Barcelona sign in with record performance at the 2024 IHF Men’s Club World Championship

FC Barcelona went over the 50-goal mark for the second time in history at the IHF Men’s Club World Championship, but are second in their group, behind Al-Ahly, after two days of the competition.

Barcelona’s 53-goal outing over Sydney Uni was the best one in terms of goals scored by the Spanish side in the competition, as the reigning European club champions secured a 53:23 win.

GROUP B
FC Barcelona (ESP) vs Sydney Uni (AUS) 53:23 (27:12)

The most decorated team in the history of the IHF Men’s Club World Championship, FC Barcelona, opened their seventh consecutive appearance with a match against the team with the largest number of appearances, 11, in the world club handball flagship competition, Sydney Uni.

After the Australian side had conceded a 15:49 loss against Al-Ahly in their opening match, on Friday, the odds were stacked against them, but both times when the two teams had previously met, Barcelona could not muster a win by more than 16 goals. Yet the Spanish powerhouse, the winners of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League last season, aimed to better Al-Ahly’s win, as they could afford a draw on Sunday, in the last match, against the Egyptian powerhouse.

But for the first half of the match, Sydney held their ground pretty well, especially in attack, where they scored 12 goals against the current European club champions, only two goals less than they did in the entire match against Al-Ahly, despite a fantastic outing from goalkeeper Gonzalo Perez de Vargas.

As Emil Nielsen was on the bench in the first half, Perez de Vargas provided 17 saves, for a 59% saving efficiency, including two double saves in the last seven minutes of the first half, keeping Sydney Uni at bay and limiting the Australian side to a 39% shooting efficiency.

However, in attack, Barcelona had an 84% shooting efficiency, with all of their outfield players who took the court, plus Perez de Vargas scoring at least one goal. After a 7:0 run, the Spanish side opened a nine-goal lead, 14:5, after 14 minutes, scoring at a pace of one goal per minute.

But after 30 minutes, Barcelona scored 27 goals, as their top scorer was left wing Manuel Ortega, with six goals, while captain Dika Mem had one goal and four assists. Still, at the break, the gap was only of 15 goals, 27:12, as Barcelona needed more to stay clear to any danger in the match against Al-Ahly.

Yet Barcelona could simply not match Al-Ahly’s output, despite scoring more goals than the Egyptian side. While Al-Ahly put 49 goals past Sydney, Barcelona were unstoppable and all of their outfield players who took the court scored at least one goal, taking their overall tally to 53 goals.

But the gap hovered around the 25-goal mark, until Barcelona eventually took a 53:23 win, with Ortega as their best scorer, with nine goals. It was Barcelona’s best-ever attacking performance, surpassing their previous record, of 50 goals scored against Club Ministros, two editions ago, yet they are still second in the group, with Al-Ahly’s +34 goal difference being better than Barcelona’s +3

After two losses in which they conceded 102 goals, Sydney Uni are now sure of finishing third in the group and heading to the Placement Matches, where they will aim to avoid the last place, just like they did in their previous appearance at the IHF Men’s Club World Championship, in 2022, when they ended up on the 11th place.

Player of the Match: Domen Makuc (FC Barcelona)