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France men's national handball team

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France
Shirt badge/Association crest
Information
NicknameBronzés, Barjots, Costauds,
Euros, Experts, Indestructibles
AssociationFrench Handball Federation
CoachClaude Onesta
Most capsJackson Richardson (417)
Most goalsJérôme Fernandez (1254)
Colours
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
1st
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
2nd
Results
Summer Olympics
Appearances5 (First in 1992)
Best result1st, 2008, 2012
World Championship
Appearances16 (First in 1954)
Best result1st, 1995, 2001, 2009 & 2011
European Championship
Appearances12 (First in 1994)
Best result1st, 2006, 2010, 2014
Last updated on Unknown.
France men's national handball team
Medal record
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2008 Beijing Team
Gold medal – first place 2012 London Team
Bronze medal – third place 1992 Barcelona Team
World Championship
Gold medal – first place 1995 Iceland Team
Gold medal – first place 2001 France Team
Gold medal – first place 2009 Croatia Team
Gold medal – first place 2011 Sweden Team
Silver medal – second place 1993 Sweden Team
Bronze medal – third place 1997 Japan Team
Bronze medal – third place 2003 Portugal Team
Bronze medal – third place 2005 Tunisia Team
European Championship
Gold medal – first place 2006 Switzerland Team
Gold medal – first place 2010 Austria Team
Gold medal – first place 2014 Denmark Team
Bronze medal – third place 2008 Norway Team

France national handball team is the handball team, supervised by the French Handball Federation, that represents France in the international matches.

They are as of January 2014 the current double reigning Olympic Champions and European Champions. The French men's team, is the first team, on the men's side to have held all three titles (The Olympics, The World Championship and the Euro Championship) simultaneously with a double defending title. France current team is widely regarded as arguably the finest national team in the history of this sport.

Results at international tournaments

Since the 1990s, France has emerged as a major handball team. France won the bronze medal in the 1992 Summer Olympics, giving birth to their first nickname: les Bronzés (meaning tanned in French, a reference both to bronze and to cult French film Les Bronzés). This led to an increased popularity of the sport in France, which was already one of the most popular in primary and secondary schools.

One year after their Olympic medal, les Bronzés reached the final of the 1993 World Championship, which they lost against Russia.

In 1995, France won the World Championship in Iceland, defeating Croatia in the final. The team became known as les Barjots because the players played the final with an extravagant haircut (barjot is a slang word for crazy in French).

The team finished 4th in the 1996 Summer Olympics (France lost the bronze medal game to Spain, whom they had beat in the first round). France finished third a year later in the 1997 World Championship. The team finished 6th in the 1999 World Championship and in the 2000 Summer Olympics.

France won the world title again in the 2001 World Championship organised in France. During both their quarterfinal and final, against Germany and Sweden respectively, they were one goal behind until a few seconds before the end of the game, but managed to score a late goal and finally win in overtime with a three-goal margin. This great strength of character was cause for their new nickname: les Costauds (the strong, or the tough). Five members of les Costauds had already been world champions in 1995 with les Barjots: Jackson Richardson, Grégory Anquetil, Patrick Cazal, and the goalkeepers Bruno Martini and Christian Gaudin.

The team finished third in the 2003 World Championship. In the 2004 Olympics, the teamed finished 5th. Although they won their five games of the preliminary round, the team went down to an ageing Russian team led by 42-year-old goalkeeper Andrey Lavrov in the quarterfinals (24–26).

In the 2005 World Championship, France finished third again. This was the last international competition played by Jackson Richardson, a veteran from the first team les Bronzés. The retirement of their star meant for the French team the final transition between the early successes and the new generation of players.

In 2006 France won for the first time the European Championship, a competition in which they had never managed to win a medal until then. In the final they overwhelmed Spain, the reigning world champions (31–23), against whom they had lost the opening match in the preliminary round.

In 2008, France finished third in the European Championship. They were undefeated until the semifinal, which they lost to Croatia.

France won the gold medal in the Beijing Olympics. The French players elected to call themselves Les Experts, which is the French title for the TV show CSI in France. The team won the gold medal in the 2008 handball tournament in Beijing, defeating underdogs Iceland in the final (28–23). Thierry Omeyer, Daniel Narcisse and Bertrand Gille were voted into the tournament's All Star team.

France won the world title again in 2009 at the 2009 World Championship, hosted by Croatia, against the organizing country, and the European title in 2010 in Austria. They became the first men's team to hold the Olympic title, the World title and a continental title simultaneously. (Denmark women's national handball team held all three titles in 1997). They are also the third team to have won all three titles ever, the other two being Germany and Russia.

Finally, it has successfully held its title at the 2011 World Championship against Denmark, winning 37–35 after extra time. This victory means they are automatically qualified for the 2012 Olympics in London. This victory also marks several achievements:

  • it is, with Romania, the only handball team (on the men's side) to have successfully defended a world champion status;
  • it is so far the only national handball team in history to have won four major titles in a row;
  • it is a four-time world champion team, with Romania and Sweden;
  • three players on the team, Jérôme Fernandez, Thierry Omeyer and Didier Dinart are now three times world champions in their discipline – putting them on par with Cornel Oţelea from Romania in the 60s (had he been present in 2009, Bertrand Gille would also have been one of them, but he missed 2009 due to injuries).

In 2012, they become the first team on men's side to retain the olympic title.

Achievements

Olympic Games :

Gold Medal : 2008, 2012
Bronze Medal : 1992

World Championship :

Gold Medal : 1995, 2001, 2009 & 2011
Silver Medal : 1993
Bronze Medal : 1997, 2003 & 2005

European Championship :

Gold Medal : 2006, 2010, 2014
Bronze Medal : 2008

Competitive record

Summer Olympics

Year Round Position GP W D L GS GA GD
Germany 1936 Did not qualify - - - - - - - -
West Germany 1972 Did not qualify - - - - - - - -
Canada 1976 Did not qualify - - - - - - - -
Soviet Union 1980 Did not qualify - - - - - - - -
United States 1984 Did not qualify - - - - - - - -
Korea 1988 Did not qualify - - - - - - - -
Spain 1992 Semi-finals 7 5 0 2 157 143 +14
United States 1996 Semi-finals 4 7 4 0 3 190 165 +25
Australia 2000 Quarter-finals 6 8 4 1 2 192 182 +10
Greece 2004 Quarter-finals 5 8 7 0 1 221 176 +45
China 2008 Champions ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
United Kingdom 2012 Champions ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Brazil 2016 Not Yet Qualified - - - - - - - -
Total 6/12 2 Titles ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

World Championship

Year Round Position GP W D L GS GA
Germany 1938 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
Sweden 1954 Preliminary Round 6 ? ? ? ? ? ?
East Germany 1958 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
West Germany 1961 Main Round 8 ? ? ? ? ? ?
Czechoslovakia 1964 Preliminary Round 9 ? ? ? ? ? ?
Sweden 1967 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
France 1970 Preliminary Round 12 ? ? ? ? ? ?
East Germany 1974 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
Denmark 1978 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
West Germany 1982 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
Switzerland 1986 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
Czechoslovakia 1990 Second round 9 ? ? ? ? ? ?
Sweden 1993 Runners-up ? ? ? ? ? ?
Iceland 1995 Champions ? ? ? ? ? ?
Japan 1997 Semi-finals ? ? ? ? ? ?
Egypt 1999 Quarter-finals 6 ? ? ? ? ? ?
France 2001 Champions ? ? ? ? ? ?
Portugal 2003 Semi-finals ? ? ? ? ? ?
Tunisia 2005 Semi-finals ? ? ? ? ? ?
Germany 2007 Semi-finals 4 ? ? ? ? ? ?
Croatia 2009 Champions ? ? ? ? ? ?
Sweden 2011 Champions ? ? ? ? ? ?
Spain 2013 Quarterfinals 6 7 5 0 2 207 182
Qatar 2015 Qualified
France 2017 Qualified ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Total 16/23 4 titles ? ? *? ? ? ?
*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided in a penalty shootout.

European Championship

Year Round Position GP W D L GS GA
Portugal 1994 5th/6th place 6 5 2 1 2 123 120
Spain 1996 7th/8th place 7 5 3 0 2 130 120
Italy 1998 7th/8th place 7 5 1 1 3 110 125
Croatia 2000 Fourth place 4 7 4 1 2 173 164
Sweden 2002 5th/6th place 6 6 3 2 1 152 136
Slovenia 2004 5th/6th place 6 6 3 0 3 163 154
Switzerland 2006 Champion 1 8 7 0 1 243 192
Norway 2008 Third place 3 8 6 0 2 231 207
Austria 2010 Champion 1 8 6 2 0 225 196
Serbia 2012 Main round 11 6 2 1 3 156 163
Denmark 2014 Champion 1 8 7 0 1 259 227
Poland 2016 Qualified
Total 11/11 3 titles 72 44 8 20 1965 1804
*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided in a penalty shootout.

Squad

This is the roster for the 2014 European Men's Handball Championship.

Head coach: Claude Onesta

No. Pos. Name Date of birth (age) Height App. Goals Club
1 GK Cyril Dumoulin (1984-02-02)2 February 1984 (aged 29) 1.99 m 21 0 Chambéry Handball
2 LB Jérôme Fernandez (1977-03-07)7 March 1977 (aged 36) 1.99 m 360 1406 Toulouse Handball
7 P Igor Anić (1987-06-12)12 June 1987 (aged 26) 1.94 m 9 15 Cesson-Rennes
8 CB Daniel Narcisse (1979-12-16)16 December 1979 (aged 34) 1.89 m 246 775 Paris Handball
9 RW Guillaume Joli (1985-03-27)27 March 1985 (aged 28) 1.78 m 82 228 Dunkerque Handball
10 RB Alix Nyokas (1986-06-28)28 June 1986 (aged 27) 1.88 m 11 147 Chambéry Handball
11 LW Samuel Honrubia (1986-07-05)5 July 1986 (aged 27) 1.80 m 50 147 Paris Handball
12 GK Vincent Gérard (1986-12-16)16 December 1986 (aged 27) 1.88 m 3 0 Dunkerque Handball
13 CB Nikola Karabatić (1984-04-11)11 April 1984 (aged 29) 1.96 m 213 882 FC Barcelona
15 LB Mathieu Grébille (1991-10-06)6 October 1991 (aged 22) 1.98 m 6 10 Montpellier Handball
16 GK Thierry Omeyer (1976-11-02)2 November 1976 (aged 37) 1.92 m 294 0 Montpellier Handball
18 LB William Accambray (1988-04-08)8 April 1988 (aged 25) 1.94 m 56 156 Montpellier Handball
19 RW Luc Abalo (1984-09-06)6 September 1984 (aged 29) 1.82 m 170 573 Paris Handball
20 P Cédric Sorhaindo (1984-06-07)7 June 1984 (aged 29) 1.92 m 110 208 FC Barcelona
21 LW Michaël Guigou (1982-01-28)28 January 1982 (aged 31) 1.79 m 178 623 Montpellier Handball
22 P Luka Karabatić (1988-04-19)19 April 1988 (aged 25) 2.02 m 4 3 Pays d'Aix Université
28 RW Valentin Porte (1990-09-07)7 September 1990 (aged 23) 1.90 m 11 12 Toulouse Handball

2008 Olympic squad

Gold medalists France collect their medals on 24 August 2008 in Beijing

Coaches

Kit suppliers

Since 2002, France's kit are currently supplied by Adidas.

Media Coverage

France's matches are currently televised by Canal+ which will last until 2017.

References

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