Metz did not have time to hope. Largely defeated in the first leg in Brittany (34-24), on April 4, the Dragonnes did not manage to catch up, held in check (26-26), Saturday April 10 in their Arena hall. At the end of the Franco-French duel of the quarter-finals of the Women’s Handball Champions League, it is the Brestoises who will have the honors of the “Final 4” at the end of May.
#DELOEHFCL DIRECTION LE FINAL 4 !!! ?⚫️⚪️ Despite his draw against @MetzHandball (26-26), the @BBH_Officiel has… https://t.co/TG1368uhFP
The Messines dominated by French rivals, it could look like an incongruity in the hexagonal women’s handball. Since 2013, the Lorraines have seen the national title escape them only once. In more than 20 years, they have never finished off the podium. But this season, the dynamic is in the West: in the first three clashes between the two clubs, Brest has won widely.
The Bretons still have to finish the work to fill their trophy cabinet: they will once again face the Messines in the semi-finals of the Coupe de France, at the end of April, then in the final of the French championship (home and away matches), at the end of May. .
On the other hand, the “Rebels” have already won a qualification for the final phase of the Champions League, the great mass of European handball, which will take place on May 29 and 30 in Budapest (Hungary).
Only Metz has previously appeared in a “Final 4”
This performance is historic for the Finistère club. It is also very rare for French women’s handball: only Metz succeeded, once, in 2019. “ A Final 4 is wonderful, one of my dreams as a trainer “Anticipated, before Saturday’s match, Laurent Bezeau, who has been leading the Brest team almost continuously for more than ten years.
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His team quickly rose through the European ranks. Good last of their group in the first phase of the Champions League in 2018 and 2019, the Brestoises had qualified with the manner for the quarter-finals in 2020. But the pandemic had stopped the adventure there, causing the cancellation of the competition.
The end of the 2019-2020 French championship had also been canceled, depriving Metz and Brest of trophies: the two teams were named first tied, but the league title and the Coupe de France were not awarded. .
The Bretons therefore had to wait another year to really knock Metz off its pedestal. They had been evolving for several years in the shadow of the giant, especially in 2018-2019, where the Lorraines had repeatedly beaten them heavily in key matches.
” These are cycles that can be reversed. At the time, Metz was reaching its peak, with players who had played a lot of time together and then left. ”, Such as the French internationals Laura Glauser and Grâce Zaadi, explains Laurent Bezeau.
End of cycle
In 2021, it is Brest which arrives at the top and at the end of a cycle. On the pitch, the team will lose several elements, such as the Slovenian Ana Gros and her devastating left arm, author of 10 goals in the first leg of the quarter-finals of the Champions League. On the bench, coach Laurent Bezeau’s contract, which expires at the end of the season, has not been extended.
” At some point, we must also put young people on the front of the stage to breathe new life into “, Justifies the president of the club, Gérard Le Saint. Pablo Morel, 37, who notably led Issy Paris to the final of the French championship in 2015, will sit on the bench.
Laurent Bezeau, 52, will therefore leave Brest, where he arrived in 2009. He first led the Arvor 29-Pays de Brest to a title of champion of France in 2012. But the state of grace has fallen. finished before even starting: a little before the final of the championship, the National Commission of management control ordered the administrative relegation of the club for financial reasons.
The Arvor 29 was placed in compulsory liquidation but the activity resumed, in the third division, under the name of Brest Bretagne Handball. The brothers Denis and Gérard Le Saint, already at the head of the Brest football club, took over the management. Having left in 2012, Bezeau returned the following year and rose through the ranks one by one. In 2016, he won the Coupe de France while the “Rebelles” only played in the second division.
” We learned that it is not a team that wins, but a club. At the time, the structure was not sufficient, financial and logistical support was not in place », Recalls the coach.
“More than a million euros in savings” to find
Today, the club relies on the largest budget of the Women’s Handball League, mainly thanks to private partners: this has reached up to 6.5 million euros in 2019-2020, nearly double that of Metz.
What attracts the best French and European players, like Allison Pineau in 2016, from the promotion in the first division acquired. The international center-half was one of the strong links in the team for three years, before a hasty departure after tensions with the staff and then the management.
The effect of Covid-19 is however being felt: the club must find ” more than a million euros in savings », Announced at the beginning of the year Gérard Le Saint to West France. This can explain in particular the next departure of Ana Gros or that of the Swedish Isabelle Gulldén. The BBH, however, succeeded in extending the contract of its three guardians, including Cleopatra Darleux, after having feared having to part with a.
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” We were never worried about the bankruptcy filing. Our partners are solid and we have built an economic model to last. Next year, we will further strengthen our commercial sector », Assures the president.
A good course in the most prestigious of European competitions would surely be an argument of choice.