2023-09-14 08:36:11
The PSG handball European campaign begins this Thursday, September 14 and will end at the beginning of June. The French champion club travels to Hungary to face Szeged (6:45 p.m., Eurosport). This is not the most difficult start for Paris, but it symbolizes what awaits Nikola Karabatic’s partners during the group stage stretched until March.
A group stage way too long
Sixteen teams were divided into two groups of eight. At the end of a mini-championship in two-way matches, the clubs ranked in the first two places advance directly to the quarter-finals. The teams positioned between third and sixth place go through the round of 16 and the last two are eliminated. Before playing the final matches, Paris will have to play 14 group matches of sometimes limited interest.
Around French clubs, we are campaigning to change after 2025, this formula which struggles to inspire. The French Championship is renowned for being the strongest in Europe with the Bundesliga, but it only has two representatives, as many as Hungary or Denmark. An extension to 4 groups of 6 teams would seem more logical.
Four teams for two quarter-final places
PSG’s objective is clear: to qualify for the quarters and avoid a dangerous round of 16. Because the Parisian ambition is always the same: to win this Champions League, in 2024 even more than in other years. In Pool A, four teams have equal ambitions to finish in the first two places: Paris, Kielce the finalist of the previous edition, Kiel which PSG knocked out in the quarterfinals in the spring and the Danes of Aalborg where Mikkel Hansen plays.
Paris will not have 36 jokers available to get by. Speaking of reunions, Paris with the Norwegians from Kolstad will meet its former center-half Sander Sagosen and Dylan Nahi with the Poles from Kielce. But not Vincent Gérard with Kiel. The French team goalkeeper is out for several months due to adductor pain. His participation in the Euro in January 2024 is uncertain. To replace him, the German club called on Dunkirk goalkeeper Samir Bellahcene on Tuesday. “The desire and the ambition are to go to the Final Four in Cologne,” repeats Thierry Omeyer, the Parisian general manager. Once there, we play two matches in 24 hours and it comes down to such small details…”
???? From Paris to Szeged, photos of the Rouge et Bleu’s trip to Hungary and their last training before the kick-off of the@ehfcl 2023-2024.
— PSG Handball (@psghand) September 13, 2023
Leave there you doyen Karabatic
Why do you want to win this Champions League in 2024 even more than any other year? While Montpellier is in the other group, Paris winning the Champion’s League a month before the Olympic tournament would look good! Above all, and we will repeat it all season, it is the der of Nikola Karabatic. The three-time Olympic champion is the oldest of some 230 players participating in the tournament.
The record-breaking player begins his 23rd European campaign 20 years after his first victory with Montpellier. He has won three more since with Kiel (2007) and Barcelona (2015). But his counter has remained blocked for 7 years and his presence in Paris. For his retirement party, he won’t need a box of chocolates or a souvenir watch. A Champions League would be enough for him. Paris fully intends to offer it to him. But it won’t be easy.
#Handball #Nikola #Karabatics #PSG #resumes #quest #Champions #League