As the European handball championship looms, Grégoire Margotton is optimistic for Les Bleues despite the departure of Olivier Krumbholz.
A page has turned for French handball. Iconic coach of the French women's team, Olivier Krumbholz left his position at the end of the Olympic Games, closing one of the most glorious chapters of French sport with three World Champion titles (2003, 2017, 2023), an Olympic coronation (2020) and two silver medals (2016, 2024) and a European Champion title (2016).
With Olivier Krumbholz gone, his former assistant Sébastien Gardillou has taken over on the bench of the French team, which will therefore be on familiar ground as the European Championships begin this week in Austria, Hungary and Switzerland. So much so that Olivier Margotton, who will comment on the competition for TFX and TF1, is confident for the Olympic vice-champions.
Final square objective for the Blues
“The change of cycle has been managed by Olivier for three or four years. Sébastien accompanied him, so he knows the group perfectly, he confided in an interview with Télé Cable Sat. He was the man in the shadows, the one who put a little oil into human relationships, who worked a lot tactically. It seems to me a good decision to have designated him. I can't wait to see what he's going to come up with, what style he's going to want to put. »
Also, for the star commentator on the front page, the minimum objective of Les Bleues must be the semi-finals. “They are world champions and Olympic vice-champions, we have demands. They must be in the last square, that's their place, he asserted. I think they are safe from going off the road. It's an almost perfect team. Norway must be feared, always, eternally. It is historically the ultra-dominant power of the continent. And Denmark too. »
