Siarhei Rutenka, also Sergej Rutenka (; born 29 September 1981) is a Belarusian former professional

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. Besides Belarusian citizenship, he also acquired Slovenian citizenship in 2003. In January 2008, he received the Spanish nationality. His preferred position was outside left, but he was also capable of playing as the pivot and playmaker. He came to prominence while playing for the Slovenian club

RK Celje Rokometni klub Celje () or simply RK Celje, currently named Celje Pivovarna Laško () due to sponsorship reasons, is a professional handball club from Celje, Slovenia. They were the winners of the Champions League in the 2003–04 season, beco ...

and earlier for

RK Gorenje Rokometni klub Gorenje Velenje (), commonly referred to as RK Gorenje Velenje, is a Slovenian handball club from Velenje that competes in the Slovenian First League (men's handball), Slovenian First League, the top tier of Slovenian handball. Th ...

. He has also played for

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

in Spain. The club acquired him for €1 million in 2009. Rutenka was the top goalscorer at the

2006 European Men's Handball Championship The 2006 EHF European Men's Handball Championship was the seventh edition of the tournament and held in Switzerland from 26 January to 5 February 2006, in the cities of Basel, Bern, Lucerne, St. Gallen and Zürich. France won the tournament, goi ...

, representing Slovenia. In 2013, he was elected best left-back of the year. He was included in the

European Handball Federation The European Handball Federation (EHF) is the umbrella organisation for European handball. Founded on 17 November 1991, it is made of 50 member federations and two associated federations (England and Scotland), and is headquartered in Vienna, Au ...

Hall of Fame in 2023. He is the older brother of handball player Dzianis Rutenka.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rutenka, Siarhei 1981 births Living people Belarusian male handball players Spanish male handball players Slovenian male handball players 21st-century Slovenian sportsmen Olympic handball players for Slovenia Handball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Liga ASOBAL players Handball players from Minsk BM Ciudad Real players FC Barcelona Handbol players Belarusian expatriate handball players Belarusian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Belarusian expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia Expatriate handball players in Slovenia Naturalized citizens of Slovenia Naturalised handball players Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate handball players in Spain Naturalised citizens of Spain Belarusian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar 21st-century Spanish sportsmen