France national handball team
| France | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||
| Information | |||
| Nickname | 1992: les « Bronzés » 1993–1996: les « Barjots » 2001–2008: les « Costauds » 2008–: les « Experts » |
||
| Association | French Handball Federation | ||
| Coach | Didier Dinart & Guillaume Gille | ||
| Most caps | Jackson Richardson (417) | ||
| Most goals | Jérôme Fernandez (1452) | ||
| Colours | |||
|
|||
| Results | |||
| Summer Olympics | |||
| Appearances | 6 (First in 1992) | ||
| Best result | 1st (2008, 2012) | ||
| World Championship | |||
| Appearances | 22 (First in 1954) | ||
| Best result | 1st (1995, 2001, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2017) | ||
| European Championship | |||
| Appearances | 12 (First in 1994) | ||
| Best result | 1st (2006, 2010, 2014) | ||
| Last updated on Unknown. | |||
France national handball team is the handball team, supervised by the French Handball Federation, that represents France in international matches. It is the first handball team to have held all three titles twice (the Danish women's team also held all three in 1997), and the only national team in its sport to hold six world titles. France's men handball team is widely regarded as the finest national team in the history of the sport and are as of January 2017, the reigning World Champions.
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 beaten 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.
...
Wikipedia