Valero Rivera López
| Valero Rivera López | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Rivera in 2014 | |||
| Personal information | |||
| Born |
14 February 1953 Zaragoza, Spain | ||
| Nationality | Spanish | ||
| Height | 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Years | Team | ||
1966–1971 | FC Barcelona | ||
| Senior clubs | |||
| Years | Team | ||
1971–1983 | FC Barcelona | ||
| Teams managed | |||
1983–2003 | FC Barcelona | ||
2008–2013 | Spain | ||
2013–2025 | Qatar | ||
Valero Rivera López (born 14 February 1953) is a Spanish handball coach and former player. He is a world champion from the 2013 World Championship where he coached the Spanish national team. He played for and has coached FC Barcelona and is considered a club legend.[1] In 2012 he was named the best men's coach in the world by the International Handball Federation.[2]
He is the father of fellow handballer Valero Rivera Folch, who he has also coached.
Playing career
Valero Rivera played his entire career for Barcelona. He debuted for the senior team in the 1971-72 season.[1] He played until 1983, and won 8 titles with the club as a player.[1]
Coaching career
FC Barcelona
When he retired at 31 he became a coach at Barcelona, replacing Jordi Petit. He coached the club for 21 years, where they became one of the best teams in the world, winning the EHF Champions League multiple titles. He left the club in 2005. By then he had won over 70 club titles.[3]
Spain
In 2008 he became the head coach of the Spanish national team. His first success was at the 2011 World Championship, where he won bronze medals. A year later he participated in the 2012 European Men's Handball Championship held in Serbia.[4]
In 2013 he became a World champion winning the 2013 World Championship on home soil.
Qatar
Later the same year he took over the Qatari national team.[5] Here he won the Asian championship 5 times in a row from 2014 to 2022.
At the 2015 World Championship he coached the Qatari team to a silver medal. This was the first time an Asian team had reached the World Cup final.[6] The tournament was however marred with criticism of the Qatari team. A large number of players in the Qatar team had been naturalised in the years leading up to the championship. According to IHF rules, to gain eligibility for a new national team, a player cannot have played for another nation for three years in an official match.[7][8] This allowed several foreign-born players, including Spanish-born Borja Vidal, Goran Stojanović and Jovo Damjanović from Montenegro, and Bertrand Roiné who previously played for France, to play for the Qatar team at the championship. According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine, only four of the 17 players in the squad were native to Qatar.[9] The practice was criticised by Austrian goalkeeper after his team's loss to Qatar in the round of 16, saying "It [felt] like playing against a world selection team" and "I think it is not the sense of a world championship."[10] At a press conference during the championship, Valero Rivera declined to comment on the matter.[10] Spanish player Joan Cañellas did not think it was an issue, saying "If they can do it, why not."[8] Furthermore The referees were widely accused of being one-sided in favour of the hosts. Especially at the matches against Austria,[11][12][13] Germany[11][14][15] and Poland.[16][17][18][19] After the final whistle, the Polish players showed their discontent by ironically applauding the three referees.[20][21]
He retired from the Qatari national team in 2023.[22][23]
Private
He has a degree in sport from Instituto Nacional de Educación Física de Cataluña.
References
- ^ a b c "Valero Rivera receives the distinction of Honorary Member of the Handball Section". FC Barcelona. 19 October 2024. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
- ^ "IHF world's best coaches 2012: Rivera and Hergeirsson". handball-planet. 26 August 2013. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
- ^ "Rivera verlässt den FC Barcelona" (in German). Berliner Zeitung. 2 January 2004.
- ^ "Official squad/Delegation list" (PDF). eurohandball.com. 16 December 2011.
- ^ "Rivera: Amtübernahme in Katar kein Karriere-Rückschritt" (in German). handball-world.com. 13 February 2014. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
- ^ "France beat Qatar to win fifth world handball title". Gulf Times. 1 February 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
- ^ "Player Eligibility Code" (PDF). ihf.info. International Handball Federation. p. 5. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
They shall not have played in any national team of another country in the three years preceding their first appearance in the national team in an official match.
- ^ a b "Qatar's foreign legion primed for handball date with Germany". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
- ^ "Falsche Fans simulieren Stimmung" [Fake fans simulate excitement]. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). Frankfurter Allgemeine. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
- ^ a b "Qatar handball team coach faces questions over foreign players". BBC. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
- ^ a b Team, Fans und Schiris gekauft? (German)
- ^ Handball-WM in Katar: Österreich hält sich für verpfiffen (German)
- ^ Österreich von Referees und Katar aus WM gekickt (German)
- ^ Reaktionen auf deutsches WM-Aus: "Man muss aufpassen, was man sagt" (German)
- ^ WM-Aus der deutschen Handballer: "Im Schiedsrichterwesen gibt es Grauzonen" (German)
- ^ Sramotno: Pogledajte trenutak kad su srpski suci pretjerali s navlačenjem za Katar Archived 1 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine (Croatian)
- ^ Polský smutek. Katar je ve finále MS v házené, pomohli mu rozhodčí (Czech)
- ^ Polska – Katar – czemu Katar awansował? Kontrowersje wokół drużyny gospodarzy, nie byli faworytami (Polish)
- ^ Michał Jurecki: Każdy wie, co tutaj się dzieje... (Polish)
- ^ "Radość Katarczyków, Polacy z pretensjami do sędziów". przegladsportowy.pl (in Polish). 30 January 2015.
- ^ "Polish National Handball Team Sarcastically Applauds Officials After Controversial Loss to Qatar". thebiglead.com. 31 January 2015.
- ^ "6 TEAMS TO COMPETE FOR THE TITLE AT THE 2024 AHF ASIAN MEN'S HANDBALL CHAMPIONSHIP". ihf.info. International Handball Federation. 10 January 2024. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
- ^ "Goran Dzokic es el sustituto de Valero Rivera al frente de la Selección de Qatar" (in Spanish). Cadena Cope. 30 November 2023. Retrieved 6 August 2024.