Coach: Johann Delattre

 

Key Players: Dika Mem (Right Back), Julien Meyer (Goalkeeper), Melvyn Richardson (Right Back)

 

Qualification information: 2015 IHF Men’s Youth (U19) World Championship – winners

 

History in Tournament: 1977: 12th, 1979: 9th, 1981: 8th, 1983: 14th, 1985: DNQ, 1987: 8th, 1989: 6th, 1991: 11th, 1993: DNQ, 1995: 7th, 1997: 3rd, 1999: 4th, 2001-2003: DNQ, 2005: 14th, 2007: 7th, 2009: 11th, 2011: 6th, 2013: 3rd, 2015: 1st

 

Overview:

 

France travel to Algeria as the defending champions in not only the Junior (U21) age category, but also the Youth (U19) age group – and the European side therefore have high expectations aimed at finishing on the podium.

 

France won the 2015 Junior World Championship with a 26:24 victory against Denmark in the final, after defeating Egypt 32:30 in the semi-final, Romania 30:20 in the quarter-final stage, and Norway 24:20 in the eighth-final. France were undefeated in the group phase at the championship held in Brazil, where Julien Meyer was named as the All-star goalkeeper.

 

In 2015, as part of the U19 age group, Meyer stepped in to fill a gap in the Junior squad left by injuries. Meyer saved a total of 94 shots out of 252 attempts against him at Brazil 2015 to finish with a 37.3% save rate overall. Meyer will be key in France’s Algeria 2017 campaign, alongside a host of other talented players already making their mark in their respective club teams – and even in the senior national side. 

 

Right back Dika Mem plays his club handball with record VELUX EHF Champions League winners FC Barcelona Lassa, and contributed 28 goals to France’s gold medal-winning campaign at the 2015 IHF Men’s Youth (U19) World Championship. Both Mem and Meyer have already been part of France’s world title-winning senior squad, and Meyer has been named as a particular talent for the future to replace legendary Thierry Omeyer.

 

MVP and All-star centre back at Russia 2015, Melvyn Richardson, led France on the scoring chart two years ago with 45 goals scored at an impressive 75% – the most accurate shooting statistic in the top 20 scorers at the championship. Close behind Richardson was back Aymeric Minne with 40 goals.

 

Other players (on the provisional list as provided in June 2017) to watch include PSG Handball’s Dylan Garain and Adama Keita, who made it to the 2016/17 VELUX EHF Champions League finals with the French champions; HBC Nantes’ Romain Lagarde, Dragan Pechmalbec and Junior Scott; and Saint-Raphael Var Handball’s Alexian Trottet and Romain Mathias. Nantes made it to the VELUX EHF Champions League Last 16 this season, while Saint-Raphael Var contested the EHF Cup final, though they lost to 2015 and 2016 Super Globe champions Füchse Berlin.

 

France’s squad is nothing short of formidable, and the defending champions are clear favourites to claim a medal at Algeria 2017. To do so, they will need to record strong results in competitive Group B, where they will face 2015 Junior World Championship silver medallists Denmark, Egypt, Qatar, Sweden and their 2015 Youth World Championship final opponents, Slovenia.

 

Group at Algeria 2017:

Group B: France, Egypt, Denmark, Slovenia, Qatar, Sweden

 

Games at Algeria 2017:

All times local

 

Tuesday 18 July                FRA-EGY 16:00

Wednesday 19 July        SWE-FRA 18:00

Friday 21 July                    FRA-SLO 10:00

Saturday 22 July               QAT-FRA 18:00

Monday 24 July                FRA-DEN 14:00

 

IHF Website & Social Media:

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