From the moment of the final whistle on Monday 24 January, after the easy victory of the Bleus against Montenegro, the players' eyes and the cameras of the broadcaster bein Sports were already focused on Wednesday's 26th match against Denmark. "it's going to be a real mountain to climb, but we're doing some hand to play these matches," declared French handballer Nikola Karabatic, lucid on the state of the forces.

Still undefeated at this stage of the competition, the Scandinavians did not reveal any loopholes in their spectacular play, giving the impression of strolling on the floors. "they are favorites because they haven't lost a euro match. For me, this is the team that plays the best in this competition, "continues the patriarch of the French team, who is well placed to know the state of shape of the Danes through his club colleague at Paris SG Mikkel Hansen, one of the greatest players of the moment.

Danes stay on two world titles

Always, coach Guillaume Gille, who will be back on the bench after a few days of confinement because of a positive Covid test, has never tired of boasting Danish qualities. "this team has an implacable side, it's a kind of machine, which, when it gets underway, is very complicated to stop," he repeats every time he is asked about the Danes who have often deprived the French of gold in recent years. Except in the final history of Tokyo, where the Bleus won (25-23) when they were not favorites compared to the recent charts.

→ Portrait. Euro handball: Guillaume Gille leads the blue to the summits

Olympic champions in 2016 by beating in the final … France and the Danes dominate their subject and remain on two world titles, in 2021 (France 4th) and 2019 (France 3rd). After having been deprived of titles in the 2000s by the French in their national sport, which they invented (see below), Les Rouge et Blanc took advantage of the relative decline of the Bleu regime in recent years to regain their offensive supremacy. "they shoot all the time and from every corner of the field," adds Guillaume Gille, boss of a French team known for his defensive qualities.

On the history of the 61 matches between the two countries, the French, carried by the generations of "Barjots" and "experts", lead slightly to the mark by 30 victories to 27 and four draws. A split of the points would suffice for the Bleus to qualify in the semi-final. Unless the Icelandic are beaten by Montenegro earlier Wednesday afternoon, sending the bruises into the last square before the kickoff.

Les Bleus do not rely on this improbable hypothesis and see this game as a real quarter-final, remaking the many finals between the two best world teams of the last 20 years. Unlike the French who find their coach but not their scorer Kentin Mahé, best director of the Bleus (behind Nikola Karabatic) with 453 goals in 140 selections.

→ Portrait. Euro handball: Valentin Porte, captain working for the collective

Fortunately, two big absentees from the first half of the tournament, Ludovic Fabregas and Karl Konan, will be there, in principle. On the front line against Montenegro, Karl Konan came back after a portion of the euro spent in his hotel room: "against Denmark, it's going to be an early final, we are aware of that. We'll have to be ready in the first place, until the end. Every mistake is gonna be fatal, but that's what we're meant to do, and we only want to play our luck to the end. "

"if we can put France on the plane it will be an advantage for us, so we're not going to play loose," he warned in the Team columns on Tuesday 25 January.

Local discipline

While two countries, Germany and Denmark, compete for the authorship of handball, sports historians tend to favour the latter. In the Middle ages, traces of comparable hand games can be found everywhere, particularly among the Inuit of Greenland (possession of the Danish Crown). The rules of the modern game were codified in 1898 by a Dane, Holger Nielsen. In 1919, the German Carl Schelenz created an open-air 11-player version, which first took precedence over the Danish version, before disappearing.