Metz Handball towards a record season
Unbeaten in the French championship and leader of their Champions League group, Messina’s handball team had an amazing first part of the season. Metz has changed its status in Europe and is now one of the biggest.
An impeccable. Perfect balance for Metz’s handball at the end of the first leg of the 2022-2023 French championship. In Brest, on Wednesday 26 January, the Messines achieved their twelfth victory in twelve days (19-23), which allows them to rise to the top of the standings with four points ahead of their great Breton rivals.
“We knew that in the title race it was a game to control, goalkeeper Camille Sinceet reacted at the end of the match. I’m super proud of the team! We had such a difficult month of January with seven games to play in 22 days, but we end it with seven wins.”.
Intractable in France, Emmanuel Mayonnade’s players have also left their mark on the European scene. In the Champions League on Saturday 21 January, they brought down Hungarian side Györ, the five-time winners of the competition. A 29-28 victory won in the last second of the match. Prove, if need be, that these dragons never let go.
In the most prestigious of European competitions, the French champions have won ten matches (for one loss and one draw). An exceptional career that today places them at the head of a very tough group. A victory in the last two days would guarantee them this first place, unprecedented in the club’s history and synonymous with direct qualification for the quarter-finals.
“It’s an extraordinary, almost unexpected start to the season, recognizes Emmanuel Mayonnade, the coach of Metz (who has extended his contract until 2024). But there is a lot of work behind all this, perhaps more than in previous seasons. Since summer we train twice a day almost every day. I think the team has managed to find some form of balance.”.
More than ever, Messina are credible candidates for victory in the Champions League. After discovering the Final Four in 2019 and then climbing to the 3rd step of the podium in 2022, Metz is now one of the favourites. The ambition to become the first French club to be crowned in the competition drives the players.
I want to win everything with Metz!
Bruna de Paula, captain of Metz Handball
“Of course it’s a goal for me and for the group. And we’ll give everything to achieve it”, says Chloé Valentini, the French winger. “The priority is the championship, but I want to win everything! celebrates its captain Bruna de Paula, who will join Györ at the end of the season. As long as I’m here, I’ll give everything to let Metz win so I can start peacefully.”
“If we had said four or five years ago that we could win the Champions League, we would have been thought crazy. assures Thierry Weizman, the president of the club with 24 French champion titles. Today it’s other clubs who say we’re the favorites in the competition, so that could be true.”
“The momentum is very, very good, but it’s only January, the Final Four is still far away. It will depend on our form in May-June” quench Emmanuel Mayonnade. There is certainly still a long way to go, but Metz impresses and imposes itself a little more every week as a great European.
A new status shaped over the seasons, which today translates into an attraction never seen before. Players of the highest international level are now interested in an adventure on the banks of the Moselle, even at the cost of cutting salaries.
Despite limited financial means compared to big European cars, Metz has just signed up the Danish star for next season Anne Mette Hansencaptain of Györ and best German player of the moment Alina Grijseels. “A few years ago, their agents would have hung up on me” jokes Thierry Weizman, quite proud to present his latest “take” in this video:
“Now we are managing to bring in big fish thanks to our sporting performances in recent years, continues the president. There is also the reputation of our coach. Many players want to work with Manu Mayonnade, as they know they will make progress. But our best advertisement is our players. When they tell friends of the national team about the quality of our structures, the beauty of the city and the fervor of the fans, I think the economic aspect is relegated to second place.”
Metz has clearly gone one step further. Step by step, the Moselle club established itself as one of the main strongholds of women’s handball in Europe. A feared and respected club, which would no longer surprise many if they won the Champions League in Budapest on June 4th.
