Euro Handball Kickoff Cup this Wednesday, January 10 with the first match between France and North Macedonia.
The French handball team is aiming for a new European title starting this Wednesday near Düsseldorf in Germany. Olympic champion and reigning vice world champion, France is obviously one of the big favorites for this Euro 2024. However, it has already been 10 years since the Blues have obtained a European champion title, the last dating from 2014 after those acquired in 2006 and 2010. A real anomaly in the French handball landscape.
For their debut in the competition, Guillaume Gille’s Blues face North Macedonia. An opponent who has always succeeded for the French with four victories in four confrontations. But launching a competition is never something obvious and for Érick Mathé, it will be necessary to manage this start well as he explained on the FFH website. “It’s always important to enter a competition with bite, because often during the first match, the level tends to level out between the teams. There is a lot of desire, sometimes stress, and above all freshness (…) Although North Macedonia has limited rotations, this team still has a fierce desire to represent its country well. It puts a lot of commitment and aggressiveness into it.”
The French handball team schedule:
- January 10: France – North Macedonia
- 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)