After the draw against Switzerland, the Blues must now react against the host country.
After a perfectly managed first match against North Macedonia, the Blues did not go far from the penalty against Switzerland during the 2nd match of the men’s Euro handball, conceding a draw 26-26 this Sunday, January 14 .
Overall messy, Guillaume Gille’s men came up against Swiss goalkeeper Nikola Portner (10/34) even though they were up to 4 goals ahead 20 minutes from the end of the match. If qualification for the main round should still be assured, the next match against Germany could deprive the Blues of a decisive first group place. “We could have won this match and not having done so was a bit of a blow to morale. Switzerland also played very well, we had difficulty connecting Andy Schmid with his pivots. And in attack, we were below our standards: below 30 goals, that hasn’t happened to us for a long time” analyzed Ludovic Fabregas after the match.
The French handball team schedule:
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)