Gabriella Ibolya Szűcs (born 31 August 1984) is a Romanian-Hungarian 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 for

HC Dunărea Brăila HC Dunărea Brăila is a team handball, women's handball club from Brăila, Romania, that competes in the Liga Națională (women's handball), Liga Națională and the 2020–21 Women's EHF European League, European League (formerly known as EHF ...

and the Romanian national team. Born in the

Socialist Republic of Romania The Socialist Republic of Romania (, RSR) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist One-party state, one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989 (see Revolutions of 1989). From 1947 to 1965, the state was ...

to Hungarian parents, Szűcs holds both Hungarian and Romanian citizenship. Initially a Hungarian international, she has represented Romania from 2015.

Career

Born in Oradea in 1984, her family moved to

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

before the

Romanian Revolution The Romanian revolution () was a period of violent Civil disorder, civil unrest in Socialist Republic of Romania, Romania during December 1989 as a part of the revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several countries around the world, primarily ...

and settled in

Debrecen Debrecen ( ; ; ; ) is Hungary's cities of Hungary, second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain Regions of Hungary, region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the large ...

. Her father was a professional footballer, whilst her mother was a handball player, which could have a great influence on that Gabriella started to practice various sports since a very young age. First she tried

rhythmic gymnastics Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform individually or in groups on a floor with an apparatus: hoop (rhythmic gymnastics), hoop, ball (rhythmic gymnastics), ball, Clubs (rhythmic gymnastics), clubs, ribbon (rhythmic gymnastics), ...

later switched to folk dance. In the school she was talented in many sports including basketball and football, but finally she has chosen handball. She started to play handball at the age of eleven, and whilst in school she already had seven trainings a week. At the age of fourteen she was signed by

DVSC Debreceni Vasutas Sport Club is a Hungarian professional football club based in Debrecen that competes in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I, the first tier of Hungarian football. They are best known internationally for reaching the group stages of the U ...

, where she spent the next ten seasons. During this time she developed to a quality left back both on domestic and international level. With the Hungarian national team she won bronze medal on the

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 ...

in 2004, and a year later on the

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 ...

as well. She was also member of the team which finished fourth on the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. In 2009, she moved to Romanian top club

CS Oltchim Râmnicu Vâlcea CS, C-S, C.S., Cs, cs, or cs. may refer to: Job titles * Chief Secretary (Hong Kong) * Chief superintendent, a rank in the British and several other police forces * Company secretary, a senior position in a private sector company or public sec ...

, where she spent two season before re-joined her old club DVSC. Her second spell at the club, however, was cut short after DVSC faced heavy financial problems and let many of their key players to go to axe their wage budget. Szűcs remained by the club until December 2011, when she moved to the Romanian Championship again, this time to

HC Zalău HC Zalău is a women's handball club from Zalău, Romania, that plays in the Romanian Women's Handball League. On domestic level HC Zalau won three league titles (2001,2004,2005) and Romanian Cup once in 2003. In Europe HC Zalau won the Women' ...

, where she joined her former coach Gheorghe Tadici.

Personal life

She has a younger sister, Nikolett, who was also a professional handball player.

Achievements

: **''Bronze Medalist'': 2005 *

: **''Bronze Medalist'': 2004 * Youth European Championship: **''Bronze Medalist'': 2001 * Junior World Championship: **''Silver Medalist'': 2003 *Junior European Championship: **''Silver Medalist'': 2002 *

Hungarian Cup The Hungarian Cup (, ), officially known as MOL Magyar Kupa for sponsorship reasons, is the Hungarian cup competition for football clubs. It was started by the Hungarian Football Association'','' in 1909, eight years after the commencement of ...

: **''Bronze Medalist'': 2001, 2008 * Romanian Championship: **''Winner'': 2009, 2010, 2014 **''Silver Medalist'': 2013, 2015 *Romanian Cup: **''Winner'': 2013, 2014, 2015 *Romanian Supercup: **''Winner'': 2013, 2014, 2015 *

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 ...

: **''Finalist'': 2010 **''Semifinalist'': 2009 *

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 ...

: **''Finalist'': 2012 **''Semifinalist'': 2006, 2013

References

External links

Career statistics at Worldhandball
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Szucs, Gabriella 1984 births Living people Sportspeople from Oradea Romanian female handball players Hungarian female handball players Handball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic handball players for Hungary Olympic handball players for Romania CS Minaur Baia Mare (women's handball) players Romanian emigrants to Hungary SCM Râmnicu Vâlcea (handball) players Romanian sportspeople of Hungarian descent Handball players from Debrecen 21st-century Romanian sportswomen 21st-century Hungarian sportswomen