José María Rodríguez Vaquero (born 5 January 1980), commonly known as Chema Rodríguez, 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 ...

coach and former player.

Career

Chema Rodríguez started his professional career at

BM Valladolid Club Balonmano Valladolid was a Spanish handball team based in Valladolid, Castilla and León. History Club Balonmano Valladolid was founded in the 1991 summer when acquired the ACD Michelin' seat. Michelin was founded in 1975 by the own company ...

. Here he won the 2003

Copa ASOBAL The Copa ASOBAL is an annual handball cup competition for Liga ASOBAL teams. It was first played for in 1990 and is contested by the top four teams at the end of the first half of the Liga ASOBAL Liga Asobal is the premier professional handball ...

and the 2005 and 2006

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

. In 2007

BM Ciudad Real Balonmano Ciudad Real was a Spanish handball team based in Ciudad Real, Castilla La Mancha. BM Ciudad Real played in Liga ASOBAL. History In July 1983 is founded in the city of Ciudad Real a handball club named Asociación Deportiva Cultural ...

for a transfer fee of ca €800,000. This was at the time the world record transfer fee. At BM Ciudad Real he shared the playmaker position with

Joan Cañellas Joan Cañellas Reixach (born 30 September 1986) is a Spanish former handball player. Cañellas scored 50 goals for Spain at the 2014 European Championship in Denmark. He was the tournament's top scorer. While playing in Madrid, he also studied ...

. Here he won the 2008

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 ...

, Copa del Rey and the Spanish Supercup. In 2009 he once again one the Spanish league and the

EHF Champions League The EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the men's com ...

, and in 2010 for a third time the Spanish League. In 2011 he followed the club as they transisioned to being BM Atlético de Madrid. A year later he joined Hungarian side

MKB Veszprém MKB may refer to: Business * MKB Bank, the third-biggest commercial bank in Hungary * MKB Raduga, a Russian aerospace company * MKB Fakel, a Russian government-owned aerospace defense corporation Community *Moogooru Karnataka Brahmin, a sect of ...

. Here he won the Hungarian championship and Hungarian cup every season from 2013 to 2017. In 2017 he joined French side Saran Loiret Handball, where he played until his retirement in 2020. Rodríguez was part of the team that won gold medals at the 2005 World Championship in Tunisia and silver medals at the 2006 European Championship in Switzerland.

Coaching career

In the summer of 2019 Rodríguez became the assistant coach at the Hungary national team. In 2020 he got his first position as a head coach at the Portuguese club

Benfica Lissabon (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904, as ''Sport Lisboa'', Benfica is one of the " ...

. Here he won the

2021–22 EHF European League The 2021–22 EHF European League was the 2nd edition of the EHF European League, the second most important European handball club competition organised by the European Handball Federation (EHF). Benfica became the first ever Portuguese team t ...

. In March 2022 he took over as the head coach of the Hungary national team alongside Benfica. At the end of the 2022–23 season he stopped as the Benfica head coach to be a full time national team coach.

Honours

;As coach *

EHF European League 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 ...

: 2021–22

References

1980 births Living people Spanish male handball players Sportspeople from Palencia S.L. Benfica (handball) coaches Spanish handball coaches Expatriate handball coaches Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Handball coaches of international teams BM Valladolid players BM Ciudad Real players Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Spain Handball players at the 2005 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in handball Coaches at the 2024 Summer Olympics Spanish expatriate handball players in France Spanish expatriate handball players in Hungary 21st-century Spanish sportsmen {{Spain-handball-bio-stub