Handball Euro. Racist insults towards the French, objects thrown on the field: the match between France and Croatia disrupted

Le Français a accusé certains supporters d'avoir tenu des propos racistes. EPA – CHRISTOPHER NEUNDORF

Le match remporté par la France contre la Croatie, jeudi 18 janvier lors du tour principal de l'Euro de handball 2024, a été perturbé par certains supporters massés derrière le banc français, entre insultes racistes et jet d'objet.

In their path to a narrow victory against Croatia, the Blues were disrupted by the stands of the Lanxess Arena in Cologne. Without us really knowing yet what really happened.

While France was ahead by a score of three goals against the Croats, the match was then interrupted for a few minutes with mayhem coming from the stands, the bench of the French team turning towards them by insulting them. 

Also read: Euro 2024 handball: France begins its main round with a narrow victory against Croatia, Nikola Karabatic makes history

Tournat speaks of racism, Gille does not confirm

If the game was then able to resume, the episode may have served as motivation for the French as Nicolas Tournat announced to our colleagues at beIN Sports. Still pointing out racist remarks against them.

 "It'It's racist remarks, so it irritated us, they insulted us, described the French pivot. After that&# It's like that, there are some in all the rooms, even in handball it's serious. But at least it gave us a boost, we got angry and went to look for her so that's good."

"I can't confirm it, I just saw the cup flying on the field, vehement people, but I don't understand their language", has for his part testified Guillaume Gille at the microphone of beIN Sports.

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"I find that it has no place in our sport when generally we are rather examples when it comes to the behavior of supporters. With a lot of passion but also a lot of respect. With this kind of gesture, we are going beyond the limits."