Renato Vugrinec

Renato Vugrinec

Personal information
Born	(1975-06-09) 9 June 1975[1] Celje, SR Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia
Nationality	Slovenian/Macedonian[1]
Height	1.96 metres (6 ft 5 in)[1]
Weight	96 kilograms (212 lb)[1]
Playing position	Right back[1]
Nickname	Vugi
Club information
Senior clubs
0000–1997 1997–2004 2004–2006 2006–2009 2009–2010 2010–2011 2011–2012 2012 2012–2015 2015 2015–2016	Drava Ptuj Celje SC Magdeburg SDC San Antonio Celje Al Sadd HSV Hamburg Maribor Branik RK Metalurg Skopje Lekhwiya SC Maccabi Rishon LeZion
National team
1996–2010 2014–2015	Slovenia Macedonia	187 (616)[2] 4 (7)[3]
Medal record Representing  Slovenia European Championship 2004 Slovenia Team

Renato Vugrinec (born 9 June 1975)^[1] is a Slovenian handball player, who played for Maccabi Rishon LeZion on club level. Before switching his national team alliagance Vugrinec was a long time member of Slovenia national handball team and he represented the country on several international tournaments, including the 2000 and the 2004 Summer Olympics,^[4] before retiring from international play in 2010. Since March 2014 he became eligible to play for Macedonia national handball team, after receiving the country's citizenship in late 2013, and he has made his debut for their national team in June 2014.^[5]

Club career

Raised in Videm pri Ptuju Vugrinec began playing handball in the nearby Ptuj and remained there until 1997 when he transferred to Slovenian club Celje. In late 1990s and early 2000s Celje was regarded as one of the teams who formed the European club handball elite and they were regularly qualifying among the top four in the EHF Champions League. During the 2003–04 season Celje won the EHF Champions League after they have defeated the German side Flensburg in a two-legged final.^[6] Vugrinec was one of the most important players for his club during the course of the 2003–04 Champions league campaign finishing the competition on ninth place among scorers with 58 goals, including ten which he scored in a two-legged final.^[7]

After the successful season Celje sold a number of their star players and Vugrinec moved to the German club Magdeburg where he stayed for two seasons. In 2006 he moved to top Spanish side San Antonio but left the financial troubled club after only one season when he returned to Celje. Considered a club legend in Celje, Vugrinec spent a total of ten and a half seasons with the 2004 European club champions where he scored a total of 1,465 goals in all competitions.^[8] After a short spell at Celje Vugrinec then signed for Qatari club Al Sadd where he remained until 2011.^[8] Shortly after the start of the 2011–2012 season he moved, this time returning to Germany where he signed a one-year contract with Hamburg. During the summer of 2012 he returned to his native Slovenia and signed a contract with Maribor Branik but remained there only until the end of August of the same year,^[9] after he signed with Macedonian side Metalurg Skopje. In February 2015 he signed with Lekhwiya.

As Player of the Slovenian national team

Between 1996 and 2010 Vugrinec was a member of the Slovenia national handball team and he has made several appearances for the team at the European^[10] and World^[11] championships, including two appearances at the Summer Olympics (2000 and 2004).^[4] He was a member of the Slovenian team which were runners-up at the 2004 European Men's Handball Championship.^[10] With 187 appearances and 616 goals he is among the most capped and most prolific goal scorers in history of the Slovenia national handball team.^[12]

As Player of the Macedonian national team

In late 2013 Vugrinec received Macedonian citizenship and the Macedonian Handball Federation wanted the player to appear for their national team at the 2014 European Men's Handball Championship, played in Denmark during January 2014, however, this was denied by the European Handball Federation on the basis that Vugrinec has not lived in Macedonia continuously for two years.^[13] In March 2014 the 38-year-old Vugrinec became eligible to play for the Macedonia national handball team, after a decision issued by the International Handball Federation.^[14][15][16]

On 7 June 2014 the 38 years old Vugrinec made his debut for Macedonia on a 2015 World Men's Handball Championship qualifying match against Greece which was won by Macedonia with the score 25–27, with Vugrinec contributing one goal.^[5]

Personal life

Vugrinec and his wife Marina have three children. He lives in Skopje, Macedonia.

References

Macedonia squad – 2015 World Championship – 9th place
3 Manaskov 4 Vugrinec 5 Stoilov 7 K. Lazarov 9 Jonovski 13 Mirkulovski 14 V. Markoski 15 Mojsoski 16 Ristovski 17 N. Markoski 18 Mojsovski 20 Angelov 21 Pribak 22 Georgievski 23 F. Lazarov 24 Nedanovski Coach: Obrvan