The sentence comes from the players themselves, perfectly summed up by Aymeric Minne. “We don’t deserve to be in the semi-final, it’s a failure,” sighs the Nantes center-half. The Blues’ Euro, stopped suddenly before the last four, is a shipwreck from which there is not much positive to come back from. They were inconsistent, messy, absent in defense, clumsy in attack, sometimes lost in patterns that were not suitable.
Having left the European Top 6 (7th), they will have to go through a humiliating barrage in May to qualify for the 2027 World Cup. This Euro is the worst since 2020 (12th) which at the time had cost the coach, Didier Dinart, world champion three years earlier, his job. It was his assistant Guillaume Gille who was entrusted with the steering wheel.
Does this fiasco, 18 months after the Olympic crash, in turn put him in danger? Even if he has a contract that runs until 2029, the answer is necessarily yes. Contacted, Philippe Bana, the president of the federation, said that now is not the time to discuss this subject. Same kind of response from the coach himself: “This is neither the place nor the time to discuss this subject,” he confided before returning to Paris. It’s not the defeat that changes anything in the affection I have for this group and the commitment I have around this project.”
After six years in the position and with a year of Covid to begin with, the record of the boss of the Blues remains very respectable: an Olympic title (2021), a European (2024) and two world medalists (silver 2023, bronze 2025).
But it is spoiled by the disaster of the Games and this Euro which ended in a fishtail. With the disappointing bronze medal from the last world championship, the Blues remain on three (more or less) failed campaigns, with disappointing play.
And the coach necessarily has his share of responsibility. Quickly reappointed a few hours after the Olympic crash, he saved his place thanks to an immunity totem made with the 2024 European title, 6 months earlier. “We are not in a world of Kleenex coaches, that is not the fashion for handball. When we change, it means there is a drama,” Philippe Bana said in Lille a few hours after the Olympic defeat. This totem is a little chipped now.
This week, Guillaume Gille was overwhelmed by the tactical mastery of his Spanish colleague without finding a solution. On Wednesday, against the Germans, he did not find the springs to restart the stalled mechanism. Is it time to change the pilot on the plane? “I hear that we can ask to change it,” admits Grégory Anquetil, the double world champion in 1995 and 2001. But I have another question who to replace him? I don’t see anyone even though I also hear bullshit like we must call Patrice Canayer or Claude Onesta to replace him”.
If there was to be rapid change, it would not come from within. His assistant, Yohann Delattre, should join Dunkerque in the coming hours to finish the season. According to the first reports, the departure of Guillaume Gille is in reality not the solution envisaged in the short term. Except in 2020, the Federation does not have the habit of firing its coaches from the inner circle, even in the storm.
Its policy is rather to work over the long term. She has two horizons in her sights: the Los Angeles Games and the 2029 Worlds which will be partly organized in France.
We must not miss these, otherwise we will send French handball back 40 years. “Rather than firing Guillaume Gille to take over Grégory Anquetil, we must create a team around him, a reinforced staff to help him progress and work. Guillaume is a good person, who has fiber and is passionate. He is a hard worker who wants to do his job well. But he’s too nice when sometimes you have to have a good laugh. »
He continues: “In these conditions, we could talk about Canayer, Onesta or Thierry Anti, warriors to help him move forward faster. The France team is a team of artists but not warriors. And above all, we must realize that today’s French team is less strong than those before. We had the greatest team in history with the best players in the world. But this team no longer exists. We cannot therefore expect the same results from the news.”
