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; the first ever for both Brazil and South America.

She was voted World Handball Player of the Year 2014 by the International Handball Federation as the second brazilian ever after Alexandra do Nascimento.

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.

She was included in the European Handball Federation Hall of Fame in 2023.

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.

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 Amorim holding her 2013 World Women's Handball Championship gold medal. 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 Their daughter Idalina was born in May 2023. Amorim got a master's degree in sports management from the Johan Cruyff Institute.