In search of a new Olympic title in a few months, the French team is preparing for the Euro handball tournament.
French handball players, reigning Olympic champions and unfortunate finalists of the 2023 world championship, are among the favorites for the European coronation. The Karabatic brothers will be present, and Nikola should thus experience his penultimate international competition in the tricolor jersey, before his scheduled farewell to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. For this competition, there will be no Vincent Gérard. Despite his pre-selection, the historic goalkeeper of the Blues has not yet played again and would have been too tight for such a competition.
In the preliminary round, France will first face North Macedonia and Switzerland, two a priori affordable opponents, before facing Germany, host country of the competition and 5th in the last world championships. The Blues should manage to reach the main round, where they will meet Spain, finalist of Euro 2022 and third in the 2023 world championship. The other favorites are Denmark, recent world champion, and Sweden, European champion in title, as well as Norway which could play spoilsport.
For the boss of French handball, Phillipe Bana, the Blues must wear the “costume of favorites”. I no longer set a goal,” assured Philippe Bana. “At a certain time, we told them that it would not be bad to win a bronze medal, to be in the last four of the competition. From now on, if we say that to one of the two coaches of the French teams, they tell us that they are going there to win and only to win, otherwise they stay at home” he explained on France Info on Sunday January 7 .
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 will broadcast 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 will be played in 2024, from January 10 to 28 precisely.
Where is the men’s handball Euro taking place?
The next European Handball Championship will take 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)