Borja Vidal
Spanish-Qatari handball and basketball player (born 1981)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Borja Vidal Fernández Fernández (born 25 December 1981) is a Spanish-Qatari handball player for Al-Qiyada and the Qatari national team.[1]
| Borja Vidal | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Vidal in 2016 | |||
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Borja Vidal Fernández Fernández | ||
| Born |
25 December 1981 Valdés, Spain | ||
| Nationality | Spanish/Qatari | ||
| Height | 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) | ||
| Playing position | Pivot | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Al-Qiyada | ||
| Senior clubs | |||
| Years | Team | ||
– | BM Aragón | ||
– | Algeciras BM | ||
– | SD Teucro | ||
– | CB Torrevieja | ||
2011–2013 | HBC Nantes | ||
2013– | Al-Qiyada | ||
| National team | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
– | Qatar | 34 | (79) |
Medal record | |||
He formerly played professionally basketball in Spain until 2005, when he changed to handball.[2]
In 2013, Fernández got the Qatari passport for playing with their national team.[3] He was part of the Qatar team that won silver medals at the 2015 World Championship in Qatar, the first World Championship medal for both Qatar and for any Asian team.[4] The result was however controversial due to the many naturalized players of Qatar, of which Fernández was one of them.[5][6] According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine, only four of the 17 players in the squad were native to Qatar.[7] The practice was criticised by Austrian goalkeeper after his team's loss to Qatar in the round of 16, saying "It [felt] like playing against a world selection team" and "I think it is not the sense of a world championship."[8] Furthermore there were claims of favourable refereering for the hosts.[9][10][11] After the final whistle of their semifinal against Poland, the Polish players showed their discontent by ironically applauding the three referees.[12][13]
He competed in handball at the 2016 Summer Olympics.[14]
Club career as basketball player
- 1999–2001 Joventut Badalona (Spain 4th and Spain 1st)
- 2001–2002 Club Melilla Baloncesto (Spain 2nd)
- 2002–2003 Bilbao Basket (Spain 2nd)
- 2003–2004 Basket Napoli (Italy 1st)
- 2004–2005 CAI Zaragoza (Spain 2nd)
