French federation enters beach handball circus

Ever since the first European Beach Handball Championship in 2000, one team - one of the strongholds when it comes to the indoor sport - has been missing from the action: France.

However, this could be about to change as the French Handball Federation has announced that it will organise its first beach handball tournament, taking place on 2 and 3 July on the Esplanade de Montavilet on France's Atlantic coast.

So far, the popular beach version of handball in France has been sandball which is similar to some extent but also different in various aspects compared to beach handball.

The French federation is now putting in a lot of effort to popularise beach handball, highlighted by the fact that it has been announced that the French teams at Montavilet will be led by former French internationals Bertrand Gille and Valérie Nicolas.

"It will be the first official tournament for the new men’s and women’s french beach handball national teams," Maximilien Costeseque of the French Handball Federation said.

"We are looking for international teams interesting to participate at this historic tournament for the development and awareness of beach handball in France."

Teams interested participating should contact the FFHB's Aurélie Guillaumat (a.guillaumat@handball-france.eu / +33(0) 146150360).