France (FRA)

Despite winning gold at the World Championship and Olympic Games recently – in 2017 and 2021, respectively – France have not been able to lift the trophy at a European championship since 2014.

If you only look at the statistics, things do not look too encouraging. It has been 16 years since “Les Bleus” were able to step on the podium at a EHF EURO in Olympic years. Last time, their trip to Trondheim for the EHF EURO 2020 turned into a disaster, with an elimination in the preliminary round and a coach replacement a few weeks later.

Things seem much more stable now than they were four years ago. Guillaume Gille has now found the core of his team, relying on some of the best players in the world. Just think about the potential of a roster made of Ludovic Fabregas, Dika Mem and Nédim Rémili, to which you would add the experience of the Karabatic brothers. To be honest, the potential seems endless.

But now is the time to translate it on the court. Results have been gradually improving since 2020, with an Olympic title in Tokyo in 2021, as well as a silver medal at the last World Championship. The motivation will be high in the French team to finally prove the statistics wrong, as well as to offer a last EHF EURO medal to Nikola Karabatic.

Karabatic has won the competition three times already, in 2006, 2010 and 2014, but the French superstar will be playing for the last time in Germany in January, before retiring at the end of the season. With a roster so talented and such a big motivation, no need to say that France are aiming high this time again.