Behind Les Bleus Success

29 Jan. 2015

Behind Les Bleus Success

For more than twenty years, France have been one of the best handball teams in the world. The team are World Champions four times over (1995, 2001, 2009 and 2011), two-time Olympic Champions (2008 and 2012) and have been crowned European Champions three times (2006, 2010 and 2014). 

They are the first men’s handball team to hold all three major titles simultaneously – and if they qualify for the final with a win against Spain in the semi-final, there will only be one more opponent in the way of them holding all three again. 

So what has made the France team so successful?

France’s first major tournament was the Men’s World Championship in 1954, but it was not until the 1992 Olympics Games in Barcelona that they won their first medal (bronze). 

This result initiated a complete transformation for French handball, and since then they have been one of the most successful and consistent teams on the European and world stage. 

The French system

According to Yves Michel, French journalist and photographer for specialist handball website Handzone, these results have come from several years of work, training and a system designed to develop young players:

“The French system is effective because players are detected early and put into training centres. Now, there is a handball culture In France because handball is the most popular sport in school. Handball has a reputation, an attraction that encouraged the youth to get involved.”

This popular fervour started, he explained, with the first real results of French team in 1992.

“After the bronze medal in 1992, young people realised handball was a pleasant sport and it can be practised everywhere,” he said. 

French national team coach Claude Onesta says the current system is working very well: 

“When international players leave and young players arrive at almost the same level, this shows that the French system constantly produces high-quality players.” 

“Through this method, we find the best players for our national team.” 

Onesta says the secrets of the French team’s success are work, the quality of players and the atmosphere that exists in the group.

“People respect each other a lot, share a lot and work together a lot. It is a smart team with players of great value.”
The cultural mix 

“Our country has the particularity of having the most important cultural mix in Europe. People bring their own culture, their sensibility, their strength and their weaknesses,” said Michel.

According to Michel, it is this melting pot combined with the development system that constitute the most important aspects of French handball. 

Michel also talked about one important decision that helped bring quality and made the French national league better. 

“Initially, clubs that qualified for Ligue 1 had to prove they had a budget of 1.6 million Euros to be able to play. This was a rule in the French handball for a long time. 

“However, after a comparison with Spain, we realised that if this law was applied to the Spanish league, only three clubs could afford to play. This was an opportunity to review our legislation. It is also one key that brings quality to the French championship.”

The system in France is clearly working, as the French side have just made it to their tenth World Championship Semi-Final. Now the big question is: will France add another trophy to their cabinet?  

Written by AIPS Young Reporter Philippe Bationo.