They are back. Crowned Olympic champions this summer in Tokyo, the French are off to conquer a new title in this European championship. The first stage is not the least, since France finds Croatia, Thursday January 13, in Szeged (Hungary).

For this introduction, the players of Guillaume Gille will have a lot to do after a preparation truncated by injuries, packages or even the absence of players affected by the Covid. Missing are Luka Karabatic, Nedim Remili and Elohim Prandi, attacked with a knife on the night of December 31 to January 1.

Facing them, if Croatia no longer has much to do with the one that made France doubt in the big meetings, it will be a tough and prepared opponent. At the last European championship, it had climbed to the final, losing to Spain.