Richardson is back

Jackson Richardson will play again! The news of the weekend came from France: the legendary French playmaker signed for Rhein-Neckar Löwen.

The announcement came as a surprise to handball fans as Richardson said goodbye to professional handball a year ago when he retired from Chambery.

The German club announced on Sunday that “Jack” will play for Löwen until the end of this season. The injury of Polish former Tkaczyk forced the Germans to look for a new player. The club convinced Richardson to return.

“We are still standing in three competitions: Champions League and German Cup semi-finals and we have a chance to reach the first three places in the Bundesliga. As Grzegorz Tkaczyk fell out fro a short period and our backcourt is anyway not complete, we had to react. We had to do this for our fans and for our team if we have come this far,“ said Löwen’s manager, Thorsten Storm.

Unique roll of honour

During his rich career, the French star played in France (OM Vitrolles and Chambery), in Spain (Portland San Antonio) and in Germany (Grosswallstad). He won two World Championship (1995 and 2001) and a Champions League titles (2001 with Portland). Richardson played 417 games for the French national team and he was World Player of the Year in 1995.

“We signed an experienced playmaker, Jackson Richardson. He can surely help us,“ added coach Wolfgang Schwenke.

French connection

Richardson could meet an old friend in the Champions League semi-final, Bruno Martini. The goalkeeper also came back from retirement when Kiel signed him two weeks ago. This semi-final tie on 26 and 30 April will anyway have a French connection: Karabatic, Omeyer, Martini and Richardson will represent France in the colours of the two teams.