Pablo Urdangarín, protagonist of the latest installment 'Inside ASOBAL'

The Talent School of the Plenitude League has unlocked a new family saga with the explosion of Pablo Urdangarín in the elite of handball. Son of a bluegrana legend like Iñaki Urdangarín, the winger of Fraikin BM. Granollers will return, this Friday, to a special stage like the Palau focused on tracing his path and writing his own story. A player who embraces normality and directs the spotlights towards the court.

The training stage at Barça

“The first years at Barça were to project everything I could. Previously I came from clubs that did not have such a high level. When I finished school I started to take handball seriously. I went to Germany for a year, I was with Iker Romero as a coach and there I knew what I wanted to do. When I went to Barça I knew it was going to be difficult, but I set myself the goal of improving as much as possible”.

🍿 𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐎 | Un 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐁𝐀𝐋 que viste el 7️⃣7️⃣ de Pablo Urdangarín

🎙️ El zurdo de @BMGranollers pasa por los micrófonos de @ASOBAL antes de volver al Palau Blaugrana

💪 Relato de decisiones, motivación y gestión de las expectativas deportivas de un apellido… pic.twitter.com/i8vZBmXcoR

— Liga Plenitude (@ASOBAL) April 3, 2025

A perfect habitat in Granollers

“In Spain there are few teams like Granollers. You play Europe and compete in the ASOBAL League for European positions. Here I can show my face and grow a lot as a player because they work a lot with the base and bring up many young people who also do very well. As soon as I got the offer from Granollers I thought there could be no better option, I took it without thinking”.

“All the young people who come up know what Rama is like. He is very familiar with everyone and, in the end, that helps to be more calm and more involved in the locker room. I had never played as a winger, all my life I had been a winger. I arrived in Granollers and, with the injuries of some teammates and the fortune of being tall, I started to play as a winger and Rama saw that I could help the team. I think it can work and I want to do it. I know that a versatile winger is important for handball. Rama and Nacho always make the joke that I am thin and, if I want to be a winger, I have to gain weight. Every kilo I gain, I tell the second coach. I think I will convince them soon”.

A new generation of Urdangarín in handball

“I have always played handball because, as my father was a player, I started playing from a very young age. My brothers also played. The atmosphere of handball is very different from that of other sports. There is a sense of family, everyone gets along. At no time have I said that I was not going to play handball. I left it for about three years because I went to the USA and there was no handball and, as soon as I returned, I started playing again because I did not see myself without handball. It went from being a hobby that I enjoyed with friends at school to taking it more seriously”.

“I could not see my father play. I have seen some videos on YouTube or some retro games, but I only know what he tells me. When I started to grow and followed handball on television, I saw players that I idolized. My father was much more aggressive than me, more winger, taller and forceful, and was almost a defensive specialist. He was a born winger. I am the mini version, more agile and also a bit more fragile. My father helps me more in mental issues than in handball issues. He has lived it and knows what it is to play Champions, the national team and the League. I always call him before the games. We always repeat the same things. He helps me a lot. I consider my father almost like a psychologist, when I talk to him he relaxes me and I remember everything I should think about before going out on the court. It's a pleasure. Very few people are lucky enough to have someone who has lived it and won it all. I have him by my side for anything and I try to take advantage of it”.

“I have never noticed that comparison. People did say it a lot. I like that they talk about my father and how good he was. My father has won everything and for me it is an honor, but I have always followed my own path. I have always seen handball as a sport to enjoy and, being compared to my father, means that I am doing something right because he is a player who has been very good”.

“I remember when I debuted with Barça, I went out on the court, shook hands with my teammates and saw my father's shirt hanging in the Palau. I debuted with Ian Barrufet, who also has his father's shirt up there. It made us laugh a lot because our fathers are very good friends. It's very cool. I have always liked the 7 because of my father. In Barça B, a teammate was very superstitious and asked me if he could use the 7. Then I thought about wearing the 77, it honors my father and, as I like 7 so much, it's like a second 7. Now I like 77 more than 7”.

“I am very sporty, I have practiced many sports. I lived in Switzerland for a few years and was very involved in tennis like Carlos Álvarez. My coaches told me that I was not going to get very far. In handball I had more options and I liked it more. In Switzerland I was very young and I grew up super late. I went to Hannover and I was still growing. I was gaining weight and with more height I decided to dedicate myself to handball. There I was very calm, but I was alone, I was 17 years old and had just finished school. I had to start a university career because my parents always told me that if I did not study they would not let me play handball. I had it clear. As I did not speak German and was alone in another country, I had to change and that's why I returned”.

Superstitions

“Before I had a routine that I followed as if it were mass. I doubted a lot. I thought that, if I did not do one thing, the game was going to go wrong for me. I have learned that superstitions are a myth and they eat your head. I ended up letting go, in some games I did completely different routines to see what happened. I still keep some things like the same warm-up or talking to my relatives before the games”.

The relationship with the media

“In Spain I have had media pressure, but, in the pavilion, all that is left out. In the locker room they treat me like one more, they make jokes and tease me. I do not like to be seen as a person different from what I am. Everyone knows that I am a normal guy and I hope to be liked. They can tell me anything and I'm going to take it well and I'll give it back”.

“If I want to meet with friends and the press is there, I have to meet with them anyway. Or if I go out partying and they are recording me… what am I going to do. Just like when I come to the pavilion. The press comes to the games and I notice it, but I have gotten used to it, I block it and forget about it. The press from outside is very different from the handball one which is much healthier. I don't have so much day to day press as to have to think so much about it. It catches you off guard, you come back tired from training, park and have the camera in your face and you don't expect it”.