São Paulo – Ten clubs participate in the club world championship in men’s handball IHF Men’s Super Globe 2019 starting this Tuesday (27). Representing South and Central America is these regions’ champion, the Brazilian team Handebol Taubaté (pictured above), from the state of São Paulo. The tournament takes place in the city of Damman from August 27 to 31 and is hosted in Saudi Arabia for the first time.
The other competing clubs are Al Wehda from Saudi Arabia, FC Barcelona from Spain, HC Vadar from North Macedonia, Al-Duhail from Qatar, Zamelek SC from Egypt, New York City Team Handball from the United States, Sidney University Handball Club from Australia, Al Mudhar from Saudi Arabia, ad THW Kiel from Germany.
It’s the first time that ten teams compete in the tournament. The quarterfinals qualification start this Tuesday. On Wednesday (28), the quarterfinals start, including the Handebol Taubaté’s game against the home team, Al Wehda, at 12:15 pm (local time).
Semi-finals will run on August 29, Thursday. The other teams compete a placement round from the 5th to 10th place in August 29 and 30. The medal race occurs on the 31.
This is the first handball world tournament held in Saudi Arabia, after nine consecutive editions in Doha, Qatar. The next three editions of the event will have Saudi Arabia as host and organizer.
“Our goal is to play the semi-finals of the world,” said Marcus Oliveira, head coach of the club Handebol Taubaté in a release on the championship’s official website. Since 2013, the team from the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil has participated in every Super Globe except the 2017 edition. Taubate’s best finish was 5th last year (2018). This year, however, the team have bigger aspirations.
“We have a young but strong team that dreams of making history in the competition. We have a good defensive system that aims to control the depth of our opponent’s game and is based on intercepting balls and creating counterattack possibilities,” describes the coach, also known as “Tatá.”
You can watch the games live inthe championship official channel on YouTube.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
