Bogdan Wenta

Bogdan Wenta (born 19 November 1961, Swarożyn, Poland). He was one of the best players in history of Polish handball and was also considered one of the best players in the World of late 80's and early 90's.

Club career

1978-1989 flagicon|POL Wybrzeże Gdańsk
1989-1992 flagicon|ESP Bidasoa Irún
1992-1995 flagicon|ESP FC Barcelona
1995-1998 flagicon|DEU TuS Nettelstedt-Lübbecke
1998-2000 flagicon|DEU SG Flensburg-Handewitt

Wenta's entire career in Poland was connected with one club "Wybrzeże Gdańsk", where he started playing in first team in 1978, when he was 17. He was five-times Polish Champion (1984-1988) and reached European Cup final twice, losing to Metaloplastica Sabac in 1986 and SKA Mińsk in 1987. In 1989 he moved to Spain and played for "Bidasoa Irún" (1989-1992) and "FC Barcelona Handbol" (1992-1995). At last, he emigrated to Germany, and played for "TuS Nettelstedt" (1995-1998) and "SG Flensburg-Handewitt" (1998-2000).

National career

Poland National Team

1981-1993 flagicon|POL Poland national handball team

Wenta made his debut in Polish National Team in 1981 when he was barely 20. He represented Poland in 185 official games. He was unfairly blamed for Poland's elimination during qualifications to 1994 European Men's Handball Championship. Since then he was never called up again to Polish team.

Germany National Team

1997-2000 flagicon|DEU Germany national handball team

In 1996 Bogdan Wenta accepted German citizenship, which caused a lot of controversy in his homeland, Poland. However he has never played against the Polish National Team. He represented the German side in 46 officials playing in the World Championships (1997 and 1999), European Championships (1998 and 2000) and Olympic Games at Sydney 2000.

Coaching career

Clubs

Bogdan Wenta retired in 2000 and became coach assistant in SG Flensburg-Handewitt.From summer 2006 to autumn 2007 he was head coach of German handball club, SC Magdeburg.

National team

Since 28 October 2004, he is the Polish national team head coach. During 2007 World Men's Handball Championship in Germany Wenta's team was revelation and reached the final. They won silver medal, losing to host Germany 25:29.

Personal life

Since 1984 he's married to Iwona Wenta, who is a fitness instructor. They have one son Tomek (born 13 march 1996).

Honours as a player

With Wybrzeże Gdańsk:
* Polish Championship runner-up (1982,1983)
* Polish Championship winner (1984,1985,1986,1987,1988)
* European Cup runner-up (1986,1987)

With Bidasoa Irún:
* Spanish Cup (1991)

With Barcelona:
* EHF Cup Winner's Cup (1994, 1995)
* Spanish Cup (1993, 1994)
* Spanish Super Cup (1994)
* Spanish Championship runner-up (1994)

With TuS Nettelstedt Lubeka:
* EHF City Cup (1997, 1998)
* German Super Cup (1998)

With German National Team
* European Men's Handball Championship - 3rd place (1998)
* World Men's Handball Championship - 5th place (1999)
* Summer Olympics in Sydney - 5th place (2000)

Individual honours:
* The best pair of foreign players of ASOBAL League (with Alfreð Gíslason) (1991, 1992)
* The best player of ASOBAL League (1991, 1992)
* The best playmaker of ASOBAL League (1995)

Honours as a coach

With Polish National Team:
* World Men's Handball Championship runner-up (2007)

With SC Magdeburg:
* EHF Cup (2007)

Individual honours:
* On 5th February 2007 he was honored by Lech Kaczyński with Knight's Cross of Polonia Restituta for his contribution to the development of Polish sport.

Managerial stats