Ian Tarrafeta Serrano (born 4 January 1999) is a Spanish

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

player who plays for

Pays d'Aix UC In France, a ''pays'' () is an area whose inhabitants share common geographical, economic, cultural, or social interests, who have a right to enter into communal planning contracts under a law known as the Loi Pasqua or LOADT (''Loi d'Orientation ...

and the Spanish national team.

Club career

Tarrafeta comes from

Sabadell Sabadell () is a city and municipality in Catalonia, Spain. It is in the south of the ''comarca'' of Vallès Occidental, where it is one of the two capitals, the other being Terrassa. It is located on the River Ripoll, north of Barcelona, a ...

, a suburb of

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. He made his debut in the

EHF Cup The EHF European League is an annual men's handball club competition organised by the European Handball Federation (EHF) since 1981. It is the second-tier competition of European club handball, ranking only below the EHF Champions League. Previo ...

and in the highest Spanish league, the

Liga ASOBAL Liga Asobal is the premier professional handball league in Spain. It was founded in 1958 with the name of División de Honor, changing its name to the current name in 1990. The Liga ASOBAL, which is played under EHF rules, currently consists of ...

, with

BM Granollers Club Balonmano Granollers, commonly known as BM Granollers, is a professional handball club based in Granollers, Spain. History The club was founded in 1944 and it is one of the oldest and most successful Spanish handball clubs in terms of t ...

in the 2016/17 season. The playmaker signed his first professional contract for the 2017/18 season. With Granollers, he subsequently qualified for the European Cup by finishing third, fifth and sixth in the league. In the 2020/21 season, he began playing in France for

in the

Starligue LNH Division 1, doing business as Starligue and currently known as Liqui Moly Starligue for sponsorship reasons, is the premier men's professional handball league in France. It is administered by the Ligue Nationale de Handball, under delegation ...

. With a fourth and a third place in the French championship, he achieved the best placing in the club's history with PAUC. After the 2021/22 season, Tarrafeta was voted the best rookie in the Starligue.

International career

With the Spanish youth national team, in which he made his debut on 8 April 2016, Tarrafeta finished 6th at the 2016 U-18 European Championship, was top scorer with 58 goals and was selected to the All-Star team. Tarrafeta played his first game with the Spanish junior national team on 28 October 2017. He won the silver medal with the selection at the 2017 U-19 World Championship. In nine games he scored 31 goals and was again selected to the All-Star team. Tarrafeta made his debut for the Spanish senior national team on 23 October 2019 against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

at the Four Nations Tournament in

San Juan, Argentina San Juan () is the capital and largest city of the Argentina, Argentine Provinces of Argentina, province of San Juan Province (Argentina), San Juan in the Cuyo (Argentina), Cuyo region, located in the Tulúm Valley, west of the San Juan River (A ...

. At the 2022

European Championship A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

, he scored twelve goals in seven games and won the silver medal with the Iberians. At the

2022 Mediterranean Games The 2022 Mediterranean Games (), officially known as the XIX Mediterranean Games and commonly known as Oran 2022, was an international multi-sport event held from 25 June to 6 July 2022 in Oran, Algeria. Oran was announced as the host city at th ...

, he won the gold medal with Spain. He took part in a

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

for the first time in January 2023 in Poland and Sweden. In his first game there, he suffered a rib injury. He won the bronze medal with the Spanish selection for the 2023 World Championship. By January 2024, Tarrafeta had played 42 international matches, in which he scored 93 goals.

Notes

References

External links

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Ian Tarrafeta
at the

Paris 2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tarrafeta, Ian 1999 births Living people Sportspeople from Sabadell Handball players from the Province of Barcelona Spanish male handball players Handball players at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic handball players for Spain 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish expatriate handball players in France Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Spain Olympic medalists in handball