Esperanza López Jiménez, also known as Espe López, (born 4 April 1992) is a Spanish handball player who plays as a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for Málaga Costa del Sol, she has been a member of the Spanish national youth team.

Career

Raised in the prolific youth academy of Colegio Puertosol in Málaga, where she began playing at the age of 6, she moved at 18 to the Valencian team Monóvar Urbacasas. There, she played for one season and qualified for the final phase of the

Queen's Cup Queen's Cup may refer to: * Queen's Cup (football), a former annual football competition in Thailand (1970-2010) * Cartier Queen's Cup, an annual polo tournament in England * Queen's Cup (golf), an annual golf tournament in Thailand * Queen's Cup ...

. After that, she returned to Málaga in the 2011 season to play with the Malaga team in the Silver Honor Division. Esperanza moved to Adesal de Córdoba in the 2015 season, where she played for three seasons and achieved promotion for the ''Fuensanta'' team. She returned to the malacitanan team in the 2018–2019 season. She was a key player in the team's promotion to the Honor Division in 2014 and continues to be a regular starter in

Suso Gallardo Suso or Susso may refer to: People * Suso (footballer) (Jesús Joaquín Fernández Sáenz de la Torre) (born 1993), Spanish professional footballer * Suso Santana, nicknamed Suso (born 1985), Spanish footballer * Foday Musa Suso, Gambian griot an ...

's initial seven, season after season. She is an unconventional frontline player (due to her height) but her speed in feinting and quick passing often creates dangerous situations in the attack, resulting in direct shots from six meters or advantageous passes to her teammates. Together with Silvia Arderius and Estela Doiro, she forms part of the shortest frontline in the entire Spanish Honor Division and one of the highest scoring. As a member of the legendary Malaga team between 2020 and 2023, she won the League Championship ( 2022-23 Liga Guerreras Iberdrola), 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 was runner-up the following year), twice won the

(Copa de la Reina, in 2020 and 2022), and was the Spanish Supercup champion.

Clubs

* 2010 – 11: Balonmano Monovar * 2011 – 15: Málaga Costa del Sol * 2015 – 18: Adesal de Córdoba * 2018 – : Málaga Costa del Sol

Statistical Data

Achievements

* 1x Liga Guerreras Iberdrola (2023) * 2x Queen's Cup (

Copa de la Reina de balonmano The Copa de la Reina de Balonmano (English: Queen's Cup of Handball) is an annual tournament for Spanish women's handball clubs organized by the Royal Spanish Handball Federation. Founded in 1980, it is contested in spring by the top eight teams ...

2020, 2022) * 1x Spanish Supercup (

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España, also known as the Spanish Super Cup, is a super cup tournament in Football in Spain, Spanish football. Founded in 1982 Supercopa de España, 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2 ...

2021) * 1x

EHF European Cup The EHF European Cup is an annual men's handball club competition organised by the European Handball Federation (EHF). It is the third-tier competition of European club handball, after the EHF Champions League and the EHF European League. Founde ...

(

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

)

Personal achievements

* Best Right Back in the Guerreras Iberdrola League 2019–20 * Ideal Seven of the 2019–20 season

Personal life

She has a

twin sister Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two e ...

, fellow player

Soledad López Soledad López Jiménez (born 4 April 1992) is a Spanish female handball player for CBF Málaga Costa del Sol and the Spanish national team. She participated at the 2018 European Women's Handball Championship The 2018 European Women's Handba ...

, and in a 2018 interview expressed her dream of winning the

Copa de la Reina Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Association * Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association * Parlia ...

. They faced each other for the first time in 2012 season. She would like to stay connected to handball as a coach after she stops playing. She married with Nacho del Castillo, another Spanish handball player from Córdoba.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Esperanza Living people 1992 births Spanish female handball players Sportspeople from Málaga 21st-century Spanish sportswomen Spanish twins