As the weeks go by, you can feel this Parisian squad growing in strength. After two wins in two days against Zeekstar Tokyo (31-41) and the Japan Youth Team (37-29), our Rouge et Bleu faced opposition of an entirely different calibre on Saturday: Füchse Berlin. Up against the EHF Champions League runners-up in each of the last two seasons, Stefan Madsen's men put up a strong fight and had the chance to test themselves against genuine European rivals.
Although the German side edged a narrow victory (31-29), helped in no small part by an outstanding performance from Andreas Palicka, who made no secret of his delight at being reunited with some of his former teammates, the capital club learned plenty from the encounter. On Sunday, the Parisians therefore took on HSG Nordhorn-Lingen with a very different objective, facing the tournament hosts who had come so close to pulling off an upset against Barça the previous day (41-44).
Nordhorn-Lingen started on the front foot, sticking to the attacking approach they had shown against Barça on Saturday. The Parisians responded in kind and were clinical in front of goal (10': 9-11), with Simen Lyse scoring four times early on and Rodrigo Corrales making six saves inside the opening 15 minutes (15': 13-16).
Although Les Rouge et Bleu remained in front, the hosts gave it everything and piled on the pressure as they looked to close the gap. Nordhorn-Lingen briefly pulled back to within one, but the Parisians responded strongly to take a two-goal lead into the dressing room (30': 22-24). Stefan Madsen made several changes at the break, with Mikkel Lovkvist, as usual, coming on for the second half. Kamil Syprzak was also introduced at half-time and looked to have lost none of the form he showed last season, scoring four goals from four attempts in just five minutes on court (35': 24-29).
After an evenly contested first half, albeit one largely controlled by Paris, the second period quickly turned into a dominant display as Les Rouge et Bleu pulled further and further clear (40’: 26-32). With victory taking shape, Stefan Madsen called a timeout and experimented with further tactical options ahead of the coming season.
With Paris increasingly looking to the wings and playing a relatively direct game, Ferran Solé shone, scoring seven goals in the space of 20 minutes (50’: 35-39). It was a performance that would see him finish as Paris’ top scorer, ahead of Simen Lyse and Yahia Omar, who struck six times apiece in a victory that brought the training camp in Germany to a close (60’: 38-44).
Ferran Solé: seven goals; Simen Lyse, Yahia Omar: six; Sebastian Karlsson, Kamil Syprzak: four; Bjarki Elisson, Noah Gaudin, Frederik Ladefoged: three; Luka Karabatic, Wallem Peleka, Elohim Prandi, Luc Steins: two.
Focused from start to finish, Paris claimed victory and showed that the squad is looking increasingly ready for the start of the season. On Monday, Stefan Madsen and his men will head to Denmark to take on Skjern on Tuesday and Aalborg on Friday in their final two pre-season matches of the summer, before facing Montpellier in the Trophée des Champions on Saturday 29 August 2026.
