Pinheiros Finishes Sixth at the Club World Cup, with the Brazilian team putting on a strong performance throughout the competition, which concluded in Cairo, Egypt.
Esporte Clube Pinheiros faced Füchse Berlin to determine fifth place in the final standings; the team, which featured star player Mathias Gidsel, kept him on the bench for the entire 60 minutes of the match.
First half
After Pinheiros took an early 2-1 lead, the Füchse went on a 3-0 run to build a two-goal lead.
The Füchse played a more team-oriented game, with nine players scoring in the first 35 minutes; however, since only Tobias Grondahl had scored five goals, the deficit remained manageable for Pinheiros.
At halftime, the Füchse were leading by four goals, 17–13, with the pace of the game slowed by Gidsel’s absence.
Second half
The Brazilian team managed to stay in the game, even though the opposing goalkeeper, Lasse Ludwig, had made 14 saves by the 39th minute, at which point Füchse held a four-goal lead (21-17).
Pinheiros lacked offensive efficiency; Gabriel Reis and Marcos Oliveira, two of their top players, missed 13 of the 18 shots they attempted between them.
However, Füchse also showed a lack of focus on offense, allowing Pinheiros goalkeeper Gonzalo Guerra to post a save percentage of 33%.
The Füchse managed the final stretch of the game without any setbacks, building a seven-goal lead (29-22) with seven minutes remaining;
Grondahl finished with seven goals, while left wing Aitor Ariño and left back Matthias Langhoff each contributed five, securing a 31-27 victory for the Füchse.
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Summary
The team led by Alex Aprile, Esporte Clube Pinheiros, finished in sixth place, improving by one spot on the finish of the previous South American representative, Handebol Taubaté, which had placed seventh in the 2025 edition.
They suffered two losses in the group stage—44–33 to FB Barcelona and 28–27 to Zamalek Club—and secured a 37–22 victory over Montada Derb Sultan. In the fifth- and sixth-place playoff, they lost to Füchse Berlin 31–27.
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The players who were part of the team:
Gonzalo Guerra, Marco Fiuza, Marcos de Oliveira, Pedro Rodrigues, Fabio Lima, Gabriel Reis, Gabriel Griggio, Emerson Santos, João Lindoso, Caue Ceccon.
Ronald Souza, Guilherme Candido, Diogo Borja, Lucas Duarte, William Silva, and Philipp Seifert.
Meanwhile, the coaching staff consists of: Alex Aprile (head coach), Rodrigo Merlo (assistant coach), Ricardo Alves (strength and conditioning coach).
Laís de Castro (physical therapist), Diogo Hubner (supervisor), and Luis Campos (administrator).
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By Loly Coria
