Portugal’s Sousa: “I really want to enjoy the EURO, I'm excited”

The team coached by José António Silva is placed in group C in Basel with France, Spain and Poland. And although that is a challenging prospect, right back Beatriz Sousa is not afraid.

“Spain have a team that have changed a lot. They called up some young players, we still don't know very well if this will be the team or not. But we have a lot of chances to win, if we play our game we can beat them.

“Poland are also at our level and we can beat them if we are at our best. On the other hand, France are the most powerful team in the group in my opinion and it will be the most complicated game we have, but we will compete until the last second,” she says.

Sousa says she does not have personal goals for the EHF EURO, instead focusing on the team’s performance.

“Honestly, I don’t think much about the personal part. It's a historic feat for Portugal, 16 years later we'll be at the European Championships for the second time and I'm just thinking about what we're going to do collectively. I want to do my best, whether on or off the field, to help our team achieve its goals,” stresses Sousa.

The 23-year-old is full of excited anticipation ahead of the tournament.

“For now, I’m not anxious in the bad sense of the word. I really want to enjoy the EURO, I'm excited, but I don't feel any pressure yet. As long as you're not there, you can only imagine. After we arrive, we want to do the best we can and approach each game to win. Our main goal is to pass the group stage and go to the main round,” she highlights.

Sousa’s path to the EHF EURO began as a child in the city of Funchal on the island of Madeira.

“I started swimming, football and athletics. But then I tried handball and realised it was what I wanted. I started playing school sports, my physical education teacher in Madeira wanted to invite new girls and that was it. I went from school sport in Madeira to something much more serious,” stresses Sousa.

Sousa left her hometown club, Madeira SAD, for HB Clermont Auvergne Metropole 63 in France at the start of the 2018/19 season, aged just 16.

“In my last year in Madeira I feel that I evolved a lot as a player and as a woman. I was only 15 years old and I trained with players much older than me,” she remmebers.

“Then in France, I started in the third division and that made me happy. We moved up in my first year to the second league, which is a semi-professional division. Currently, my team plays in the first division, as I changed clubs in January 2024,” she says.

Sousa joined her current club, Toulon Métropole Var Handball, in January this year as a medical substitution — but has been so successful there she has stayed.

“I came to this club to replace a right back, who seriously injured her knee. At first it was something temporary, it would only be from January to June, but then in February or March they wanted to sign a contract with me for another season,” says Sousa.

The fact that, like Sousa, there are more Portuguese players playing abroad largely explains the upward path that Portuguese women's handball has taken.

“We have more and more players abroad, playing professional or semi-professional leagues. We have athletes in France, Spain, Hungary and Germany. This helped a lot in our evolution, there is no doubt,” she says.

Sousa is remaining cautious while still holding big dreams for the future.

“I want to be present at the European championship. I may not be called up, the final list hasn't been released yet, so I have to say that my biggest dream is to play in this European championship. My biggest dream has always been to participate in a major competition for Portugal, whether the European or world championships. After that, I also dream about the Olympic Games,” she concludes.

Photos © Peter Spark/PhotoReport.in, Kalle Parkkinen/Newspix24