Spaniard Ambros Martín is the new coach of the Romanian women’s handball team, according to an official announcement of the Romanian Handball Federation (FRH). His four-year contract also includes creating a strategy for the Romanian women’s handball.

Ambrosio José Martín Cedres was voted the best women’s handball coach in the world in 2013 and 2014 when he won the EHF Champions League with Hungarian team Gyor, which he will also continue to manage. In 2016, Gyor reached the Champions League final again but unexpectedly lost to Romanian team CSM Bucharest.

Before taking over as Gyor coach in 2012, he managed for eight years the Spanish team Itxako Navarra, which he also took to a Champions League final in 2011.

Ambros Martín replaces Dane Tomas Ryde, who has managed the Romanian team in the past 16 months. With Ryde on the bench, Romania won the bronze medal at the World Championship in 2015. Romania also managed to qualify to the 2016 Rio Olympics, but failed to pass group stage. Ryde said he would focus on his business projects.

The Romanian men’s handball team is also managed by a Spaniard, Xavier Pascual Fuertes. Pascual, who’s has been managing the Spanish men’s handball team FC Barcelona, singed a 4-year contract with the Romanian Handball Federation in June 2016. He will also have to prepare a national strategy for the development of men’s handball in Romania.

Romania used to have one of the best men’s handball teams in the world. In the 1960s and 1970s, the team won four world championships. However, the team has failed to achieve any important results in the past 20 years and missed almost all of the major international competitions.

Meanwhile, the women’s handball team, which also won a world championship in 1962, had some good results in recent years, including third place at the 2015 World Championship in Denmark. Romanian women’s handball clubs have also had good international results, culminating with CSM Bucharest winning the EHF Champions League in 2016.

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editor@romania-insider.com