Gille: “The Euro to get into the tempo of the Olympics”

In 2024, the main objective of the French men’s handball team will of course not be the European championship, but the Olympic Games in Paris. But the Blues will still give their maximum during the Euro to be held in Germany in January. Qualified since March, they learned on Wednesday during the draw who would be their opponents in the preliminary round. And these are Germany, Switzerland and North Macedonia. The coach of the France team Guillaume Gille, who spent ten years of his career in Hamburg, confided his joy of playing in big halls, as the Blues will play their first round in Berlin and the 14,800-seat Mercedes-Benz Arena, before migrating to the 19,750-seat Lanxess Arena in Cologne for the remainder of the competition.

Gille: “The most beautiful of decorums”

“During our last campaign in Germany, on the occasion of the 2019 World Cup, we had already crossed paths with the Germans twice. And we are again placed in their pool with two other strong opponents: North Macedonia and Switzerland. We know the difficulty of a competition that is true to its reputation: this Euro is tough and promises to be very competitive given the density of the forces involved. This Euro will certainly be the finest decorum that we can hope for with high quality rooms and the massive presence of spectators. It will undoubtedly be an exceptional experience for handball fans. A few months before the Paris Olympics, this competition will put us in the tempo of what awaits us in 2024, ”rejoices the former center half of the Blues on the site of the French Handball Federation. Since 1996, the European Handball Championship has taken place in the same year as the Olympic Games, and to date, France has never managed the Euro-JO double. Her best performance dates back to 2008, when she finished third in the Euros in Norway before being crowned Olympic champion for the first time in Beijing.