With just four games left at France 2017, attendance records are set to be further broken but one that could stand for a long time is the 28,010 spectators who twice attended the Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille for the sold-out French eighth-final, against Iceland, and their quarter-final, against Sweden. Combined with the 16,188 who attended the Belarus vs Sweden eighth-final, over 72,200 came to the three matches in the northern French city.

In June 1999 at the IHF Men’s World Championships in Egypt, for the final between Russia and Sweden, 23,000 squeezed into the Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex for a world championship record that had stood for nearly 18 years, but this attendance was smashed in France.

“The whole French team was really completely involved; emotions, feelings, great moments; it was magic moments I can say,” said Philippe Bana, National Technical Director for the French Handball Federation (FFHB). “From the very beginning in 2010 when we began this dream, the idea was to take handball up a level, to show something else in modern arenas and Lille was best.

“This stadium moving from a football arena to a handball arena was a real dream of ours,” he continued. “We wanted to improve the level of our sport worldwide and to give some impression to the entire world. It was a real big feeling.

“Claude Onesta (former French coach) himself was, let’s say ‘shocked’, he was quite tearful at the end of the Iceland game, saying the result was not the most important thing, but the atmosphere.”

For Arnaud Jacquemin, in his role as Venue Director - Lille for the France 2017 Organising Committee, he knew something was special as soon as the stadium started its transformation.

“One moment that will stay with me forever was three-and-a-half days before the first game when the football pitch moved away and the handball court came up,” he said. “It was just; ‘wow, now it is beginning’.

“I only really had time to look at about two minutes of the action on court, but the atmosphere inside the stadium, and hearing the sound of the public from outside was just fantastic.

“It really felt like it was something different,” he continued. “It was the first time the stadium sold out in this configuration and I am very proud for my team and all the volunteers for the success – about 600 technical people for the set-up, 220 volunteers and over 100 stadium staff.

“I have worked in this business for almost 20 years; football, rugby, athletics and this is definitely the best event I have ever organised.”

For Predrag Pavicevic, IHF Event Delegate, the experience in Lille was a success and one to remember, although setting up an arena in just a few days for a record crowd was not always a smooth journey.

“It was tough but our job is a production process - you have to control every station if you want to have the best product at the end,” said Pavicevic.

“Like with Nantes, in Lille, we had a temporary venue and it is hard to anticipate any possible difficulties.

“Working at converting a football stadium into a handball arena was a special task for everyone involved in the infrastructure and technical side particularly – we were building the arena from the bottom up and worked hard with the teams involved to find compromises for issues that arose, but we solved them all.

“An additional problem was working at getting the temperature correct – you’re essentially working in the French winter in an outside stadium rather than in a sports hall, but by the first game we had reached 21-23 degrees Celsius on the field of play.

“As always, a job is well done if you don’t have any complaints – the best moment for me was when everybody realised how big the job had been and how well they handled it.”

The wins for France in the eighth-final and quarter-finals put an end to defeat for French national teams in the arena after they lost against Spain in the EuroBasket semi-final against Spain and the Davis Cup tennis final against Switzerland in November 2014.

“We finally broke ‘the curse’ and are very happy,” said Damien Castelain, President of the European Metropole of Lille. “We now have the record attendance and provided two ‘phenomenal’ experiences.”

Part of those experiences were numerous guests over the three match days in Lille which included IHF President, Dr. Hassan Moustafa as well as Patrick Kanner, Minister of City, Youth and Sports for the French Government, Lille footballers including French national team player Rio Mavuba and a variety of other sporting giants and celebrities.

As France 2017 centres around Paris with four teams playing four matches over the final four days, Phillippe Bana is looking to the future, using Lille as a springboard for handball in the country.

“The Lille matches came from hard work in the background which we begun in 2010,” he said. “Our previous men’s world championships in 2001 and 2007 were also crowded, but these games in Lille have seen new fans attending.

“We had more than 50% of people coming from other sports, coming from society generally and, for us in France it has put our sport in a new light – we had a great support from the government and local authority.”

Quotes from those involved in the Lille matches:

Thierry OMEYER (FRA): “I am 40-years-old and never seen anything like it.”

Andreas PALICK (SWE): “If it was a neutral venue maybe we had a chance to win it, but those French supporters are the eighth-man.”

Jerry TOLLBRING (SWE): “It was a really good atmosphere – it was cool to play in that.”

Kristjan ANDRESSON (SWE) coach: “I think the spectators did a good job and made a great atmosphere. For me, the hardest thing is that my throat is sore now [after trying to shout instructions].”

Fredric PETTERSSON (SWE): “We embraced it because it’s not every day you play in this kind of arena in front of this kind of crowd. It’s just awesome and I think everyone felt the same when you looked up and all you can see is the audience - it’s amazing. Even walking in was different, down the stairs, so you have to keep your balance and look every time. When you start thinking about it a little bit you start getting goosebumps.”

Didier DINART (FRA Coach): "When you've got such a strong back-up [from the crowd] it's easier for you to take control of the game."

Geir SVEINSSON (ISL Coach): "This was probably the biggest event in handball I've ever been involved in but I've tried not to let it [the event] have an impact on my players but of course it's easier for France in front of their own crowd."

Nikola KARABATIC (FRA): “We got the ‘shivers down our spines’ when walked onto the court and when the game was over, but during the game, you have to block it out because it can play against you, especially in such tight games. The crowd's pressure can turn its way around so we tried not to think about it too much. We want to use the energy, the crowd, its support and its cheering when we score a goal – we were able to control our emotions and happy to play in front of so many people.”

Vincent GERARD (FRA): “This is the first time I have played in front of 28,000 spectators – it will be a great moment of my career.”

Timothey N'GUESSAN (FRA): “Our time with the fans after the end of the match was fabulous.”

Bumper crowds across France

The France 2017 Preliminary Round attracted more than 300,000 spectators to the four venues, while the knock-out stage numbers have also confirmed the popular enthusiasm surrounding the 2017 IHF Men’s World Championship, resulting in arenas opening earlier to cope with demand. The record attendance for a handball match in France and for an IHF World Championship or EHF EURO Championship was broken last Saturday (21 January) with 28,010 spectators at France vs Iceland and then equaled with the France vs Sweden quarter-final.

In Albertville, the arena was sold-out for the two quarter-finals, Norway vs FYR Macedonia and Hungary vs Denmark, while The Arena in Montpellier welcomed 20,000 handball fans watching the eighth-finals and quarter-final and Paris had 25,000 passionate handball fans screaming and cheers for the three ties in the capital.

In the three days of President's Cup matches in Brest, 13,330 spectators attended the matches to decide 17-24 positions.

France 2017 around the world

With the minimum length of cabling for TV in Lille at 200m, the football stadium provided its own unique challenges as France 2017 worked hard to ensure the very best coverage of the record-breaking event both for those inside the arena and those watching around the world through 30 broadcasters in 80 TV markets, 

Host broadcaster beIN Sports shared the coverage with French public broadcaster TF1 – for the first time – of the quarter-final between France and Sweden on Tuesday and the results were impressive. A peak audience of 6.5 million viewers watched the match with a 22% audience share for the first half and start of the second (4.5 million). It was also a record viewing number for a handball match on beIN Sport with 1.05 million watching at its peak.

Around the world, for SBS Discovery (Kanal 5) showing the Sweden matches, it was, on average 20% audience share for their preliminary matches.

In Slovenia, RTVS had around a 25% average in the preliminary round (35.6% vs Iceland), but this is set to be surpassed tonight with their semi-final against France. Their quarter-final against Qatar attracted nearly 500,000 fans.

FYR Macedonia showed their appetite for handball with 58% of the audience share tuning in for their final preliminary round match against Iceland.

TV2 in Norway boasted a constant 33% market share for their preliminary round matches, with the exception of their clash with Brazil attracting a 60.7% share. Their early evening quarter-final against Hungary attracted a 62.9% audience share but this could be beaten as they take on Croatia tomorrow night in their semi-final.

DR & TV2 in Denmark grabbed a 60% share for their Argentina match on DR1, watched by 1.58 million Danes.

In Hungary, Sport1 had nearly half a million fans watched their preliminary group matches on average and TVP in Poland reported three million watching their clash against Russia.

For the latest, updated list of where you can watch and listen to France 2017, then visit HERE.