The France national handball team is supervised by the French Handball Federation, and 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 Danish men's team have done so in 2026), and the only national team in its sport to hold six world titles and a total of thirteen medals at the World Men's Handball Championship. With a total of five medals, including three gold in 2008, 2012 and 2021, France is also the most successful Handball team at the Summer Olympics.
Results at international tournaments 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 scored 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.
The team finished third in the 2003 World Championship. In the 2004 Olympics, the teamed finished 5th. Although they won their five games of the preliminary round, the team lost to an ageing Russian team led by 42-year-old goalkeeper Andrey Lavrov in the quarterfinals (24–26).
In the 2005 World Championship, France finished third again. This was the last international competition played by Jackson Richardson, a veteran from the first team les Bronzés. The retirement of their star meant for the French team the final transition between the early successes and the new generation of players.
In 2006 France won for the first time the European Championship, a competition in which they had never won a medal until then. In the final, they overwhelmed Spain, the reigning world champions (31–23), against whom they had lost the opening match in the preliminary round.
In 2008, France finished third in the European Championship. They were undefeated until the semi-final, which they lost to Croatia.
France won the gold medal in the Beijing Olympics. The French players elected to call themselves Les Experts, which is the French title for the TV show CSI in France. The team won the gold medal in the 2008 handball tournament in Beijing, defeating underdogs Iceland in the final (28–23). Thierry Omeyer, Daniel Narcisse and Bertrand Gille were voted into the tournament's All Star team.
France won the world title again in 2009 at the 2009 World Championship, hosted by Croatia, against the organizing country, and the European title in 2010 in Austria, once more against Croatia. As a result, they became the first men's team to hold the three major titles in the sport (olympic title, world title and European title) simultaneously (Denmark women's national handball team held all three titles in 1997). It also became the third team to have won all three titles ever, the other two being Germany and Russia.
In the 2011 World Championship, France held its title, winning against Denmark (37–35 after extra time). This victory, in addition to granting an automatic participation to the 2012 Olympics, marked several achievements:
it became, with Romania (1964, 1974) and Sweden (1958), one of the few handball teams (on the men's side) to have successfully defended a world champion status; it became (and is the only, so far) the first national handball team in history to have won four major titles in a row; three players on the team (Jérôme Fernandez, Thierry Omeyer and Didier Dinart) achieved three world champions titles – putting them on par with Cornel Oţelea from Romania in the 60s (had he been present in 2009, Bertrand Gille would also have been one of them, but he missed 2009 due to injuries).
The 2012 and 2013 years were a mixed bag for the team; after an unexpected setback at the 2012 European championship where the team ended up in 11th place, it went on to be the first national handball team to retain the Olympic title at the London Olympic games. In 2013, they ended up being defeated by Croatia in this year's world championship.
2014 saw France regain its European title after losing it in 2012. Of note is that just like in 2009, the team ended up winning the final against the host country.
In 2015, they won their 5th World Champion title against host country Qatar. Thierry Omeyer was elected Most Valuable Player of the tournament; this was the first time in the IHF history that a goalkeeper was elected as an MVP. By doing so, they became the first team in the history of the sport to hold the three major titles for the second time.
In 2016, Les Experts lost their Olympic title in Rio, finishing second after a defeat in final against Denmark.
In 2017, they won their 6th World Champion title at home against Norway (33–26). Nikola Karabatic was elected Most Valuable Player of the tournament. Thierry Omeyer and Daniel Narcisse retired after the tournament, with two Olympic gold medals, three European titles, and respectively five and four world championship titles.
Honours Olympic Games Gold Medal: 2008, 2012, 2020 Silver Medal: 2016 Bronze Medal: 1992
World Championship Winners: 1995, 2001, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2017 Runners-up: 1993, 2023 Third-place: 1997, 2003, 2005, 2019, 2025
European Championship Winners: 2006, 2010, 2014, 2024 Third-place: 2008, 2018
EHF Euro Cup Winners: 2026
Competition TotalOlympic Games3 1 1 5World Championship6 2 5 13European Championship4 0 2 6 Total 13 3 8 24
Competitive record Champions Runners-up Third place Fourth place
Olympic Games GamesRoundPosition 1936 Berlindid not participate 1972 Munichdid not qualify 1976 Montreal 1980 Moscow 1984 Los Angeles 1988 Seoul 1992 BarcelonaThird place3rd of 127502157143 +14 1996 AtlantaFourth place4th of 127403190165 +25 2000 SydneyMatch for 5th place6th of 128413192177 +15 2004 Athens5th of 128701221176 +45 2008 BeijingChampions1st of 128710228185 +43 2012 London1st of 128701229175 +54 2016 Rio de JaneiroRunners-up2nd of 128602241209 +32 2020 TokyoChampions1st of 128701256222 +34 2024 ParisQuarterfinals8th of 126213163166 −3 2028 Los AngelesTBD 2032 BrisbaneTotal9/153 Titles68493161,8771,618+259
World Championship YearRoundPosition 1938did not qualify 1954Preliminary Round630122661 1958Preliminary Round931026657 1961Main Round8610570105 1964Preliminary Round1430034164 1967Preliminary Round1031023441 1970Preliminary Round11610580105 1974did not qualify 1978Preliminary Round1630035497 1982did not qualify 1986did not qualify 1990Second round97313161158 1993Runners-up7502155151 1995Champions9702218185 1997Third place9702223206 1999Quarter-finals69603241210 2001Champions9900233172 2003Third place9702257194 2005Third place10622301240 2007Fourth place410604300243 2009Champions10901296211 2011Champions10910327245 2013Quarter-finals67502207182 2015Champions9810259215 2017Champions9900282218/ 2019Third place10712278251 2021Fourth place49702267250/ 2023Runners-up9801301245// 2025Third place9801316246 2027Qualified/ 2029Qualified as co-host// 2031TBDTotal26/326 titles18813075149934352
European Championship YearRoundPosition 19945th/6th place66213148148 19967th/8th place76402154141 19987th/8th place76213140153 2000Fourth place47412173164 20025th/6th place67322180167 20045th/6th place67313189182 2006Champions1 8701243192 2008Third place3 8602231207 2010Champions1 8620225196 2012Main round116213156163 2014Champions1 8701259227 20165th/6th place57502210182 2018Third place3 8701244212 2020Preliminary round1431028279 2022Fourth place49603278248 2024Champions1 9810306270 2026 Main round77403267232 2028TBD 2030TBD 2032Qualified as co-hostTotal17/184 titles1207710*3334853163 *Denotes draws include knockout matches decided in a penalty shootout.
Team Current squad Roster for the 2026 European Men's Handball Championship.
Head coach: Talant Dujshebaev
Records
Most capped players
#NameCareerCapsGoals1Jackson Richardson1990–20054177872Jérôme Fernandez1997–20153901,4633Didier Dinart1996–20133791624Thierry Omeyer1999–201735845Nikola Karabatić2002–20243561,2936Daniel Narcisse2000–20173119437Guillaume Gille1996–20123086788Michaël Guigou2002–202130710219Philippe Gardent1983–199529863510Pascal Mahé1984–1996297739Last updated: 11 January 2023
Top goalscorers
#PlayerCareerGoalsCapsAverage1Jérôme Fernandez1997–20151,4633902Nikola Karabatić2002–20241,2933563Michaël Guigou2002–20211,0213074Frédéric Volle1987–19961,0162415Daniel Narcisse2000–20179433116Stéphane Stoecklin1990–19998982387Luc Abalo2005–20218592898Bertrand Gille1997–20138062689Jackson Richardson1990–200578741710Pascal Mahé1984–1996739297Last updated: 11 January 2023
References
External links
IHF profile