In the middle of the men’s handball Euro in Germany, the Hand’Solidaire Foundation organized its first solidarity gala on Thursday January 25, 2024 at Porte de Versailles. Placed under the sign of sport and generosity, this evening brought together former champions of French handball and offered a unique auction (objects of L. Messi, Z. Zidane, J. Alaphilippe, K. Mbappé, experience with JL . Reichmann, etc.) to support the responsible and committed projects carried out by the Foundation. Sportsmarketing went there and met Philippe Bana, president of the French Handball Federation.

Bruno Cammalleri: This first gala of the Hand’Solidaire Foundation takes place in the middle of the European Men’s Handball Championship. What state of mind are you in?

Philippe Bana : We are increasing the standing of handball. We try to invent other elements, other paths, other courses and try to play in the big leagues. We also try to be what we are, that is to say a sport of societal performance and a sport of sporting performance. We want to go further and higher in this sporting performance and this societal performance.

With us everything is mixed. You have to move from the field to the back room! We have to go from marketing to the gold medal, from the Olympic Games to an incredible tour in around ten cities in France… there is like a handball volcano! This gala is very important because we are doing it for kids, for jobs, for ecology and it is regarding responsibility.

Bruno Cammalleri: Can you come back to the context of the creation of this Hand’Solidaire Foundation in 2022?

Philippe Bana : Our desire to create this foundation is first illustrated by this societal vocation of the French Handball Federation. And then there was the gathering of actors as diverse and varied, coming from several backgrounds: former local champions like Thomas Richard or Blandine Dancette, personalities like Nathalie Iannetta, Jean-Luc Reichmann, Marie-George Buffet , Nora Hamadi, Ladji Doucouré etc… the gathering took place, and that day in 2022 when we launched the Foundation it was a cry from the heart of all these people who want to act, who want to do things that have took shape and the first projects arrived very quickly. The associations believe in it, and we are not giving up. The mayonnaise has set and it is taking more and more!

Bruno Cammalleri: Accessibility to sport, health, eco-citizenship, professional integration of young people, international solidarity, the Foundation supports responsible projects within the handball family on these five themes. How did you choose these axes?

Philippe Bana : The Hand’Solidaire Foundation, which is independent of the French Handball Federation, chose these themes and framed the reflection well to be able to work in this direction with the associations on the first projects. I am thinking of a fantastic project in the difficult neighborhoods of Abidjan and the practice of handball, an extraordinary project on citizenship, another on hand health in Plan de Cuques… We see the full breadth of handball with these incredible projects.

Bruno Cammalleri: Regarding eco-citizenship, how can handball take part in the fight once morest global warming?

Philippe Bana : What if we stopped having our French teams travel by plane to play 3 matches per week? That’s a huge issue. We had a very simple idea: stay in France, take the train and our 14 matches which will be played before the Olympics we will play them at home in France. We are going to stay close to the public, and proximity is also an ecological factor. We will forget the unnecessary travel to play on the other side of the continent and the planet.

In our social and environmental responsibility, we also pay particular attention to energy savings and our use of plastic bottles, the use of which must be reduced as much as possible. Little by little things are progressing and we have had immediate results, the players have thanked us for that, the licensees have thanked us for leaving their French team available to them not far from home. The lines are moving and that’s good, especially when traveling by train. We are also working with Germany on the organization of the 2031 World Cup which would be held over short distances, Strasbourg, Stuttgart, Lyon, Paris etc… without doing too many things at once and without being excessive. We do not create organizations with 4 countries, or even more, with flights in all directions. We remain a sport on a human scale!

Bruno Cammalleri: You also want to create bridges between sports, and with private sector players…

Philippe Bana : Absolutely, we need that to advance handball and develop it. Today, thanks to the Hand’Solidaire Foundation, a company has the possibility of investing in school sport, in educational sport which is a fantastic vector in terms of social ties. This call to businesses has been heard, and this gala is the second stage of the rocket for us. It’s a highlight! From 2024, we have also taken €1 for the Hand’Solidaire Foundation from all tickets sold for matches of our French teams, i.e. €100,000 to start the year 2024. We are hoping for a budget of €200,000 this year, which would be tremendous.

Bruno Cammalleri: The Great National Cause 2024 focuses on physical and sporting activity. What is your reaction to this political and institutional support?

Philippe Bana : We are involved in this Great Cause 2024, in particular with an incredible tour where the FFHandball wanted to promote the practices of handball, get the kids moving, make the French teams known, animate its territories and thus generate real enthusiasm around this sport. In other words, play the games before the Games, really get people moving to be in good health tomorrow. For us who come from education and the playground, we are convinced that this Great National Cause is very important so that kids can get better.