Carlos Pérez

Carlos Pérez (born 26 August 1971 in Havana) is a retired Cuban-Hungarian handball player, who played for Veszprém KC and both the Hungarian national team and the Cuba national team.

With Cuba he won the 1998 Pan American Championship. He was the top scorer at the tournament.

Career

He was born in Havana and spent his Cuban years by local team Ciudad Havana. He signed to Hungarian top club MKB Veszprém KC in 1997 and since then spent all the seasons with the club.

He obtained Hungarian citizenship in 1999 and made his debut for the national team in 2002 against Slovenia. He represented Hungary at the 2003 World Championship, where he showed his exceptional shooting skills and finished first on the goalscoring charts with 64 goals. He has also been selected to the All-Star team.

Despite his good performances he had to wait seven years to appear on another major tournament, this time the 2011 World Championship. As he was permitted by his club to play on three games only, Hungarian head coach Lajos Mocsai saved him for the most important matches, and he was a late call-up to replace Péter Gulyás in the squad. He was part of the 2012 Summer Olympics Hungarian squad that finished fourth.

He was voted Hungarian Handballer of the Year three times in a row between 2003–2005, and won the award once again in 2011.

Achievements Nemzeti Bajnokság I: Winner: 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 Silver Medalist: 2000, 2007 Magyar Kupa: Winner: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 Finalist: 2006, 2008 EHF Champions League: Finalist: 2002 Semifinalist: 2003, 2006 EHF Cup Winners' Cup: Winner: 2008 EHF Champions Trophy: Finalist: 2002, 2008

Individual awards Hungarian Handballer of the Year: 2002, 2004, 2005, 2011 Top Scorer of the World Championship: 2003 All-Star Left Back of the World Championship (2003)

MOB Fair Play Award, (2014)