The experience was initially positive. Rafa Guijosa, former player of Barça's Dream Team, named the best player in the world in 1999, was sharing on his social media how he was enjoying tourism in Iran, the country that hired him as a coach last September. He visited Persepolis, for example, the former capital of the Persian Empire. But a few days ago, everything took a turn for the worse.
The military escalation between Iran and Israel forced hundreds of thousands of Tehran residents to flee the city, and Guijosa found himself stranded in his residence, stuck behind monumental traffic jams. This Tuesday, he sent out a distress message. Through email, he reached out to his friends seeking help.
"I am in a very complicated situation. I have no good communication, no WhatsApp or social media, and the misinformation is total. No one knows what will happen. The only way out is by road through Turkey (1,300 km) but I am told that it is very dangerous now. Going to Dubai or Qatar by boat is suicide... I need my situation to be known, simply help me by commenting to everyone you can about my situation, let's see if they can get me out of here as soon as possible through the embassy, the Iranian Federation, Turkey, Spain, IHF, Barça... whatever," Guijosa wrote from an unspecified location in the Asian country. The Spanish Embassy in Tehran has been in contact with him, as well as the EFE Agency.
"I am in daily contact with the Embassy and also with the Iranian, Spanish, and International (IHF) Federations. They are all in contact with me, but at the moment we need to stay calm," he commented via email to the agency, adding that in Tehran "people are going crazy, it's chaos," so he prefers "prudence and staying calm in a safe place, everything will calm down."
Guijosa was previously the coach of Iran from 2012 to 2014 and led the country to its only medal, a bronze at the Asian Championship, but a change in internal regulations prevented him from participating in his World Cup debut in 2015. He then spent several seasons coaching Ademar de León in Asobal and returned to exotic experiences as the coach of Rwanda. In Iran, he had only one player competing abroad, the central Pouya Norouzinejad from the German VfL Eintracht Hagen, while the rest played in the domestic league.
As a player, Guijosa was a five-time European champion with Barcelona (from 1996 to 2000) and was part of the national team's first golden era. In two consecutive Olympic Games, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000, he won the bronze medal. Recently, he was nominated to enter the Hall of Fame of the International Handball Federation (IHF).