18-year-old Salvador Salvador is one of Portuguese handball’s most precious talents. The left back was among the top scorers at last year’s U19 World Championship in Skopje and his name is certain to be heard around Europe in years to come.

“Only those who feel the game seriously can play this sport”

From Samora Correia, Salvador Salvador started his sporting life with football. But standing tall at 197 cm he soon stood out on the handball court with his home club NA Samora Correia.

“I decided to try handball because of some friends and my family. This was around 10 years old and what fascinates me the most about this sport is the game itself, the feeling, the passion for the game, the fact that we can play with the public and feel every moment. I think that only those who feel the game seriously can play this sport,” says Salvador.

Future generation with quality and power

Salvador is back at Sporting after a season on loan at Boa-Hora. The Portuguese athlete played for 10 years at Sporting and he is now back home, where he hopes to be very happy.

After the fantastic fourth place achieved by Portugal at the U19 World Championship, where Salvador proved he is an authentic scoring machine, it was well-established that Portuguese handball is growing at speed and the senior team will be able to rely on a future generation with quality and power.

“It is a huge honour and an added responsibility”

Salvador Salvador, Jorge Silva and Carlos Martins were part of the 21-man squad that started the last stage of preparation for EHF EURO 2020 but were left behind by coach Paulo Pereira from the definitive group of 18 which travelled to Norway.

However, the young left back only has good things to say about the feeling of representing Portugal at the highest level.

“Representing the Portuguese team has always been very rewarding for me, it is always a pleasure to be able to represent my country. I love being able to share the court with my teammates and being able to compete against big teams. It is a huge honour and an added responsibility,” Salvador declares.

Any athlete who wants to reach the top must have ambition, be a dreamer and always want more. Even so, Salvador does not forget that “it is good to dream, but to achieve our dreams we must always fight for them.”

After a decade representing the lions, Salvador Salvador was loaned to Boa Hora last season, where he performed at a high level and scored goals to get the crowd on their feet, including one goal against Avanca when he scored from the halfway line.

For now, Salvador is aiming to improve and gather experience as much as possible. With many dreams and with Mikkel Hansen and Nikola Karabatic as his biggest idols.

“I have several dreams to fulfil. Representing Sporting CP has always been my childhood dream. I would like to play the Champions League against the biggest clubs in the world. I also have the ambition to win a medal for Portugal and become a top player,” concludes Salvador.