Paris (AFP)

First game of the season for the Blues Didier Dinart, and not least: the French handball team moves Thursday in Aarhus to face Denmark world champion before Spain or Norway on Saturday, as part of the Golden League.

Two friendly matches to gauge before the next installments of a season that promises to be rich, between the Euro in January and the Olympic Games, for which the team of France is not yet qualified, next summer.

For now, "the goal is 100% Euro," says the right-back Montpellier Valentin Porte. The European title has a double challenge: to bring back an international gold medal, the first since 2017, and to qualify directly for the Tokyo Games.

"This European championship is essential for qualification at the Games, access to the semi-final also qualifies for the World-2021. More than ever, the medals count", summarizes Didier Dinart, the coach of the French team.

Meanwhile, a match against Denmark, the reigning world champion after easily eliminating the French in the semifinal last January, offers a beautiful poster.

"We do not focus on the opponent, we want to produce a good match, that's all, the most important thing is not so much the result as the work we are going to put in place," Nikola Karabatic puts it in perspective.

For this first leg of the Golden League, 17 players will make the trip to Scandinavia. Of the 19 initially called, the three packages - Adrien Dipanda, Kentin Mahé and Yanis Lenne-- were only compensated by one arrival, that of Nicolas Tournat.

For Didier Dinart, restricting the group helps build the identity of the team: "We have the younger generation, the half-generation with Luka Karabatic, and the old executives with Niko ... It must take mayonnaise. "

Among the youngest, 21-year-old Elohim Prandi will be on the floor for the first time with team A. "It's nice to get in, it's more complicated to stay there. 've got my place here, "says the prodigy Nîmes, U21 world champion last June.

Even more than the rest of the team, the young left-back does not want to skip the stages thinking too much about the Games: "We must not go faster than the music, of course it's + wow +, we're talking about the Olympics but I'm concentrating first on this week ... It's already special for me to be here. "

The program:

Thursday in Aarhus

(8:15 pm) Denmark - France

Saturday in Aalborg

(1:30 pm) France - Norway or Spain

© 2019 AFP