Montpellier Handball, formerly named Montpellier Agglomération Handball, is a professional

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

club from

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Montpellier is the only French club to ever have won the

EHF Champions League The EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the men's com ...

History

The team was founded as ''Cosmos Montpellier'' in 1982. In 1992 they were promoted to the top division. From 1994 they were coached by Patrice Canayer who guided them to 4 French championships. In

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

they became the first French team to win the

, when they beat Spanish Portland San Antonio in the final 19-27 away and 31-19 at home. In September 2012 18 people with connections to Montpellier, including 9 players, were accused of

match fixing In organized sports, match fixing (also known as game fixing, race fixing, throwing, rigging, hippodroming, or more generally sports fixing) is the act of playing or officiating a contest with the intention of achieving a predetermined result, v ...

during a match against Cesson. The accusion was that they had lost a match on purpose, in which their relatives had put money on the result worth upwards of 89,000 euros. As a result several players left the club, including Luka and Nikola Karabatić (to Pays d'Aix UC HB), Erlend Mamelund (to Haslum HK) and Primož Prošt (to Frisch Auf Göppingen). Three years later Nikola Karabatić were found guilty and had to pay a fine of 10,000 euros. After the 2023-24 season Patrice Canayer left the club after 30 years in charge. He was replaced by Érick Mathé, who had been the assistant for Canayer from 2015 to 2018.

Crest, colours, supporters

Naming history

Kits

Accomplishments

LNH Division 1 LNH Division 1, doing business as Starligue and currently known as Liqui Moly Starligue for sponsorship reasons, is the premier men's professional handball league in France. It is administered by the Ligue Nationale de Handball, under delegatio ...

: (14) ** Champions: 1994–95, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12 *

: (2) ** Champions: 2002–03, 2017–18 *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

: (14) ** Champions: 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2015–16, 2024–25 *

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

: (10) ** Champions: 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2013–14, 2015–16 *

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the Super cup, super cups found in many other count ...

: (3) ** Champions: 2010, 2011, 2018 *Championnat de France N1B ** First place: 1991–92 *Championnat de France Nationale 2 ** First place: 1988–89, 1999–00 (rés.) *Championnat de France Nationale 3 ** First place: 1987–88 *

Double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

: Winners (10): 1998–99, 1999–00, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004–04, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2011–12 * Triple Crown : Winners (1): 2002–03

European record

Team

Current squad

:''Squad for the 2024–25 season'' ;Goalkeepers * 12 Charles Bolzinger * 92 Rémi Desbonnet ;Left Wingers *3 Dagur Gautason * 10 Lucas Pellas * 17 Jaime Fernández ;Right Wingers *2 Sebastian Karlsson * 18 Benjamin Richert * 32 Yanis Lenne ;Line players * 19 Arthur Lenne * 22 Karl Konan * 93 Veron Načinović ;Left Backs * 15 Ahmed Hesham * 21 Kylian Prat * 26 Bryan Monte ;Central Backs *4 Diego Simonet *5 Kyllian Villeminot * 20 Staš Skube * 27 Sindre Aho ;Right Backs * 11 Đorđe Cikuša Jeličić * 28 Valentin Porte ( c)

Transfers

:''Transfers for the 2025–26 season'' ;Joining * Léo Plantin (LW) ''(from

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

)'' * Zvonimir Srna (LB) ''(from RK Zagreb)'' * Agustín Casado (CB) ''(from ONE Veszprém)'' * Jack Thurin (RB) ''(from Aalborg Håndbold)'' * David Balaguer (RW) ''(from

)'' * Rogério Moraes Ferreira (P) ''(from MT Melsungen)'' ;Leaving * Jaime Fernández (LW) ''(to ?)'' * Dagur Gautason (LW) ''(to ?)'' * Ahmed Hesham (LB) ''(to ONE Veszprém)'' * Staš Skube (CB) ''(to RD Slovan)'' ? * Sindre Aho (CB) ''(to

TSV Hannover-Burgdorf TSV Hannover-Burgdorf is a handball club from Hannover, Germany, and is competing in the Handball-Bundesliga. History The team is known as DIE RECKEN. The origins of the club lie with the sports association Freie Turnerschaft Burgdorf, which ...

)'' * Đorđe Cikuša Jeličić (RB) ''(end of loan

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

)'' * Sebastian Karlsson (RW) ''(to

)'' * Yanis Lenne (RW) ''(to ONE Veszprém)'' * Karl Konan (P) ''(to

)'' * Veron Načinović (P) ''(to THW Kiel)''

Former club members

Notable former players

Joël Abati Joël Marc Abati (born 25 April 1970) is a French handball player who has played ten years for SC Magdeburg in Germany until 2007. After returning to France and playing two years for Montpellier HB he ended his professional career in 2009, having ...

(2007–2009) * William Accambray (2005–2014) * Benjamin Afgour (2017–2020) * Igor Anić (2003–2007) * Grégory Anquetil (1989–2007) * Arnaud Bingo (2016–2019) * Sébastien Bosquet (2003–2005) * Cédric Burdet (1995–2003, 2006–2009) * Laurent Busselier (1996–2000) * Patrick Cazal (1994–1999) * Hugo Descat (2019–2023) * Didier Dinart (1996–2003) * Adrien Dipanda (2006–2011) * Frédéric Dole (2004–2007) * Ludovic Fabregas (2011–2018) * Jérôme Fernandez (1999–2002) * Vincent Gérard (2006–2008, 2015–2019) * Andrej Golić (1992–2006) * Mathieu Grébille (2008–2020) * Michaël Guigou (1999–2019) * Samuel Honrubia (2001–2012) * François-Xavier Houlet (1994–1996) * Franck Junillon (1987–2008) * Luka Karabatic (2007–2012) * Nikola Karabatić (2000–2005, 2009–2013) * Daouda Karaboué (1993–2000, 2004–2010) * Karl Konan (2022–2025) * Geoffroy Krantz (2000–2007) * Yanis Lenne (2019–2025) * Pascal Mahé (1992–1996) * Bruno Martini (2000–2003) * Olivier Maurelli (1995–1996) * Philippe Médard (1987–1989) * Thierry Omeyer (2000–2006, 2013–2014) * Valentin Porte (2016–) * Laurent Puigségur (1990–2006) * Melvyn Richardson (2017–2021) * Mickaël Robin (2010–2014) * Arnaud Siffert (2013–2016) * Stéphane Stoecklin (1988–1990) * Marc Wiltberger (1993–1996) * Semir Zuzo (2003–2006) * Abdelkrim Bendjemil (1990–1992) * Rabah Gherbi (1996–1999, 2001–2003) * Lucas Moscariello (2021–2023) * Diego Simonet (2013–) * Marko Panić (2021–2024) * Felipe Borges (2013–2016) * David Juříček (2004–2011) * Jan Sobol (2007–2010) * Venio Losert (2014–2015) * Petar Metličić (2012–2013) * Veron Načinović (2021–2025) * Marin Šego (2019–2022) * Damien Kabengele (1996–2006) * Ahmed Hesham (2023–2025) * Mohamed Mamdouh (2017–2019) * Cristian Malmagro (2012–2013) * Balázs Laluska (2014–2015) * Uroš Vilovski (2012–2013) * Allahkaram Esteki (2015–2016) * Ólafur Guðmundsson (2021–2022) * Geir Sveinsson (1995–1997) * Jonas Truchanovičius (2016–2021) * Erlend Mamelund (2012–2013) * Alexis Borges (2020–2021) * Gilberto Duarte (2019–2022) * Ion Mocanu (1994–1995) * Sorin Toacsen (1996–2000, 2003–2004) * Igor Chumak (1992–1996) * Jure Dolenec (2013–2017) * Matej Gaber (2013–2016) * Dragan Gajić (2011–2016) * Vid Kavtičnik (2009–2019) * Borut Mačkovšek (2014–2015) * Primož Prošt (2011–2012) * Staš Skube (2022–2025) * Miha Žvižej (2016–2017) * Mladen Bojinović (2002–2012) * Mitar Markez (2010–2011) * Rastko Stefanovič (2002–2004) * Nebojša Stojinović (2008–2010) * Nikola Portner (2016–2020) * Richard Štochl (2010–2012) * Martin Frändesjö (2000–2001) * Lucas Pellas (2020–) * Fredric Pettersson (2018–2021) * Karl Wallinius (2021–2022) * Aymen Hammed (2009–2011) * Wissem Hmam (2005–2014) * Marouen Maggaiz (2006–2008) * Heykel Megannem (2007–2009) * Sobhi Sioud (2001–2007) * Mohamed Soussi (2017–2020) * Issam Tej (2006–2015) * Aymen Toumi (2015–2018)

Former coaches

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Montpellier Handball Handball clubs in France Sport in Montpellier Handball clubs established in 1982 1982 establishments in France