João Ferreira is about to change Irish handball

His team became the first Irish team in the competition in twelve years.

João Ferreira is on his way to revolutionizing Irish handball. Having a participating team in the Partille World Cup is a significant step forward. 
– Next year, we aim to have at least one boys' and one girls' team in the tournament, says João, who coaches the Irish team from St Brendans College. 

João Ferreira has lived with handball his entire life. Despite this, 2024 was the first time he came to Gothenburg to experience the Partille World Cup in person. 
– My father and grandfather were handball players, and I played handball myself. Then I've been a coach and a referee, but despite that, this is my first time here. It’s incredibly fun, he says. 

Since moving from Portugal to Ireland in 2013, he has been working to develop Irish handball, and it is largely thanks to him that Ireland has a participating team in the Partille World Cup for the first time since 2012. 
– It's a significant milestone for Irish handball to once again be represented in the Partille World Cup and a great experience for the players to understand what international handball is all about, says João. 

His efforts do not end with this year's participation in the tournament; he aims to return next year with even more teams. 
– The main goal is to make handball more well-known in Ireland and to build a clear handball culture in the country, says João Ferreira. 

Next year he hopes that the Irish teams can compete on a different level. 
– Additionally, we want to become a country with teams that can seriously compete in the competition in the future, he says.