Father vs son - only one will make it to Cologne

A duel of brothers is not that big a sensation anymore in handball – even in national teams, when for example the Karacics, Igor and Ivan, faced at the World Championship in Qatar with Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, or when the Klimovets brothers did at EHF EURO 2008 with Belarus and Germany.

And it is completely normal that sons or daughters are coached by their fathers or mothers like the highly successful Klaijic family did at the 1996 Olympic Games, when the Croatian team including Nenad and coached by his father Velimir won the gold medal.

But it is quite rare in handball that fathers and sons go separate ways and then face in crucial duels like Spanish national team player Valero Rivera Junior did at Doha against his father Valero Rivera senior, who coached Qatar and grabbed the silver medal on home court, while his son narrowly missed the bronze medal, despite beating his father in the preliminary round.

Now another family affair highlights the quarter-finals of the VELUX EHF Champions League – and funnily enough, again two Spanish citizens are involved, but no Spanish clubs. It is Talant and Alex Dujshebaev.

Alex was born in 1992 – in the year his father Talant became Olympic champion and 18 months before he won the EHF Champions League with TEKA Santander. Talant then went on to become the only person in the world of handball to win this trophy as a player and a coach (2006, 2008, 2009 with Ciudad Real).

So it was anything but a surprise that both Dujshebaev sons had handball in their veins. Both Alex and Daniel received special coaching sessions by their father, who along with Ivano Bailc is one of only two male players to be awarded World Handball Player of the Year twice (1994 and 1996) and was runner-up in the awarding of “World Handball Player of the Century” behind Swede Magnus Wislander.

Reunited on the court

When Talant was coach at Ciudad Real and later Atletico Madrid, youngster Alex joined the training sessions, but at the age of 18 he spread his wings and flew the nest to start his own career.

Now the family is reunited on the court in two duels of the VELUX EHF Champions League quarter-finals and one Dujshebaev will book his ticket to Cologne. Either the father, who was already part of the VELUX EHF FINAL4 three times from 2010 to 2012, but never took the title in the LANXESS arena, or his son Alex, who is hoping to make it with Macedonian powerhouse Vardar, who he joined in the summer of 2013.

“Right before the quarter-final draw I had a feeling that I will face Talant in the Champions League, and it even was my dream. But the dream was to face him one stage later, in Cologne,” says 22-year-old Alex.

In 2013, it had been the plan that Talant and Alex should be under the same roof. After two seasons at La Rioja and becoming top scorer of the Asobal league wearing the jersey of Aragon, Alex had signed a contract for Atletico Madrid in 2013, where Talant was the coach. But Atletico had to withdraw their team due to financial problems and top clubs all over Europe began courting the “unpolished diamond” Alex Dujshebaev.

Right after he had led the Spanish youngsters to the silver medal at the U21 World Championship in Sarajevo, Alex surprisingly announced his contract at Skopje. “I do not regret this decision for any second. It was the perfect step for my career,” he now says to ehfCL.com.

In the 2013/14 season, he settled nicely in the Vardar squad, missed the qualification for the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in Cologne by the narrowest of margins against eventual champions Flensburg-Handewitt. This season the left handed shooter scored already 62 times in the VELUX EHF Champions League – including those 19 goals in the Last 16 matches against Wisla Plock, which paved the way to the quarter-final.

What Alex does not like anymore is when he is compared with his father: “He won all medals, titles and trophies. I am a young gun at the start of my career, so there’s plenty of work ahead for me before anyone can compare Alex to Talant.”

And intermediately in October 2013 rumours were spread that his father would join Alex in the Macedonian capital. When coach Zoran Kastratovic was sacked, the name Dujshebaev was told to be on the list of club owner Sergej Samsonenko, mainly as the Dujshebaev and Samsonenko families are close friends.

However, Talant helped Vardar in another way –Dujshebaev’s former assistant in Madrid, Raul Gonzalez, became new coach in Skopje.

“The quarter-finals against Vardar will be something unique, something incredible for me – I face my son, I face my long-term assistant and good friend, simply exciting,” said Talant, adding: “Like Alex said, unfortunately we face too early in this competition, but this is our fate now.”

Only three months after Vardar signed a new coach, Talant Dujshebaev signed his new contract, becoming coach of Polish powerhouses Vive Tauron Kielce. In 2014 coach and team were eliminated in the Last 16 of the VELUX EHF Champions League, in the current season – after eleven consecutive wins and only one defeat against Montpellier in the Last16 – Kielce are aiming for their second ticket to Cologne after 2013, when the Poles ranked third in the end.

“Maybe it is a good omen for us that we face another Macedonian team in the quarter-finals like Kielce did in 2013, when they made to the FINAL4,” says Talant, who has enormous respect for Vardar: “In general, Kielce can beat any opponent, but Vardar have improved clearly in the previous years, have strengthened their squad by world class players and is one of the fastest growing top handball sides in Europe – so it will be two duels of the highest level

In contrast to his father, Alex believes that there is a favourite in these duels: “My father went to Kielce to build up the best team of Europe – and they are on the way to reach this goal.” But he also sees a good omen in those quarter-finals: “In the previous stage we have eliminated a Polish team, now we have the chance to repeat it – for me it is also a chance for another little revenge for our bronze medal match defeat against Poland with Spain in Doha in January.”

In the preparation stages for the 2015 World Championship, both Dujshebaevs already faced on international court: Son Alex won the test match duel with the Spaniards on home ground against Hungary, coached by his father since autumn 2014 in addition to his job at Kielce.

From the Spanish league both are also used to competing, but from 2010 to 2013 the father won all duels with Ciudad Real/Atletico Madrid against his son.
Now it is the Face to face on the last step to Cologne and maybe the son can turn the tide against his father. And as Talant mentioned one year ago in an interview with eurohandball.com, his wife shall always support the husband not the son: “She knows who is bringing home the money…”