How many Tokyo Olympic champions will play in France?
A true benchmark championship in Europe behind its German counterpart, the Liqui Moly Starligue - named after the new title partner instead of LIDL - continues the trend that began a few seasons ago. Namely that the best French players are no longer exported, with a few exceptions, especially on the side of Barcelona. Thus, this season, the French public, who will also make their comeback in theaters, will be able to celebrate nine of Tokyo's Olympic champions (ten if we add Rémi Desbonnet, who remained a reservist during the Games). Main provider of gold, Paris SG will rely on its quintet Luka and Nikola Karabatic, Nedim Remili, Vincent Gérard and Yann Genty (who has announced his international retirement). Montpellier will be able to count on Hugo Descat and Valentin Porte,Aix on Romain Lagarde and finally Nîmes on Michaël Guigou, who also drew a line on the Blues. In addition, 15 other players who have played in the Games will play in France, with the Danish Mikkel Hansen (Paris SG) in the lead.
Paris SG, again and again?
PSG towards a roller coaster? Champions of France for the past seven seasons, the Parisians will obviously be the big favorites to their own succession. Last year, the capital club had crushed the competition like never before with the best attack (727 goals scored), the best defense (537 goals conceded) and, above all, a record series of 22 consecutive victories. Never seen. With its colossal budget - on the scale of handball - of 17.8 million euros (ten million more than its main rivals Nantes and Montpellier), PSG has room. Especially since its workforce has remained virtually unchanged with only two departures this summer - Dylan Nahi (Kielce) and Viran Morros (Fusche Berlin) - for an arrival (Sadou N'Tanzi back from loan). In other words, a priori, there is little chance that theParisian hegemony came to an abrupt end. Especially since this season will be special for the club, which will experience a kind of end of cycle programmed with the departures next summer of Nedim Remili, Vincent Gérard or Mikkel Hansen. This therefore means that everyone will be keen to end the adventure on the best possible note.
Montpellier and Nantes as outsiders
Even if the density of the championship does not exclude surprises, Montpellier and Nantes represent, on paper, the two most credible candidates for second place, qualifying for the Champions League.
For the Hérault club, which will play the queen of European competitions this season, the challenge will be sizeable since for two seasons, the team that accompanies Paris SG has not managed to finish second.
Two years ago, Montpellier had already failed, while last year, it was Nantes who had broken their teeth trying to lead both.
On the subject, Patrice Canayer, the coach of Montpellier, is clear: “
We see that playing the Champions League costs four or five points in the league.
More than on the technical level, we tried to work mentally, on the ability to chain matches every three days while being at the top level.
»Will this be enough?
To have.
In any case, both Montpellier and Nantes experienced a lot of changes in the offseason, with 5 and 6 finishes respectively.
Who are the promoted?
A return and a discovery. Two years after leaving the elite, Saran, the club from the Orleans suburbs, is preparing to reconnect with the Starligue, hoping this time to stay there for more than a season. As for Nancy, it will be a great first for the Lorraine club. Finalist last season in the ProLigue, Nancy recruited five experienced players to try to avoid making the elevator, as it often happens for the promoted. Saran, he renewed his squad even more with nine new players, which made Fabien Courtial, his trainer, say on the Handnews site: "
This makes a workforce renewed by more than 50%, it was a real desire on our part.
It means that the adventure of last season is a little forgotten, we move on and in my opinion, it is not worse.
Some of these young people have everything to prove with us.
So will both of them succeed in perpetuating their presence in the Starligue?
How to follow the Liqui Moly Starligue?
All league matches will be broadcast this season. Each day, BeIn Sport will broadcast three, with slots already scheduled: Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 5 p.m. And the National Handball League will broadcast the other five matches free of charge via its website and Youtube channel. As a reminder, BeIn Sport holds the rights to the Starligue until 2023, for an amount estimated at around 4 million euros per season.
