After a successful season, finishing in fourth place in the Women’s Handball League, the club aims to establish itself in the top tier for the long term. This involves integrating young players from the training center into the first team.
The 2015/2016 season was a great sporting success for the first team of OGCN Handball. “The club has never finished this high before. It’s the first time we’ve finished fourth in the LFH,” says Claude Mirtillo, the club manager.
He also explains that, budget-wise, the club is where it should be: “The three teams that finished ahead of us, Metz, Fleury, and Issy Paris, have larger budgets. In Nice, we are not there yet,” he admits. “Fourth place is our level. Aiming higher next season would be very ambitious. We do not have the means to target the European Cup,” adds Claude Mirtillo.
Stabilizing the club in the LFH by relying on the training center
The club manager reiterated that the objective is to maintain OGCN Handball at this level to ensure the club’s well-being, from the training center to the first team. For this, the Nice club will undertake significant work in training. “We have a certified training center with, notably, 7 players who are part of the French national under-21 team. We aim to bring as many young players from the club to the highest level in the long term,” announces Claude Mirtillo.
Starting next season, young girls from the training center will join the first team. “We do not have the means to keep certain key players like Cléopâtre Darleux, Alexandra Lacrabère, or Béatrice Edwige who have high ambitions,” confesses the club manager. “We will therefore rely on young players aged 17 to 21 from the center,” he explains.
In terms of recruitment, a Danish international will join OGC Nice next season. She is Jane Schumacher, 28 years old, who plays as a center-back. The club also retains the two Icelandic internationals, Arna Pasldottir (28 years old) and Karen Knutsdottir (26 years old) as well as the Egyptian Ehsan Abdelmalek (30 years old). These four players will bring their experience to a very youthful group. “The average age of the squad will be 22-23 years. We will have one of the youngest squads in France,” says Claude Mirtillo with pride.
