Despite their numerous titles of the past years, French coach Claude Onesta still succeeds in motivating himself and his team – Top favourite also in Sweden
He’s the father of the historic triple victory: Claude Onesta led the French men’s team to the Olympic victory (2008 in Beijing), the WCh title (2009 in Croatia) and the gold medal at the European Championship (2010 in Austria). Before the World Championship in Sweden, the World Handball Magazine talked to 53-year-old Onesta, who has coached the national team since 2001, succeeding legendary Daniel Costantini. At the WCh in Sweden the French are again the big favourite – despite strong competitors in the Preliminary Round.
Your team was unbeatable at the last tournaments. How high are the expectations in France before the WCh in Sweden?
Onesta: Everyone around the team expects the title. But it’s hard to predict if we can become World Champion again. It depends largely on the players who are available for the WCh without injuries. And of course we’re not the only team that wants to win the title. In view of the large amount of top teams in international handball, small details will decide the outcome. But of course I want to become World Champion, too.
In the Preliminary Round your team will play against Spain, World Champion of 2005, and Germany, World Champion of 2007. What was your first reaction after the draw?
Onesta: This constellation is no problem for me, as we don’t fear any opponent. The stronger the opponent, the bigger the concentration within the team. The problem is not the competitors, but rather the short preparation time before the WCh.
After all the titles you and your team won – how do you motivate yourself for the WCh in Sweden?
Onesta: If you love a woman who is very pretty, you don’t want to love her once, but again and again. If you’ve won a title, you want to have this feeling over and over again, you want to become better and better. We are proud of our domination in international handball, but we respect all opponents. We work very hard for it and it’s our biggest challenge to win over and over again. It’s fantastic to work with this team and we have experienced the great atmosphere at award ceremonies a couple of times. We don’t want this story to end – this is our motivation.
Most of your internationals play for international top clubs. Does this make everything easier for you?
Onesta: It’s very important for all players of the team that they play for the best clubs of the world, as they face constant competition – this is much better than if I had only players who are the top stars of their clubs and therefore have to give their 100 per cent at all times. So they all learned to take responsibility and to stand up to world-class players already during training. So they are used to pressure, which is a big advantage with regard to the important WCh matches.
Have people in your country become more interested in handball since the victories of your team? Are there more young handball players now?
Onesta: Handball has made great progress in France over the last years. There are 400,000 handball players and it belongs to the most important sports in France. The national team is now part of the French sporting culture. And what’s even more important: The French don’t only like this team because of their titles, but also because of their friendly attitude and their social values. It’s the exact opposite of the attitude of the national football team during the World Cup in South Africa.
Back to the WCh in Sweden – apart from France, who do you regard as favourites?
Onesta: First of all there are of course the usual suspects. But apart from them there are some teams that have become much younger and also stronger over the last years. I think that at least eight teams can hope to reach the semi-finals. Host Sweden also belongs to these teams.
The World Champion of Malmö will qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games in London as the first team after host Great Britain. How important would it be for you in this regard to win the title?
Onesta: It would be an incredible advantage compared to all other countries, as we would have planning reliability until the Olympics. 2012 would otherwise be a really tough year with the European Championship, the finals of the season in Champions League and national leagues, the qualification for the Olympics, the preparation for the Olympics. The players wouldn’t have any time to take a breath, so it would be a big advantage to know already in January 2011 that you will participate.