Among handball players, we give the keys to the truck to the center half. He’s like the playmaker in basketball or number 10 in football. In the French team during this Euro and in the absence of Nedim Remili withdrawn on the eve of the tournament, this central position is given to Aymeric Minne.
Custodian of the game, the Nantais, opposed this Monday to Spain in a tricky match, is not a partridge of the year. At 28, he has been international for 5 years and has exceeded the milestone of 50 caps (54).
But he has a particularity. In a selection full of titles, alongside comrades who are already Olympic, world and European champions (Mem, Fabregas, etc.), he has never won anything with the French team. His record is summed up by a bronze medal won a year ago from the World Cup.
“At the start of the preparation,” says the native of Melun where his father played, “we looked at it. We said to ourselves that in the team, some have already won everything. And me, when I think about it, I have nothing, no gold medal, no title. This gives me even more strength to finally go and get one myself. In any case, when you are in this French team, you have an obligation to achieve results. Winning at the end is the constant goal and when you don’t have the best medal at the end, it feels like a failure.”
To be precise, Aymeric Minne still has a gold medal in his wardrobe: the one won at the Under-19 World Cup in 2015. He already accompanied Ludovic Fabregas, Benoît Kounkoud, Melvyn Richardson, Dika Mem and Yanis Lenne in Russia, still present with him 11 years later in Denmark. “My biggest disappointment was 2 years ago,” rewinds the former Toulouse and Aix player.
We rewind. January 2024. On the eve of the previous Euro, Aymeric Minne is part of the list for Germany. But the coach slams the door in his face in the final airlock. He is the last one left out of the final selection.
“I’ve had disappointments before, but I didn’t expect this one to hurt so much. The day after the decision, I returned to Nantes and immediately trained with the young people at the training center. A few hours earlier, I was with the guys from the France team and suddenly with the kids from Nantes. It was brutal but it helped me. I worked and a few months later, I had the chance to take part in the Games,” confides the Nantes resident with a sigh.
The trauma of Euro 2024
Three weeks after his ouster from the list in 2024, the Blues became European champions without him. And at the Games obviously, he did not add to his record. Since then, he has become one of the captains. Its role is no longer in question. He is one of the first that Guillaume Gille, the coach, places on his list.
At the club, his CV is hardly any better. He is still chasing a French champion title. For 11 years, it has been the preserve of PSG. The international must be content with a few French Cups (2023 and 2024), a League Cup (2022) or more quickly forgotten champion trophies (2022 and 2024).
2026 is its last opportunity to repair this lack. After 8 seasons in Nantes, Minne will take charge of the Bundesliga next summer. He signed for 4 years in Flensburg with the ambition of one day winning the Champions League. This one too, he only touched upon by finishing 3rd in the Final Four in 2025.
So he was asked the inevitable but embarrassing question. What does he finally choose between a title with Nantes or a gold medal with France? “It’s too complicated to choose, I can’t,” promises the Nantes resident with a smile. I would like to leave Nantes with a trophy, the one he is missing. On the other hand, I would love to finally have a gold medal with the Blues. It’s impossible to choose, I’ll take both if possible. »
This is still within the realm of possibility, obviously, without any guarantee however. In the championship, Nantes is, in fact, still two points ahead of PSG. In the French team, the path promised to his team at the Euro in the coming days, after the frustrating defeat against Denmark on Thursday (32-29), then the clear success against Portugal on Saturday January 24 (46-38), remains littered with pitfalls.
“There is no need to calculate,” insists Aymeric Minne. We blew our only joker by losing against the Danes. » Opposed to Spain, already eliminated, this Monday, then Germany on Wednesday, the Blues, with 4 points and a very favorable goal difference, have their destiny in hand in the race for the semi-finals. Enough to increase the title ambitions of the master of the game tenfold.
