Doha: The incredible story of success had its initial point in Malmö, Sweden, in January 2011, when Dr Hassan Moustafa, President of the International Handball Federation (IHF), announced the host for the Men’s 2015 World Championship: “It’s Qatar!”
The bid of the Qatar Handball Association (QHA) had been successful, leaving their competitors France, Norway and Poland behind – by the decision of the IHF Council. From one second to another, Qatar started its engines, not only on organisational ground, but also on the court.
Awarded to host the event was the starting whistle mainly for the main man behind the scenes, Mohamed Ahmed Al Shaabi, the President of the QHA. The federation had a long-term plan to implement the best ever Qatar handball team to play an integral role at the “home matches” in January 2015.
In January 2011, the man, who now is in charge for the team now, could not imagine how his life would change later: Valero Rivera.
At the 2011 Men’s World Championship in Sweden, he took his first medal as coach of the Spanish national team, leading it to the bronze medal in Malmo. Before, he had already become the most successful handball coach in history, leading FC Barcelona to an overall of 70 trophies including five titles in the EHF Champions League. But his biggest success so far was still to come: In 2013 Rivera became the mastermind for the Spanish World Championship title, on home ground, in Rivera’s hometown Barcelona, clashing Denmark in the final.
Only a short time later – in February 2013 – Rivera’s phone rang. It was the QHA, first congratulating for the title, then asking, if he wanted to become Qatar’s coach.
It took Rivera only some weeks to think it over then he agreed in April 2013. Five month later, he took over the Qatar team – which since then climbed the ladder of success in a never expected way.
“This decision, to join the QHA, was the best in my life. If I had not agreed, it would have been the biggest mistake in my whole career,” Rivera said later, adding: “To work with the national team under the great leadership of Mohamed Ahmed Al Shaabi is a great task and I feel happy and honoured every day to train with those players.”
Rivera mostly worked on the physical conditions, the defence and the discipline – and his players understood his words.
So far, the Qatar team has played 20 matches with Rivera as a coach – test matches and official games – and only lost two encounters, including a close defeat against reigning Olympic and European champions France. In official matches, Qatar is still unbeaten, since Rivera’s era had started.
Thanks to a huge number of training camps and tests in Europe – mainly in Barcelona and France – his players clearly improved in all departments.
In addition, Rivera (awarded IHF World Coach of the Year 2013) added fresh blood to the team – thanks to the highly successful QHA youth programme, shifting youth and junior teams to Asian titles and great results at Younger Age World Championships.
Rivera’s first major success was the maiden Qatar title at Men’s Asian Championships, beating host Bahrain in the final in Manama in February 2014, finishing the tournament with an unbeaten record after an unlucky silver medal in 2012.
“Thanks to the great support of the QHA I can prepare the national team nearly like a club team. We are together for long periods, which means that the team is perfectly rehearsed, though we know that still some work is ahead prior to the World Championship on home ground,” says Rivera.
The next major step towards Qatar 2015 were the Asian Games in Incheon. Again, Qatar won all preliminary matches and the semi-final in style, making it to the final against host Korea. And again Qatar achieved the gold medal by defeating hosts by 24-21. This result again meant making history, as Korea had not lost a single match at home since the final of the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul against the USSR(32-25).
With the final steps of preparation ahead, the pressure is rising, but Rivera and his players know to cope with it.
In the final stages Rivera has nominated 22 players, from which he must select 16 for the preliminary round of the World Championship, which Qatar starts with the opening match against Brazil on January 15.
In addition, World Champion Spain (Rivera’s previous team), Slovenia, Belarus and Chile are Qatar’s opponents.
The each first four teams of all four groups qualify for the eighth-finals – and it’s Rivera’s great goal to be among those.
“This would mean the best result ever at World Championships for Qatar, and I am confident that we can manage it.”
Rivera’s contract with the QHA expires at the end of the World Championship, but it was already discussed to extend it until 2016, with the great goal to qualify for Olympic Games in Rio.
THE PENINSULA
