After their perfect start, the Blues now have an appointment with Switzerland.
Perfect start for the French men’s handball team. Opposed to North Macedonia, the Blues delivered a serious and diligent match, winning by 10 goals, 39-29. A very important result in view of the main round in a few days. “It was important to enter this group with two points against the team which had the fewest references on the international scene. It’s an opening match which is never easy. It showed in the game , with phases where we had too much waste for my taste but when we see the overall performance, it’s good. It’s also good to have been able to give playing time to everyone, that everyone was able to get into their Euro. We end up with a performance, certainly in need of improvement, but which remains very accomplished” explained Guillaume Gille after the meeting.
Next meeting for the Blues, Switzerland on January 14. The Swiss had the difficult task of facing Germany, host country of this Euro in the indescribable jubilation of the Fortuna Düsseldorf stadium (53,586 spectators). Without any big surprise, the Germans dominated their first meeting by achieving a fairly remarkable defensive performance with only 14 goals conceded thanks to their star goalkeeper Andreas Wolff, (61% saves, 14 saves) for 27 scored.
The French handball team schedule:
- January 14: France – Switzerland
- January 16: France – Germany
On which channel can you watch the tournament?
As usual, beIN Sports is broadcasting the entire competition while the TFX group will broadcast a few matches such as France – Germany on January 16.
The groups of the preliminary round:
Group A:
- France
- Germany
- North Macedonia
- Swiss
Group B:
- Spain
- Austria
- Croatia
- Romania
Group C:
- Iceland
- Hungary
- Serbia
- Montenegro
Group D:
- Norway
- Slovenia
- Poland
- Faroe Islands
Group E:
- Sweden
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- The Netherlands
- Georgia
Group F:
- Denmark
- Portugal
- Czech Republic
- Greece
What are the dates for the men’s handball Euro?
The men’s handball Euro takes place from January 10 to 28.
Where is the men’s handball Euro taking place?
The European Handball Championship takes place in Germany. It will be the first, since the competition format expanded to 24 nations, to be contested in a single country. Six cities will help host the event: Düsseldorf, Berlin, Mannheim and Munich are the sites of the preliminary round, and Hamburg and Cologne the destinations of the main round.
The players
For this Euro in Germany, Guillaume Gille has selected a group of 20 players:
- Guardians: Samir Bellahcene (Kiel/ALL), Charles Bolzinger (Montpellier HB), Rémi Desbonnet (Montpellier HB)
- Center halves: Kentin Mahé (Veszprem/HON), Aymeric Minne (HBC Nantes), Nedim Remili (Veszprem/HON)
- Left backs: Thibaud Briet (HBC Nantes), Nikola Karabatic (PSG), Timothey N’Guessan (Barcelona/ESP), Elohim Prandi (PSG)
- Right backs: Dika Mem (FC Barcelona/ESP), Melvyn Richardson (FC Barcelona/ESP)
- Left wingers: Hugo Descat (Veszprem/HON), Dylan Nahi (Kielce/POL)
- Right wingers: Yanis Lenne (Montpellier HB), Valentin Porte (Montpellier HB)
- Pivots: Ludovic Fabregas (Veszprem/HON), Luka Karabatic (PSG), Karl Konan (Montpellier HB), Nicolas Tournat (Kielce/POL)