| France | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Information | |||
| Nickname | 1992:les Bronzés 1993–1996:les Barjots 2001–2008:les Costauds 2008–2017:les Experts | ||
| Association | French Handball Federation | ||
| Coach | Guillaume Gille | ||
| Assistant coach | Yohann Delattre | ||
| Mostcaps | Jackson Richardson (417) | ||
| Most goals | Jérôme Fernandez (1,463) | ||
| Colours | |||
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| Results | |||
| Summer Olympics | |||
| Appearances | 9 (First in1992) | ||
| Best result |  1st (2008,2012,2020) | ||
| World Championship | |||
| Appearances | 25 (First in1954) | ||
| Best result |  1st (1995,2001,2009,2011,2015,2017) | ||
| European Championship | |||
| Appearances | 16 (First in1994) | ||
| Best result |  1st (2006,2010,2014,2024) | ||
| Last updated on Unknown. | |||
TheFrance national handball team is supervised by theFrench 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 only national team in its sport to hold six world titles and a total of thirteen medals at theWorld Men's Handball Championship. With a total of five medals, including three gold in2008,2012 and2021, France is also the most successful Handball team at theSummer Olympics. As of January 2024, they are the defending European Champions.
Since the 1990s, France has emerged as a major handball team. France won the bronze medal in the1992 Summer Olympics, giving birth to their first nickname:les Bronzés (meaning tanned in French, a reference both to bronze and to cult French filmLes 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 the1993 World Championship, which they lost againstRussia.
In 1995, France won theWorld Championship in Iceland, defeatingCroatia in the final. The team became known asles Barjots because the players played the final with an extravagant haircut (barjot is a slang word forcrazy in French).
The team finished 4th in the1996 Summer Olympics (France lost the bronze medal game toSpain, whom they had beaten in the first round). France finished third a year later in the1997 World Championship. The team finished 6th in the1999 World Championship and in the2000 Summer Olympics.
France won the world title again in the2001 World Championship organised in France. During both their quarterfinal and final, againstGermany andSweden 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 ofles Costauds had already been world champions in 1995 withles Barjots:Jackson Richardson,Grégory Anquetil,Patrick Cazal, and the goalkeepersBruno Martini andChristian Gaudin.
The team finished third in the2003 World Championship. In the2004 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 goalkeeperAndrey Lavrov in the quarterfinals (24–26).
In the2005 World Championship, France finished third again. This was the last international competition played byJackson Richardson, a veteran from the first teamles 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 theEuropean Championship, a competition in which they had never won a medal until then. In the final, they overwhelmedSpain, the reigning world champions (31–23), against whom they had lost the opening match in the preliminary round.
In 2008, France finished third in theEuropean Championship. They were undefeated until the semi-final, which they lost to Croatia.
France won the gold medal in theBeijing Olympics. The French players elected to call themselvesLes Experts, which is the French title for the TV showCSI in France. The team won the gold medal in the2008 handball tournament in Beijing, defeating underdogsIceland in the final (28–23).Thierry Omeyer,Daniel Narcisse andBertrand Gille were voted into the tournament's All Star team.
France won the world title again in 2009 at the2009 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 beingGermany andRussia.
In the2011 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:
The 2012 and 2013 years were a mixed bag for the team; after an unexpected setback at the2012 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 inthis 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 andDaniel Narcisse retired after the tournament, with two Olympic gold medals, three European titles, and respectively five and four world championship titles.
| Competition |  |  |  | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olympic Games | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| World Championship | 6 | 2 | 5 | 13 |
| European Championship | 4 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Total | 13 | 3 | 8 | 24 |
Champions Runners-up Third place Fourth place
| Games | Round | Position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 1936 Berlin | did not participate | ||||||||
 1972 Munich | did not qualify | ||||||||
 1976 Montreal | |||||||||
 1980 Moscow | |||||||||
 1984 Los Angeles | |||||||||
 1988 Seoul | |||||||||
 1992 Barcelona | Third place | 3rd of 12 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 157 | 143 | +14 |
| 1996 Atlanta | Fourth place | 4th of 12 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 190 | 165 | +25 |
 2000 Sydney | Match for 5th place | 6th of 12 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 192 | 177 | +15 |
 2004 Athens | 5th of 12 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 221 | 176 | +45 | |
 2008 Beijing | Champions | 1st of 12 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 228 | 185 | +43 |
 2012 London | 1st of 12 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 229 | 175 | +54 | |
 2016 Rio de Janeiro | Runners-up | 2nd of 12 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 241 | 209 | +32 |
 2020 Tokyo | Champions | 1st of 12 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 256 | 222 | +34 |
 2024 Paris | Quarterfinals | 8th of 12 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 163 | 166 | −3 |
| 2028 Los Angeles | TBD | ||||||||
| 2032 Brisbane | |||||||||
| Total | 9/15 | 3 Titles | 68 | 49 | 3 | 16 | 1,877 | 1,618 | +259 |
| Year | Round | Position | GP | W | D | L | GS | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1938 | did not qualify | |||||||
 1954 | Preliminary Round | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 26 | 61 |
 1958 | Preliminary Round | 9 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 66 | 57 |
| 1961 | Main Round | 8 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 70 | 105 |
 1964 | Preliminary Round | 14 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 41 | 64 |
| 1967 | Preliminary Round | 10 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 34 | 41 |
| 1970 | Preliminary Round | 11 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 80 | 105 |
| 1974 | did not qualify | |||||||
 1978 | Preliminary Round | 16 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 54 | 97 |
| 1982 | did not qualify | |||||||
 1986 | did not qualify | |||||||
| 1990 | Second round | 9 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 161 | 158 |
| 1993 | Runners-up |  | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 155 | 151 |
 1995 | Champions |  | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 218 | 185 |
| 1997 | Third place |  | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 223 | 206 |
 1999 | Quarter-finals | 6 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 241 | 210 |
| 2001 | Champions | | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 233 | 172 |
 2003 | Third place | | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 257 | 194 |
 2005 | Third place | | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 301 | 240 |
| 2007 | Fourth place | 4 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 300 | 243 |
 2009 | Champions | | 10 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 296 | 211 |
| 2011 | Champions | | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 327 | 245 |
| 2013 | Quarter-finals | 6 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 207 | 182 |
 2015 | Champions | | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 259 | 215 |
| 2017 | Champions | | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 282 | 218 |
| /2019 | Third place | | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 278 | 251 |
| 2021 | Fourth place | 4 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 267 | 250 |
 /2023 | Runners-up | | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 301 | 245 |
// 2025 | Third place | | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 316 | 246 |
| 2027 | TBD | |||||||
| /2029 | Qualified as co-host | |||||||
| //2031 | TBD | |||||||
| Total | 25/32 | 6 titles | 188 | 130 | 7 | 51 | 4993 | 4352 |
| Year | Round | Position | GP | W | D | L | GS | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 5th/6th place | 6 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 148 | 148 |
| 1996 | 7th/8th place | 7 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 154 | 141 |
 1998 | 7th/8th place | 7 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 140 | 153 |
| 2000 | Fourth place | 4 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 173 | 164 |
| 2002 | 5th/6th place | 6 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 180 | 167 |
 2004 | 5th/6th place | 6 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 189 | 182 |
| 2006 | Champions | 1 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 243 | 192 |
| 2008 | Third place | 3 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 231 | 207 |
 2010 | Champions | 1 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 225 | 196 |
 2012 | Main round | 11 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 156 | 163 |
| 2014 | Champions | 1 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 259 | 227 |
| 2016 | 5th/6th place | 5 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 210 | 182 |
| 2018 | Third place | 3 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 244 | 212 |
| 2020 | Preliminary round | 14 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 82 | 79 |
  2022 | Fourth place | 4 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 278 | 248 |
| 2024 | Champions | 1 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 306 | 270 |
| 2026 | qualified | |||||||
| 2028 | TBD | |||||||
| 2030 | TBD | |||||||
| 2032 | qualified | |||||||
| Total | 17/18 | 4 titles | 113 | 73 | 10* | 30 | 3218 | 2931 |
Roster for the2025 World Men's Handball Championship.[1][2]
Head coach:Guillaume Gille
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Most capped players[edit] Highlighted names denote a player still playing or available for selection.
| Top goalscorers[edit] Highlighted names denote a player still playing or available for selection.
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Since 2002, France's kit is supplied byAdidas.
Handball at the Summer Olympics men's winners | |
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EHF European Championship winners | |
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