CdF – Women – Metz for a twelfth, Dijon for a first

It’s an unprecedented final, between Metz Handball and JDA Dijon, which will close the second day of the French Cup final, on Saturday May 18 at the Adidas Arena in Paris (7 p.m., live on beIN Sports, the Channel l’Equipe and HandballTV).

It is an almost unprecedented final to which spectators at the Adidas Arena in Paris will be entitled on Saturday May 18. “Almost” unprecedented, since if Metz Handball has already lifted the trophy eleven times and remains the title holder, the JDA has reached this stage of the competition three times, but not under this name, but under that of Cercle Dijon Bourgogne. It was under this different name that the Burgundian club faced Metz Handball in May 2013, on the floor of the Palais Omnisports de Paris Bercy. The score was clear (37-29 in favor of Lorraines) but, eleven years later, the JDA Dijon players have a new chance to lift the trophy.

The Dijonnaises will try to follow in the footsteps of their fellow basketball players, winners of the French Cup a few weeks ago on the floor of the Accor Arena in Paris. For this, the game will not be easy against the Messines title holders, but Anthony Favier’s girls showed that they were not afraid of tackling bigger players than themselves. Nantes in the semi-final (27-22) and Nice in the quarter (26-20) were unable to do anything against the enthusiasm of the Dijonnaises, led by French international Claire Vautier. “We want each player to be able to bring a little something to do something big, and the girls did that in the semi-final. We know that we are capable of annoying teams bigger than us” said the JDA coach after his daughters’ victory against the Neptunes. “This final is the icing on the cake, but we’re going to do everything we can to sink our teeth into it. »

If for Dijon, this final is a first in eleven years, in Metz, the state of mind is slightly different. The Lorraine club has lifted the French Cup trophy eleven times since 1990, including the last two times, in 2022 and 2023. Last year, at the same time, the girls in yellow and blue had easily disposed of Paris 92 (37-24) on the floor of the Accor Arena in Paris. “This competition represents a lot for the Metz Handball club. There is always a real pride in winning trophies with a club that has such a rich history. And we must not believe that because we have a team capable of winning the Champions League, the French Cup is not important” underlined Metz coach Emmanuel Mayonnade at the time.

The proof: its players stripped themselves in the semi-final to seek their qualification on the field of Brest (35-29), a few weeks after beating Chambray in the quarter-final (33-23). And if the final, on paper, may appear unbalanced – Dijon has not beaten Metz in an official match since 2014 – the Lorraine technician knows well that, in a match, anything is possible. “All the counters are reset to zero in a final, and that’s what makes the beauty of the Coupe de France. In a dry match, everyone can beat everyone, so we will be very careful about how we prepare the players. It’s not like the house to think that a match is won before it’s played.” finishes Mayonnade, who intends to lift the trophy for the third time in three years.