One of the finest records of French sport hangs up. In a tweet published this February 14 in the morning, French time, the Zeekstar Tokyo announces that Luc Abalo is retiring. The Zeekstar Tokyo is the club in which the former Parisian has been playing for 18 months. Following the Tokyo Games and his third Olympic gold medal, the native of Ivry remained in Japan. The Tokyo club announces this retirement in a tweet, indicating that the ceremony marking the departure of the French will take place on February 25, the day of the last game of the season at home to Zeekstar.
“The first thing that comes to mind when I’m asked to say a word to supporters and fans is to thank them,” said the former international in a statement released by the club. And that it’s really a chance in a lifetime to know that thanks to our passion for our sport we were able to provide emotions to people so it was really an honor to have had your support. I wish the best to everyone who reads these words. May the force be with you. »
Luc Abalo is an endearing character and first of all an extraordinary track record. It’s simple: the right winger has won everything. He won three Olympic gold medals (2008, 2012, 2021) and a silver medal in 2016. He won his first title with the Blues in 2006, a Euro. He won others in 2010 and 2014, World Championships? Luc Abalo won three in 2009, 2011 and 2017. Injured, he missed the meeting in Qatar in 2015 which could have brought him an additional one.
In club, his record is also very very impressive: a Champions League in 2009 with the Spanish club Ciudad Real and three finals lost in 2011, 2012 and 2017 with PSG. He also won 8 championship titles, the first with his training club Ivry in 2007 and the others with Paris, which he joined in 2012 at the start of the adventure when Paris-handball became PSG. It was in Ivry in the suburbs of Paris that Luc Abalo began his career. He played there from 2002 to 2008, an adventure punctuated by a French championship title, the club’s last in 2007. Abalo then spent 4 years in Spain in Ciudad Real before joining PSG from 2012 to 2020. He played a total of 207 games with the Parisian jersey and won everything with him, except the Champions League.
End of career in Japan
A man of travels and cultures, Luc Abalo then decided to give a more exotic dimension to his career. He first played for a year in the Norwegian championship at Elverum before trying his luck in Japan after leaving the Tokyo Games. He had ended his international career after the final after 289 games in Blue. “I’ve always wanted to explore the world through my sport, he explained to Parisian in 2021. This is also why I went to Norway. There, Japan still offers me the opportunity to experience something completely different. When I was in Spain (between 2008 and 2012), I realized that I had the profile to play in the biggest clubs, that I was made to experience great sporting things, but that it was not not all. »
On the day of the final of the last World Championship against Denmark, we contacted him to be our main witness for the match. But the significant gap between Sweden, the venue for the final, and Tokyo did not allow him to do so. Artist, painter, Luc Abalo will not sit idly by now that the ball is (almost) hung up. Zeekstar Tokyo also “intends to continue its collaboration with Abalo after his retirement in order to benefit from his support and his advice of experience”, wrote the Japanese club on its website.
This announcement on the other side of the world of a 38-year-old player who marked French sport is not a surprise. But she is turning a page in handball in France and not even just in handball. After Michaël Guigou who also ended his career in June 2022, Luc Abalo was a member of the trio of French Olympic champions. There is only one left on the pitch: Nikola Karabatic. At almost 39, he has returned for another year but will not go beyond the summer of 2024.
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