Eduarda Amorim

Eduarda Amorim
Eduarda Idalina "Duda" Amorim Taleska (born 23 September 1986) is a Brazilian-Hungarian former handball player. She played most of her career in Győr as a player of Győri ETO KC, for whom she won five editions of the EHF Champions League. Amorim also played for Brazil women's national handball team for 15 years, winning the 2013 World Women's Handball Championship.
She was voted World Handball Player of the Year 2014 by the International Handball Federation.
In an election made by the website Handball Planet was elected as the best player in the world of the 2010s, through the popular vote, Duda was considered the best defender of the last ten years. She is widely regarded as one of the best handball players of all time.
Career
Club
Originally a rhythmic gymnastics athlete, encouraged by her older sister Ana Amorim, who was already part of Brazil women's national handball team, Amorim started to play handball at age 11 in the Colégio Barão do Rio Branco. She moved to Metodista/São Bernardo in 2002 after an invitation from Silvio Rodriguez, who spotted her during the youth games in Recife. She finished runner-up with her new team in that season.
Two years later, as a USCS/São Caetano player, Amorim won the São Paulo state junior championship and faced a marathon of matches as she played parallel for the youth, junior and adult teams.
She moved to Europe in February 2006, joining her sister in the Macedonian capital team Kometal Skopje. Eduarda spent three-and-a-half seasons with Kometal when the club faced heavy financial troubles and let some of their key players go to cut their expenses.
Amorim found her new home in Hungary, signing with Győri ETO KC on 23 February 2009.
A five times EHF Champions League winner with Győr, Amorim obtained the premier continental club competition title in 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018 and 2019. In an online fans' poll launched by the European Handball Federation, she was chosen as the best left back of the competition in 2014.
Amorim started her last professional season signing with Russia's Rostov-Don, which she left in March once the Russian invasion of Ukraine led Russian teams to be excluded from the EHF Champions League. She then signed with CSM București, playing two Champions League games and the final stretches of the Liga Naționalà and the Cupa României, and upon the season's conclusion in May 2022 Amorim announced her retirement.
International
The Brazilian left back won the gold medal in three editions of the Pan American Games, Rio 2007, Guadalajara 2011 and Lima 2019. She also participated in four Olympic handball tournaments, reaching the quarterfinals of London 2012 and Rio 2016. In 2013, she won the World Championship and was elected the Most Valuable Player of the competition.
Achievements
World Championship:
Winner: 2013
EHF Champions League:
Winner: 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019
Finalist: 2012, 2016
Semifinalist: 2010, 2011, 2021
Romanian Cup:
Winner: 2022
Nemzeti Bajnokság I:
Winner (10): 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
Magyar Kupa:
Winner (11): 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021
Brazilian Championship:
Silver Medalist: 2002
Macedonian Championship
Winner: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
Macedonian Cup
Winner: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
Pan American Championship:
Winner: 2007, 2011, 2017
Runners-up: 2009
Pan American Games:
Winner: 2007, 2011, 2019
Awards and recognition
.
IHF World Player of the Year: 2014
EHF Player of the Year: 2019
All-Star Left Back of the Junior World Championship: 2005
MVP of the World Championship: 2013
All-Star Left Back of the EHF Champions League: 2014
Best Defender of the EHF Champions League: 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021
Foreign Handballer of the Year in Hungary: 2014
All-Star Left Back of the Pan American Championship: 2017
Handball-Planet.com All-Star Defender of the Year: 2019
Handball-Planet.com Player of the Decade: 2020
Personal life
She got married in 2013 to Macedonian Dean Taleski. Their daughter Idalina was born in May 2023. Amorim got a master's degree in sports management from the Johan Cruyff Institute.
References
External links
Eduarda Amorim at Győri ETO KC
1986 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Blumenau
Brazilian female handball players
Handball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Handball players at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Handball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Handball players at the 2007 Pan American Games
Handball players at the 2011 Pan American Games
Handball players at the 2019 Pan American Games
Olympic handball players for Brazil
Expatriate handball players
Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in North Macedonia
Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary
Győri Audi ETO KC players
Pan American Games medalists in handball
Pan American Games gold medalists for Brazil
Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games
Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games
Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games
Handball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Sportspeople from Santa Catarina (state)