By Thomas Berndt
It is quite an anniversary the Spanish physiotherapist, Pedro Mora Artal, can celebrate tonight when Spain faces off with Russia. One thousand matches for various Spanish national teams.

It has been 25 years since Arval sat on the bench for the first time. Back then it was with the Spanish men's national team. Since then he has seen to the well being of both junior, youth and senior national teams, and for both men and women.

For Pedro Mora Arval his job is his life. 'I love being a physiotherapist, I love travelling, and I love handball', he explains.

But even after a thousand matches he has not had enough. 'I will keep doing it until the union kicks me out', he laughs humorously.

Arval's very first match was against just tonight's adversaries, Russia, and he hopes to celebrate his anniversary against the top seeded team with a repetition of history. Back then the match ended in a tie. And as the charming physiotherapist says: 'In 25 years we'll meet again - and then Spain will win'.