It was 30 October 2016. A few weeks after winning their third Trophée des Champions by beating Nantes in the final (35–26), Paris were set to begin their Coupe de la Ligue campaign. For its 16th edition, the competition had changed format and now included all Proligue clubs following the incorporation of the second-tier league into the National Handball League, which organises the tournament.
Having been given a bye in the first round due to their participation in the Trophée des Champions, Paris entered the competition in the round of 16. Zvonimir Serdarusic’s men were determined to do well in this competition, the only one the capital club had never won at the time. The draw, conducted on 15 September 2016 by former French international handballer Véronique Pecqueux-Rolland, pitted our Rouge et Bleu against Caen Handball in a home fixture.
The Normandy-based side was still relatively unknown on the national stage. And with good reason: the Vikings were still playing in the sixth division as recently as 2010 and had only just been promoted to the second tier for the first time in their history. Taking advantage of the Coupe de la Ligue revamp, Dragan Mihailovic’s men pulled off a stunning upset in the first round, defeating Starligue side Sélestat on their home turf (31-28).
So, following this historic qualification, the Normans were due to travel to Paris for the round of 16, having been drawn as the away side. However, Caen's management were determined to host what promises to be the biggest match in the club’s history. Thus began an unlikely series of negotiations to convince their counterparts in the Paris region, as well as coach Zvonimir Serdarusic, to relocate the match not to Caen, but to Rouen, at the Kindarena. This was a halfway option for both teams, offering a larger capacity than Caen could provide.
“The road to the Final4 starts here”
As the Stade Pierre de Coubertin had been booked for the International Badminton Open on the date scheduled for this round of 16 tie, the Parisian club’s management had to decide between playing at the Halle Georges-Carpentier – which has a capacity of just under 5,000 and was unlikely to be full – or moving the match to the Kindarena, which can accommodate 5,500 people.
Following negotiations between all parties lasting nearly three weeks, the decision was finalised in early October: Paris Saint-Germain Handball would take on Caen in the ‘city of a hundred bell towers’. Within just three hours, all 5,500 tickets were sold out, and the stage was set for this wonderful celebration of handball.
On match day, the atmosphere in Rouen was electric. The Parisian squad was at full strength for this high-profile fixture, and the Normandy crowd were eager to see Mikkel Hansen – who had been named the world’s best player just a few months earlier – as well as several stalwarts of the French national team such as Thierry Omeyer, Nikola and Luka Karabatic, Luc Abalo, Daniel Narcisse and William Accambray. Joining this impressive line-up were the capital club’s current assistant coach, Henrik Mollgaard, Croatian international Luka Stepancic and two ‘Titis’: Benoît Kounkoud and Jeffrey M’Tima.
“We struggled to get into the game. We missed a lot of chances and gave the ball away quite a few times, but we all pulled ourselves together after the time-out to make up the deficit and get back to our best.”
Having beaten Sélestat, Caen were feeling confident and showed their strength right from the start. Leading after ten minutes, the Normans had their home crowd on their feet. Zvonimir Serdarusic wasn’t happy with what he was seeing and called his first time-out at that point (10': 5-2). From then on, it was a brutal return to reality for the Vikings, who were buffeted by a veritable storm. Within twenty minutes, Thierry Omeyer – who had made ten saves in the first half – and his Rouge et Bleu teammates had righted the ship and built a lead that was already all but decisive by half-time (30': 8-18).
Although Omeyer remained on the bench in the second half, this did not work in the Normans’ favour. Paris’s new signing, Gorazd Skof, was equally impressive in goal, whilst the other new Parisian signings – such as Uwe Gensheimer (six goals), Jesper Nielsen (four goals) and Nedim Remili (three goals) – were in fine form in attack. Brimming with confidence, Zvonimir Serdarusic’s men put on a masterclass and even looked set to secure the biggest victory in their history (48': 14–30), before the home side showed a burst of pride in the closing minutes (60': 27-39).
As the final buzzer sounded, there was joy on both sides, and everyone had achieved their goal – qualification for some, and stars in their eyes for others. Rudry Nivore, who played for Paris between 2010 and 2013, greeted his former team-mates, whilst Denis Serdarevic, the goalkeeper from Normandy, exchanged a few words with Thierry Omeyer. Perhaps some advice that would help the French goalkeeper continue his development until he found his place amongst the elite – he who now guards the goal for Sélestat.
“It was a cup match, so the most important thing was to win. We didn’t just settle for maintaining the lead we’d built up in the first half. We kept working hard and playing well in the second half, and that’s a positive. We’ve never managed to win this trophy, and we’ll do everything we can to achieve that this year.”
As for our Rouge et Bleu, this match would go down in history. A few weeks later, following a last-gasp derby victory over Créteil (38-37) in the quarter-finals, Zvonimir Serdarusic’s men secured their place in the Final4 in Reims in April 2027. There, in the City of Kings, Paris would be crowned with the only title that had eluded them, thanks to victories over Saint-Raphaël (32-31) and then Nantes (31-27).
