Golden club coach, average national-team boss: Dujshebaev threatens the Danes — but can he wake up France?
A bomb has exploded in the handball world. One of the most successful coaches in the history of handball on the club stage, Talant Dujshebaev, will lead the French national team in the coming period. Three tournaments without reaching a final were enough for a handball superpower like Les Bleus to part ways with one of France’s legends, Guillaume Gille — the man with whom France won Olympic gold in 2021 and the European title three years later, along with two medals at World Championships.
France refuses to accept that. They want the very top — and they want to end Denmark’s golden era, a team that has completed a “three-peat” under Nikolaj Jacobsen, who is now two titles away (he has six) from the all-time most successful coach, Claude Onesta (eight gold medals).
The winner of the EHF Champions League with Ciudad Real and Kielce — a coach who still sits on Kielce’s bench — was quite clear about what he wants with a national team that has superstars such as Nedim Remili, Dika Mem and Melvyn Richardson.
“For me, it is truly an honour to coach the French national team. It is something I wanted more than anything, because France has a fantastic generation of players. My goal with these players is clear: to win everything, to dominate again, especially over Germany, Denmark… I am very proud that my profile attracted the attention of the French federation and truly, very, very proud that I was chosen for this project,” said Dujshebaev.
A GOLDEN CLUB COACH, AN UNDER-LEVEL PERFORMANCE AS NT
The famous Kyrgyz coach has had spells as a national team head coach that were not exactly crowned with success. Dujshebaev coached Hungary from 2014 to 2016, but failed to reach the Olympic qualification pathway through EHF EURO 2016 in Poland. Hungary finished 12th, and the cooperation ended soon after.
As the successor to German coach Michael Biegler, Dujshebaev took over Poland after EHF EURO 2016. He managed to qualify for the Olympic Games in Rio, where Poland — a team that had won bronze at the 2015 World Championship a year earlier after a controversial semi-final defeat to host nation Qatar — finished one step lower: fourth place, after losing to Germany 25–31.
The Kielce coach continued in a dual role, but at the very next major competition Poland took a big step backwards. They won the “President’s Cup,” meaning they ended the World Championship as the 17th-ranked team, and in parallel with that, a disastrous EHF EURO 2018 qualifying campaign was the sign for Dujshebaev to leave the national team helm.
Whether — and to what extent — he will awaken the French, remains to be seen.
