FABREGAS Ludovic

General
SPANISH HERITAGE
His grandparents on both his mother and father's side are from the Catalonia region in Spain. His paternal grandparents fled Francoist Spain in the 1950s for southern France. After growing up in Perpignan and Montpellier, he moved to Barcelona, Spain when he joined the club in 2018. "The passion for Barca has been passed down [in the family] from generation to generation. I have always followed them, it's a family club. I grew up in both cultures, but I don't forget that I am French above all." (liberation.fr, 11 Jan 2019)

FROM MOUNTAIN BIKES TO HANDBALL
In his youth he competed in the mountain bike discipline called trials, in which riders balance on one or both wheels while negotiating an obstacle course. "Handball wasn't always my first priority. My father did motorcycle trials and my brother did mountain bike trials, so I wanted to be like them. I went on to compete in mountain bike trials at regional, national and international events, but around age 13 I found myself training alone, as my brother had moved away for his studies. I lost a bit of motivation, plus it is a high risk sport, and finally I was growing taller and getting heavier which made handling a bicycle harder. I had been playing handball just for fun, but after visiting my brother in Montpellier where he was studying, everything changed. I saw players training at a high level and just like that, all of a sudden I wanted to play handball at elite level. I convinced my parents to let me try out for the national youth training hub in Montpellier, and I was accepted. I then followed the natural progression, and was able to integrate with the national French youth teams." (sans-filtre.fr, 07 Dec 2017)