is an institution, basically, he has won everything there is to win, over 60 titles at Barça. The others are also very, very experienced, I am just a novice, a rookie, it is very difficult to be in the same conversation.
“However, I will do my best to try and secure the best possible results for Slovakia, which I have been working for over the last five years. At the junior and youth level, I think we are set up pretty well, now we only have to translate this to the senior level,” concludes Gurich.
Photo credit: slovakhandball.sk
