Talant Dujshebaev
FullnameTalant Mushanbetovich Dujshebaev
Birth date2 June 1968 (age 58)
Birth placeFrunze, Kirghiz SSR,
Soviet Union
NationalityKyrgyz/Russian/Spanish
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
PositionCentre back
CurrentclubFrance (head coach)
Youthyears 11976–1985
Youthclubs 1CSKA Moscow
Years 11985–1992
Clubs 1CSKA Moscow
Years 21992–1997
Clubs 2Teka Cantabria
Years 31997–1998
Clubs 3TuS Nettelstedt-Lübbecke
Years 41998–2001
Clubs 4GWD Minden
Years 52001–2005
Clubs 5BM Ciudad Real
Years 62006–2007
Clubs 6BM Ciudad Real
Nationalyears 11988–1989
Nationalteam 1Soviet Union U-21
Nationalyears 21990–1992
Nationalteam 2Soviet Union
Nationalyears 31992
Nationalteam 3Unified Team
Nationalcaps 37
Nationalgoals 347
Nationalyears 41992–1993
Nationalteam 4Russia
Nationalcaps 4133[citation needed]
Nationalgoals 4726
Nationalyears 51995–2002
Nationalteam 5Spain
Nationalcaps 5158
Nationalgoals 5569
Manageryears 12005–2011
Managerclubs 1BM Ciudad Real
Manageryears 22011–2013
Managerclubs 2Atlético Madrid
Manageryears 32014–2026
Managerclubs 3Industria Kielce
Manageryears 42014–2016
Managerclubs 4Hungary
Manageryears 52016–2017
Managerclubs 5Poland
Manageryears 62026–
Managerclubs 6France
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Talant Mushanbetovich Dujshebaev (Russian: Талант Мушанбетович Дуйшебаев; born 2 June 1968) is a former handball player, and current coach, who serves as the head coach for the France national team. Dujshebaev is considered by many to be one of the greatest handball coaches of his generation.[1][2][3] He successively played for 4 national teams in his playing career: First for the Soviet Union, then the Unified Team, then Russia and finally Spain. His most usual demarcation as a player was centre backcourt. After initially having success with BM Ciudad Real as a coach, he was coaching Kielce for 12 years.

Early life and career

He was born in Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic in the former Soviet Union, and started his playing career in CSKA Moscow. He started playing handball late; at the age of 14.[4] Before that he practiced swimming.[4] He participated on the 1992 Olympic Games as a member of the Unified Team and won the gold medal. He also became the top scorer of the games with 47 goals and was elected into the dream team of the tournament.[5] One year later he participated on the 1993 World Championships as a member of the Russian team and won the gold medal again.

After the 1992 Summer Olympics he signed for Teka Cantabria and a few years later he received the Spanish citizenship. Afterwards he played in the Spain men's national handball team for nearly a decade, gaining two Olympic bronze medals in 1996 and 2000, and silver and bronze medals on the European championships. He also gained several individual recognitions in the world championships, like being elected as the best player of the tournament in 1997, but he failed to win any medals with the Spanish team, which finished 4th in both 1999 and 2003. Ironically when Spain finally won the world championship in 2005, Dujshebaev was no longer the member of the squad.

With Teka Cantabria he won the 1993 EHF Cup and the 1993-94 EHF Champions League[6] as well as the Spanish Championship in 1993 and 1994.

In 1997 he joined TuS Nettelstedt. Here he won the Euro-City Cup in his first season. He also had the second most goals in the Bundesliga with 194.[7] The season after he joined league rivals GWD Minden.

In 2001, after playing for a few years in Germany on club level, he returned to Spain and signed for BM Ciudad Real where he finished his playing career in 2007. In 2005 he became player-manager of the team, and after his retirement he became the full-time manager. His managerial successes include multiple Liga ASOBAL wins with the team, as well as winning the EHF Champions League in 2006, 2008 and 2009.

In 2006 he briefly returned to the field, when one of the Ciudad center backcourt players, Uroš Zorman injured.

He was voted twice as the IHF World Player of the Year, in 1994 and in 1996. He also came in second in the IHF World Player of the Century voting behind Magnus Wislander from Sweden.[8]

In 2014 (8 January) he replaced Bogdan Wenta as head coach of PGE Vive Kielce.[9]

Contemporaneously with his job in Kielce, he has been also coaching the Hungarian men's national handball team since October 8, 2014 until 2016.[10]

He also coached Poland during the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2017 World Men's Handball Championship in France.

In February 2026 he became the head coach of the French National team, replacing Guillaume Gille.[11]

In April 2026 he ceased to be the head coach of Kielce after 12 years at the job. He was replaced by his former assistant coach Krzysztof Lijewski.[12]

Private

He is the father of fellow handball players Alex Dujshebaev and Daniel Dujshebaev, both of whom joined their father at Kielce in 2017.

Honours

Player

CSKA Moscow

Teka Cantabria

Nettelstedt-Lübbecke

Ciudad Real

Manager

Ciudad Real

Atletico Madrid

Vive Kielce

Hungary

Poland

Individual

See also

References

  1. ^ "Dujshebaev the best coach, best atmosphere in the Veszprem Arena". www.eurohandball.com
  2. ^ EHF Champions League. "The #AST2022 Best Coach, the one and only: Talant Dujshebaev!". www.twitter.com
  3. ^ Olympics.com. "Kielce's coach Talant Dujshebaev: How to train to be a top handball player"
  4. ^ "Talent Talant". Stregspiller. 8 July 2016. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
  5. ^ Base d'informazión esportiva
  6. ^ 1993-94 Champions League results Archived 2009-11-25 at the Wayback Machine EHF
  7. ^ "Perunicic auf Platz fünf der Torschützenliste der Bundesliga" (in German). archiv.thw-handball.de. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  8. ^ "worldhandball.com". www.worldhandball.com
  9. ^ "BREAKING NEWS: Dujshebaev is new coach of Kielce - Wenta as a manager". Handball Planet. January 8, 2014.
  10. ^ Talant Dujshebaev az új kapitány
  11. ^ "C'est officiel, Talant Dujshebaev remplace Guillaume Gille au poste de sélectionneur des Bleus" (in French). L'Équipe. 24 February 2026. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
  12. ^ "Klub Iskra Kielce S.A. wraz z trenerem Talantem Dujshebaevem informuje o zakończeniu współpracy" (in Polish). Kielce. 24 April 2026. Retrieved 24 April 2026.
  13. ^ "All the previous World Handball Players". International Handball Federation. Archived 10 February 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 1 November 2025.
  14. ^ ""Mundo del balonmano homenajea in Ciudad Real TALANT DUYSHEBAEV"" (in Spanish). terra.com
  15. ^ "EHF Champions League men 2021/22 All-Star Team awarded". EHF. Archived from the original on 25 April 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
  16. ^ "LEGENDARY PLAYERS ENTER THE HALL OF FAME OF EUROPEAN HANDBALL". www.eurohandball.com. European Handball Federation. 26 June 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2023.