For the third consecutive year, PSG and Nantes failed to qualify directly for the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Like Montpellier this season in the European League, while Toulouse and Saint-Raphaël were eliminated before the main round in this second continental competition. Parisians and Nantais will therefore have to go through the playoffs, respectively against the Hungarians from Veszprem and the Danes from Gudme, with the first leg matches scheduled for this Wednesday.
The year 2018 seems far away, when Montpellier, Nantes, and PSG – who had assembled a powerhouse before reducing their financial resources in recent years – participated in the Final Four. With a Montpellier triumph to crown it all (the only French winner of the competition). An exceptional millésime, partly dictated by favorable circumstances, led the president of the National Handball League at the time, Olivier Girault, to describe France as the “best league in the world”.
“We used to boast about having the best league, but I think the best has always been in the Bundesliga,” retorts Nantes coach Grégory Cojean today, who believes the gap has widened since then. François-Xavier Houlet, now an agent and consultant after being a player and executive in Germany, agrees: France “was not very far off a few years ago, but for the past four or five years, the Bundesliga has become an extremely strong championship at all levels, both sportingly and economically.”
“Reaching Germany”
“One could say that the French league was catching up. But since Covid, the Bundesliga has regained a very strong economic momentum and taken a lead over the French league,” says Gaël Pelletier, president of HBC Nantes. The average budget of German clubs is around €7-8 million compared to €5.8 million in 2024-2025 for the French Starligue, according to LNH president Fabrice Boutet, who believes “the gap is stable” between the two leagues. “The goal is to catch up with Germany,” where handball is the second most popular sport and attracts nearly twice as many spectators on average at each match (5,525 in 2024-2025) in generally larger and more modern venues.
Like Dika Mem, who will leave FC Barcelona for Berlin in 2027 (despite an offer from PSG), the Bundesliga has become the preferred destination for top players. Another sign of German superiority: the last Champions League final was between Magdeburg and Berlin, while the European League was won, for the 21st time since 2000, by a German club (Flensburg).
But in the Champions League, France has managed to place representatives in the semi-finals every other year since 2020. Nantes, 3rd in the competition last year, hopes to return, with Paris aiming to reach the same stage.
This Wednesday, April 1st, Veszprem – PSG at 6:45 pm and Gudme – Nantes at 8:45 pm, live on Eurosport.
