Our reserve team returns to Primera Nacional

Fertiberia Balonmano Puerto Sagunto’s reserve team will compete in Primera Nacional again, a division it decided to leave at the end of the 2023–2024 season and to which it will return from 2025–2026.

The red-and-white club asked the RFEBM for a place by invitation so that the second team could return to the third tier of Spanish handball. The Competitions Department, led by Francisco Blázquez, responded favourably to the request from Puerto Sagunto, thereby granting it the place.

The group eventually assigned was Group E, comprising ten other teams from the Valencian Community (BM. Elda C.E.E., Mare Nostrum Torrevieja, C.B. Maristas Algemesí, Levante U.D. BM. Marni, H. Sant Joan, AtticGo BM. Elche, F. Agustinos Alicante, C.BM. Mislata, BM. Castellón and Hispanitas BM. Petrer); two from the Community of Madrid (BM. Móstoles and Jeovent BM. Leganés); two from the Region of Murcia (BM. Águilas and UCAM BM. Murcia); and L’Arancina H. Mallorca from the Balearic Islands.

The squad will welcome back players such as Paco Joosten and Jorge Sorando, who left the club after the decision to relinquish the division last year. It will retain the core of the group that competed in Segunda Nacional in the season that has just ended. In addition, it will begin laying the foundations for becoming a leading team in the provinces of Valencia and Castellón by adding up to five young Valencian players, who will begin pre-season in August with the first team in División de Honor Plata under Toni Malla and Sergio Mallo. The latter will, as we recall, be the reserve-team head coach.

“This is a decision the new board had made since we took charge of the club. We believe the reserve team’s sporting performance in Primera Nacional is more than justified by the purpose for which it was originally created, through the merger between Nules and our club, for which I was the director responsible for setting it up,” emphasises club president Carlos Argente regarding the importance of the announcement.

“Looking at the last five years, under Toni Malla, as many as eleven players who came through the second team have gone on to sign a paid contract with the first team, while three more also made their debuts during this period,” Carlos explains regarding one of the fundamental pillars of his tenure: the academy.

This morning, the draw that set the fixture list was held at the headquarters of the Royal Spanish Handball Federation, following the completion of the first-round pairings. The draw determined that the reserve team will make its home debut against Hispanitas BM. Petrer, just as the first team will face Proin Triana. Both matches will be played on the weekend of 13 and 14 September at the Pabellón Port de Sagunt.

Translation produced using artificial intelligence.