Gedeón Guardiola

{{Infobox handball biography

| name = Gedeón Guardiola

| fullname = Gedeón Guardiola Villaplana

| image = Gedeon guardiola.jpg

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1984|10|1|df=y}}

| birth_place = Petrer, Spain

| height = 2.00 m

| position = Pivot

| currentclub = Club Balonmano Nava

| clubnumber =

| years1 = 1996–2001

| clubs1 = Petrer

| years2 = 2001–2005

| clubs2 = Valencia

| years3 = 2005–2008

| clubs3 = Teucro

| years4 = 2008–2009

| clubs4 = Ciudad Logroño

| years5 = 2009–2014

| clubs5 = San Antonio

| years6 = 2014–2020

| clubs6 = Rhein-Neckar Löwen

| years7 = 2020–2023

| clubs7 = TBV Lemgo

| years8 = 2023–2024

| clubs8 = HC Erlangen

| years9 = 2024-

| clubs9 = Club Balonmano Nava

| nationalyears1 = 2011-

| nationalteam1 = Spain

| nationalcaps1 = 203[https://www.rfebm.com/competiciones/detalle_jugador_seleccion.php?id_jugador=1909 www.rfebm.com], „GEDEON GUARDIOLA VILLAPLANA“, retrieved 25 June 2024

| nationalgoals1 = 238

| ntupdate = 25 June 2024

| medaltemplates =

}}

Gedeón Guardiola Villaplana (born 1 October 1984) is a Spanish handballer for Club Balonmano Nava and the Spain national team.{{cite web|url=http://www.eurohandball.com/player/521244|title=G. Guardiola Profile|publisher=European Handball Federation|access-date=25 January 2012|archive-date=25 January 2015|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150125161745/http://www.eurohandball.com/player/521244|url-status=dead}} He was on the Spanish team that won the 2013 World Championship.

He is a twin brother of Isaías Guardiola, also a handballer.{{cite web|url=http://ihf.info/files/CompetitionData/153/pdf/ESP.pdf |title=2015 World Championship Roster |publisher=IHF |access-date=15 January 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150127160051/http://www.ihf.info/files/CompetitionData/153/pdf/ESP.pdf |archive-date=27 January 2015 }}

Career

Gedeón Guardiola started playing handball at his home town club BM Petrer. From 2001 to 2005 he played for Valencia, where he made his senior debut in the 2002-03 season.[https://asobal.es/jugadores/gedeon-guardiola-villaplana/730/ asobal.es], Player statistics for Liga Asobal - Gedeon Guardiola Villaplana In 2005 he joined SD Teucro. In 2008-09 he played a single season for Ciudad Logroño, before joining SDC San Antonio. In total he played 208 games in Liga ASOBAL, scoring 437 goals.

In 2012 he moved to German team Rhein-Neckar Löwen, where he played together with this twin brother, Isaías Guardiola. Here he won the 2012-13 EHF Cup. In October 2014 he extended his contract until 2018.{{cite web|url=https://www.handball-world.news/o.red.r/news-1-1-1-62925.html |title=Rhein-Neckar Löwen verlängern mit Abwehrchef |date=2014-10-25 |accessdate=2014-10-25 |publisher=handball-world.com|language=de}} In 2020 he joined league rivals TBV Lemgo.{{cite news|url=https://www.handball-world.news/o.red.r/news-1-1-1-120115.html |publisher=handball-world.news|title=Guardiola und Timm kommen, Duo geht: TBV Lemgo stellt sich auf Kreisläuferposition neu auf|date=19 November 2019|access-date=19 November 2019|language=de}} He won the German Championship back-to-back in 2016 and 2017 and the DHB-Supercup three times in a row from 2016 to 2018 with 'die Löwen'. When his contract was not extended in 2023, he left for HC Erlangen.{{cite web|url=https://www.tbv-lemgo-lippe.de/isaias-und-gedeon-guardiola-verlassen-tbv-zum-saisonende/|title=Isaías und Gedeón Guardiola verlassen TBV zum Saisonende|publisher=TBV Lemgo|date=13 February 2023|access-date=22 February 2025|language=de}}{{cite web |url=https://www.hc-erlangen.de/aktuelles/detailansicht/1419-hc-erlangen-verpflichtetgedeon-guardiola.html#! |title=HC Erlangen verpflichtet Gedeón Guardiola |publisher=HC Erlangen |date=2023-03-21 |access-date=2023-03-21}} In February 2024 he left Erlangen, as he wanted to return to Spain.{{cite web |publisher=kicker.de |url=https://www.kicker.de/ziel-olympia-guardiola-loest-vertrag-in-erlangen-mit-sofortiger-wirkung-auf-998883/artikel |title=Ziel Olympia: Guardiola löst Vertrag in Erlangen mit sofortiger Wirkung auf |access-date=2024-02-27|language=de}} He then joined Club Balonmano Nava on a deal until the end of the season 2025.{{cite web|url=https://balonmanonava.com/gedeon-guardiola-nuevo-guerrero-navero/ |publisher=Club Balonmano Nava|title=Gedeón Guardiola, nuevo guerrero navero|date=28 February 2024|access-date=28 February 2024|language=es}}

In total he played 336 Bundesliga games, scoring 465 goals.{{cite web|url=https://www.liquimoly-hbl.de/de/import/spieler/gede--n-guardiola/ |website=www.liquimoly-hbl.de|title=Spielerstatistik der Bundesliga für Gedeón Guardiola|publisher=Handball-Bundesliga}}

=National team=

Guardiola debuted for the Spanish youth national team on 27 March 2002. He played five matches for the team. He later played 29 games for the U-21 team.

He debuted for the Senior team on November 3rd, 2011 in the Supercup. His first major international tournament was the 2012 European Championship. Later the same year he played at the 2012 Olympics. He became a world champion at the 2013 World Championship. At the 2014 European Championship he won bronze medals.

He also participated in the 2015 World Championship.

At the 2018 and 2020 European Championships he won back-to-back gold medals with the Spanish team.{{cite web|url=https://www.handball-world.news/o.red.r/news-1-1-29-121422.html |publisher=handball-world.news |title=Handball-EM kompakt: Spanien verteidigt den Titel - alle Ergebnisse und Torschützen des Turniers im Stenogramm|date=26 January 2020|access-date=2 February 2020|language=de}}

At the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo he won bronze medals.{{cite web|url=https://www.ihf.info/sites/default/files/competitions/f5a584e9-afc3-4b1a-8f71-a429f73fdbf9/pdf/ESPTOTAL.PDF |publisher=International Handball Federation|website=ihf.info|title=Cumulative Statistics: Spain|access-date=7 August 2021}}

At the 2022 European Championship he won silver medals, playing all ninegames and scoring 5 goals.{{cite web |url=https://ehfeuro.eurohandball.com/men/2022/teams/details/MgWMV5j9xRq_yWHFr-av8A/spain/ |title=Men's EHF Euro 2022: Spain |publisher=European Handball Federation|website=eurohandball.com |access-date=2022-02-01}} A year later at the 2023 World Championship on home soil he won bronze medals.

He missed the 2024 Olympics as he was injured a week before the games, during Spain's preparations.{{cite web|url=https://as.com/masdeporte/balonmano/gedeon-guardiola-baja-de-ultima-hora-n/ |publisher=as.com|title=Gedeón Guardiola, baja de última hora|date=25 June 2024|access-date=25 June 2024|language=es}}