Llorenç Gómez

Llorenç Gómez León (born 3 November 1991), often known simply as Llorenç, is a Spanish former beach soccer player who played as a forward. He represented Spain at the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in 2013, 2015 and 2021. Llorenç was considered as one of the best players in the world during his career and one of the best Spanish players ever, having won the world's best player award at the 2018 Beach Soccer Stars awards ceremony.

He retired from the sport prematurely in September 2021, aged just 29, citing chronic injuries. He was close to 1000 career goals at the time of his retirement. As of 2023, he is head coach of Denmark. At age 13, he joined the youth academy of Gimnàstic de Tarragona. He was advised to train on sand as part of his rehabilitation as the surface is low-impact on knees; this is where Llorenç first encountered beach soccer. He developed a liking for the derivative and took it up as a hobby. Aged 19, he was told to abandon his desire of becoming a footballer because of his medical condition. It was playing for the latter where Llorenç was spotted by coach Joaquín Alonso and called up to the Spanish national team. and from there quickly established himself as part of the squad. In 2013, he took the number 10 shirt from the recently retired Amarelle and helped Spain to a runners-up finish at the 2013 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, FIFA.com too called Llorenç a "emerging star" of the sport. He also won the award for best goal of the year.

In 2018, Llorenç was named as the best beach soccer player in the world at the Beach Soccer Stars awards, ahead of Brazilians, Bruno Xavier and Datinha. The commendation was presented to him by his former teammate and idol, Amarelle. He collected the award on crutches, having fractured his metatarsal at the Intercontinental Cup. A month later, in a shock announcement on social media and still shy of 30 years old, he declared that he was retiring from beach soccer due to the "degenerative" nature of his injuries and the need to prioritise his quality of life. Within a fortnight of his retirement, he was named as the new head coach of the Catalonia regional team. After a successful campaign as coach of San Javier in the 2022 Women's Euro Winners Cup, Llorenç was then appointed as head coach of Denmark men's national team in 2023 following fruitful negotiations with captain Casper Dorph. Llorenç has also founded his own annual youth beach soccer tournament, the "Llorenç Beach Soccer Cup", with the backing of Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW).

Style of play Llorenç was known for his finishing ability, technical skills and natural ability at bicycle kicks. He was a forward but known to be versatile and so could play in any outfield position if required. Fellow Spanish teammate, Dona, says that Llorenç will shoot and score when least expected and will always perform when his team need him to the most. He is well known for his exuberance and positive, philosophical outlook towards life.

Statistics Country Team Year Euro League World Cup WC qual. Other Total Ref. Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals 2011 3 1 — — — 3 1 2012 9 10 — — 3 4 12 14 2013 9 15 5 4 — 11 14 25 33 2014 9 27 — 7 7 4 8 20 42 2015 7 11 3 2 — 5 6 15 19 2016 3 3 — 8 10 5 3 16 16 2017 10 11 — — 3 4 13 15 2018 10 15 — — 12 18 22 33 2019 7 2 — 6 5 19 18 32 25 2020 No matches due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 2021 3 4 3 1 4 4 — 10 9 Total 70 99 11 7 25 26 62 75 168 207 —

Club Tournament Year Club Apps Goals Ref.Euro Winners Cup 2013 Terracina 6 11 2014 4 11 2015 Kristall 7 10 2017 Dinamo Batumi 7 7 2018 Falfala Kfar Qassem 6 16 2019 Lokomotiv Moscow 7 7 2020 Artur Music 7 22 2021 San Francisco 6 7 Total 50 91 —

Honours The following is a selection, not an exhaustive list, of the major honours Llorenç has achieved:

Country FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Runner-up (1): 2013 Euro Beach Soccer League Runner-up (2): 2014, 2018 Third place (1): 2019 Intercontinental Cup Runner-up (1): 2019 European Games: Silver medal (1): 2019 Euro Beach Soccer Cup: Winner (1): 2014 Mundialito: Winner (1): 2013 Runner-up (1): 2018

Club

National Leagues won Liga Nacional (Spain): 2012 Superliga (Russia): 2015 Swiss League: 2017 Ekstraklasa (Poland): 2017 Campeonato Elite (Portugal): 2017 JFA League (Japan): 2018 Liga Carioca (Brazil): 2019

Cups won Copa Italiana (Italy): 2012 Russian Cup: 2015 Polish Cup: 2018

International Euro Winners Cup: Winner (1): 2015 Mundialito de Clubes Winner (2): 2015, 2017 World Winners Cup Winner (1): 2019 Copa Libertadores Runner-up (1): 2017

Individual

Beach Soccer Stars (5): World's best player: 2018 World's top 3 best players: 2014 World dream team: 2014, 2018 Goal of the year: 2014 Euro Beach Soccer League (9): Superfinal: Best player: 2018 Top scorer: 2014 Regular season stages: Best player: 2012(1), 2017(1) Top scorer: 2012(1), 2013(1), 2014(1), 2017(1), 2018(1) Mundialito (1): Top scorer: 2013 World Beach Games qualification (1): Best player: 2019

Euro Winners Cup (2): Top scorer: 2018, 2020 Liga Nacional (Spain; 4): Best player: 2012 Top scorer: 2012, 2013, 2017 Superliga (Russia; 3): Best player: 2017 (stage 1), 2018 Top scorer: 2018 Ekstraklasa (Poland; 2): Top scorer: 2018, 2020 JFA League (Japan; 1): Top scorer: 2018 Liga Carioca (Brazil; 2): Best player: 2019 Top scorer: 2019