Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas

Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas
Vargas in 2016
Personal information
Full name Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas Moreno
Born (1991-01-10) 10 January 1991
Toledo, Spain
Nationality Spanish
Height 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club THW Kiel
Number 1
Senior clubs
Years Team
2009–2025
FC Barcelona
2011–2013
BM Granollers (loan)
2013–2014
Fenix Toulouse (loan)
2025–
THW Kiel
National team 1
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2012–
Spain 193 (18)
Medal record
Olympic Games
2020 Tokyo Team
2024 Paris Team
World Championship
2021 Egypt
2023 Poland/Sweden
European Championship
2018 Croatia
2020 Sweden/Austria/Norway
2016 Poland
2022 Hungary/Slovakia
2014 Denmark
1 National team caps and goals correct
as of 13 January 2025

Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas Moreno (born 10 January 1991) is a Spanish professional handball player for THW Kiel and the Spanish national team.[1][2]

Career

Vargas started playing handball at his hometown club Amibal Toledo. In 2007, he switched to FC Barcelona Handbol. In the 2010/2011, he won the treble with the club, with the Spanish championship, Copa del Rey and EHF Champions League.

For the 2011/2012 season, he joined league rivals BM Granollers.[3] Two years after he joined French side Fenix Toulouse Handball on a three year deal.[4]

For the 2014/2015 season, he returned to FC Barcelona to replace Arpad Šterbik.[5]

In February 2025, he tore his cruciate ligament which has kept him out for the rest of the season.[6] To replace him Barcelona signed Vincent Gerard, who came out of retirement to join FC Barcelona.[7]

National team

Vargas debuted for the Spanish national team in 2012 in a 34-20 win against Portugal.[8]

His first major international tournament was the 2014 European Men's Handball Championship. Here Spain won bronze medals. He also represented Spain at the 2015 World Championship.[2]

At the 2018 European Championship in Croatia he won gold medals with the Spanish team.[9] In the last main round game he was injured and could not play for the rest of the tournament.

He participated at the 2019 World Men's Handball Championship.[10][11]

At the 2020 European Championship in Sweden/Austria/Norway he won gold medals with the Spanish team. In the latter he made the tournament All-star team as the goalkeeper.[12][13]

At the 2021 Olympics he won bronze medals.[14]

At the 2022 European Men's Handball Championship, he won a silver medal.[15] He played all 9 games and had a save percentage of 33%.

At the 2023 World Championship he won bronze medals. He also represented Spain at the 2024 Olympics where Spain won bronze medals.

At the 2025 World Men's Handball Championship in a match against Sweden, Vargas showed a high level of fair play, when at the 40 minute mark Hampus Wanne got an incorrect red card for hitting Vargas in the head on a penalty throw, Pérez de Vargas went to the referee to correct him and let Wanne play on.[16]

Honours

  • Catalan Supercup
    • 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

References

  1. ^ "Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas". eurohandball.com. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  2. ^ a b "2015 World Championship Roster" (PDF). IHF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 January 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  3. ^ "Zukunft von Granollers in der Asobal scheint gesichert" (in German). www.handball-world.com. 6 July 2011.
  4. ^ "Toulouse gelingt Transfer-Coup im Tor" (in German). www.handball-world.com. 23 March 2013.
  5. ^ "Relevo en la portería del Barça de balonmano". FC Barcelona (in Spanish). 2 June 2014. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  6. ^ Joachim Glenthøj (17 February 2025). "Emil Nielsens konkurrent har fået bekræftet sin værste frygt". sport.tv2.dk (in Danish). TV2 Danmark. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  7. ^ Rasmus Skannerup Kleis (8 April 2025). "Emil Nielsen får pensioneret keeper som makker". sport.tv2.dk (in Danish). TV2 Danmark. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  8. ^ www.rfebm.com, Match Report Spain - Portugal, 1 November 2012, Read 15. April 2023
  9. ^ "Defensive masterclass leads Spain to maiden EHF EURO title". eurohandball.com. 28 January 2018. Archived from the original on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  10. ^ 2019 World Men's Handball Championship roster
  11. ^ "Abel Serdio y Sergey Hernández descartes de Jordi Ribera". rfebm.com. 29 December 2018.
  12. ^ "Finale der Handball-EM: Spanien gegen Kroatien mit dem besseren Ende im Duell grandioser Deckungsreihen" (in German). handball-world.news. 26 January 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  13. ^ "Hendrik Pekeler in All-Star-Team berufen - Duvnjak wertvollster Spieler" (in German). handball-world.news. 26 January 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  14. ^ "Match Team Statistics: Germany vs. Spain" (PDF). ihf.info. International Handball Federation. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  15. ^ "Men's EHF Euro 2022: Spain". eurohandball.com. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  16. ^ ""I prefer to be faithful to myself, than to live with a bad conscience": Perez de Vargas makes sure that fair-play rules at Croatia/Denmark/Norway 2025". International Handball Federation. 21 January 2025. Retrieved 1 February 2025.