“Tonight is a little moment of solidarity in this ocean of difficulties”said Philippe Bana, president of the French Handball Federation (FFH), on franceinfo, a few hours before the match between France and Ukraine on Saturday April 23 in Le Havre, Seine-Maritime.
The expenses of the Ukrainian handball players were covered by the FFH in order to allow them to resume competition despite the Russian invasion and to try to win a place at Euro-2022. “It’s the least we can do in this period, so that sport is stronger than war”adds Philippe Bana.
In order for this match to take place, the FFH has spent the past two months contacting the Ukrainian players, “to look for them, to find them, to never let them go, to call them, sometimes under the bombs, sometimes under the difficulties”says its president.
“For us it was a tunnel in which we had to turn on the light. Everyone said that this match would never take place, that they had already forfeited.”
Philippe Bana, president of the FFHat franceinfo
When the Ukrainian federation announced to the authorities of French handball that it did not have the funds to support such a trip, the FFH therefore responded: “Ona said: ‘we’ll send you the tickets, we’ll do it together'”explains Philippe Bana.
Despite the emotion and solidarity, he ensures that no preferential treatment will be granted to Ukrainian women who will be welcomed “with their rank”. “They are professionals, they took away the bronze medal from us at the Athens Olympics”he warns, promising “a great moment of sport”.
According to Philippe Bana, Ukrainian women count “try to give the best of themselves” proudly wearing their colors and jersey. “They want to go to the European championship because they know that if they lose that chance, it will be difficult to move up the European hierarchy”, he analyzes. For its part, the French team “has no other rules than to play” and of “don’t think too much about anything other than sport”. “In high-level sport, respect for the opponent means giving the best”concludes Philippe Bana.