Luis Frade: “A crucial match for the rest of the season”

Back in 2021, Luis Frade became the first Portuguese player to win the top flight competition in European club handball. Only six months earlier, the powerful line player played in his first EHF Champions League final in Cologne, losing to THW Kiel. Now, at the age of 26, Frade has three such trophies to his name, including the second final victory against Aalborg in 2024, which was much closer (31:30) than the first one (36:23).

In this season’s reverse fixture at home in October, Barça took another clear 35:27 win against the Danish champions to continue their outstanding run of victories. Ahead of Wednesday's MOTW, Barça have won all 13 duels with the Danish side. 

“I hope for Wednesday, we can play against them like we did in the previous years, as this match is already real crucial for the rest of the season,” says Frade. 

Barça top group B after 10 rounds with 17 points, Aalborg are third with 13 points on their account. If the defending champions win again and consolidate first place, it would take them much closer to securing direct qualification for the quarter-finals.

“Of course, one of our main goals in any season – besides winning all trophies in Spain – is making it to the FINAL4 in Cologne,” says the Portuguese line player, who joined Barça in the summer of 2020 from Sporting CP after starting his career at Aguas Santas.

Since then, he has won all domestic titles in Spain, including the most recent just last weekend. For the fifth time since his arrival in Barcelona, he lifted the Spanish cup trophy, after beating Bidasoa Irun in Saturday’s semi-final in Lanzarote, 35:27, and winning the final only 18 hours later, 37:34 against Torrelavega.

“To play an event like this one week after the final day of the World Championship was really tough, especially as we had to travel to Lanzarote. But finally, we won the trophy,” says Frade.

At the 2025 IHF Men's World Championship in Norway, Denmark and Croatia, his Portuguese side were the true surprise package; for the first time, they were among the top eight after beating teams such as Norway, Spain and Brazil, then, they beat Germany in the quarter-final after extra-time. In the semi-final against eventual champions Denmark, Portugal were well beaten, before falling just short of their first ever medal in any men’s competition by losing the bronze medal match 34:35 against France.

“Of course, we were really sad, as when you make it to the semis, you want to win a medal, but one week later we all realise that we achieved a really great result for Portugal," Frade says.

While Frade’s role in the national team was more or less focused on defence as his line playing counterpart Victor Iturritza played an outstanding tournament in attack – making the All-star Team – Frade is the number one at both ends of the court when playing for Barça. After Ludovic Fabregas left for One Veszprém, the Portuguese player’s job is to teach the young line players at his club, such as Oscar Grau Ibanez or Javier Rodriguez. With 34 goals in 10 group matches, Frade is third-highest Barça scorer in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League this season, below Melvyn Richardson (45) and Aleix Gómez (39).

“No matter, if we are the favourites or not, we try everything to return to Cologne,” says Frade. This year, many more Portuguese players could be part of the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4, as in group A, Sporting CP are having a great season and are currently in third place.

“It would be outstanding for Portuguese handball if they could make it all the way. Sporting play with speed and have a lot of talents in their squad,” he adds.

But right now, the only focus is on Aalborg – and on the MOTW on Wednesday, which will feature four newly-crowned world champions from Denmark: Henrik Møllgaard, Thomas Arnoldsen and Simon Hald for Aalborg and All-star Team goalkeeper Emil Nielsen of Barça.

“Emil is a legend in Denmark, it will hopefully be a beloved reception for him on home soil, and I am sure this match will be a special one for him,” Frade believes. All four world champions will receive an award prior to throw-off.

“Both sides know (each other) extremely well from the last years, and seeing the number of Aalborg players in the Danish squad, you know how strong they are,” concludes Frade.

One thing will be different from the reverse fixture, however; in November, Aalborg parted company with their coach Maik Machulla, who will take over German side Rhein-Neckar Löwen in July. The Danish club has now announced that interim leader and former assistant coach Simon Dahl will be the long-term head coach with a contract until 2027. 

Photos © Victor Salgado, Marc Graupera