14 years in the mix: Salinas gears up for eighth appearance at the IHF Men's World Championship

07 Nov. 2024

14 years in the mix: Salinas gears up for eighth appearance at the IHF Men's World Championship

In June 2010, Chile were still an emerging nation in men’s handball trying to take another step further. The South American side sported plenty of talent and their young players were hungry to become better and better.

And then, everything fell into place. After a 34:31 win in the bronze-medal match of the 2010 Pan American Men’s Handball Championship against Cuba, Chile sealed the coveted berth for the 2011 IHF Men’s World Championship.

“That is one of the memories I will cherish for my whole life. It was something amazing. Cuba were an excellent team and we managed to win against them and qualify for our first World Championship,” says Chile’s current captain, right back Rodrigo Salinas.

Since then, Chile have been present at every edition of the IHF Men’s World Championship, including the next one, co-hosted by Croatia, Denmark and Norway in January and February 2025. And Salinas has participated in every one of them, being a cornerstone in the South American side’s back line.

So far, the right back, who is now 35 years old, has scored 241 goals in the previous seven editions of the World Championship he played in, being one of the most consistent goal scorers in the competition. He has finished fourth in the top goal scorer standings at Qatar 2015 and 10th at Egypt 2021.

“The growth has been incredible. Back in 2011, we were just some young kids, trying to improve handball in Chile and become a better team. And now, we have established ourselves in the top teams of the world and have qualified for the eighth consecutive edition of the World Championship, I think it is something amazing,” says Salinas.

14 years ago, the right back was only 21 years old and was just starting his journey in handball, one which took him to Romania, Spain and France, before finally settling in at club level at Spanish side Bidasoa Irún, where he has been playing since 2017.

Getting to grips with the new reality was not easy, but Salinas quickly transformed into the fulcrum of the Chile men’s senior national team, along the Feuchtmann brothers, Erwin and Emil, and line player Marco Oneto.

But since Oneto retired in 2021, after rupturing his Achilles during a match at the 2021 IHF Men’s World Championship, Chile have been slowly transitioning to a new team, as new players, younger and ambitious, were promoted to the senior squad.

“There is not a big pool of players, because handball in Chile is still an amateur sport. But the ones who are up and coming are getting better and better. We have done some training camps in Spain this week and we will meet again in December, and we will try to be ready for everything,” says Salinas.

“Of course, losing Marco and other players was a huge blow for us, because they were amazing, but we have to go forward, continue, and write some more history for Chile from now on, because we owe that to everybody supporting us, as well as ourselves.”

For Salinas, the journey took from 2011 to 2025, spanning more than a decade. On this journey, he was accompanied by his brother Esteban, whom he shared the court with throughout his whole career in the Chile national team.

“Definitely, it has been special, it has been fantastic, and we have a truly special connection, we know where each other is on the court and that helped us create some fantastic plays,” adds Salinas.

The right back became the team captain after the 2021 IHF Men’s World Championship and helped Chile finish 26th at Poland/Sweden 2023, one position higher than two years before at Egypt 2021. In total, Chile have won 14 of the 49 matches played at the world handball flagship competition and want even more.

Salinas appearances at the IHF Men's World Championship

But at Croatia/Denmark/Norway 2025, Chile have a mountain to climb, being drawn in one of the most balanced groups, which will be played in the Unity Arena in Baerum, Norway, with Sweden, Spain and Japan, some of the most consistent sides in the world.

Spain were the bronze medallists at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games while perennial contenders Sweden  won bronze at the EHF EURO 2024 and Japan struck silver at the 2024 AHF Asian Men’s Handball Championship. All three have been at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

“Just looking at the names of the teams, their experience and their players, we can see it will be very tough against each one of them. But we are confident that we can play a great tournament here. We have the experience, we have a new system, which has been refined in the last years after Aitor Etxaburu took over from Mateo Garralda, and we are confident in our performances,” concludes Salinas.