Saint-Raphaël Var Handball

Saint-Raphaël Var Handball
Saint-Raphaël Var Handball
Full name	Saint-Raphaël Var Handball
Founded	1963
Arena	Palais des Sports Jean-François Krakowski
Capacity	2,500
President	Pascal Bacchi
Head coach	Benjamin Braux
League	LNH Division 1
2021–22	LNH Division 1, 8th of 16
Club colours
Home	Away
	Website ; Official site

Saint-Raphaël Var Handball, is a team handball club from Saint-Raphaël, Var, France, that plays in the LNH Division 1. Saint-Raphaël Var handball, or SRVHB, is a French handball club based in Saint-Raphael in the Var region, founded in 1963. The first team has been playing in Division 1 since the 2007–2008 season and has been coached since 2019 by Rareș Fortuneanu assisted by Wissem Hmam, both former players of the club.

Even if the club has not won a title, apart from the French D2 Championship in 2007, it has accumulated places of honor including a French runner-up title in 2016, three League Cup finals, a Champions Trophy final in 2015 and an EHF European Cup (C3) final in 2018.

History

The original club was founded in 1959. It was after the disaster of the Malpasset dam in Frejus on 2 December 1959 that the leaders of the two cities merged the volleyball sections of the football clubs of the two cities, the Etoile Sportive Fréjussienne and the Stade Raphaélois to create the Association Sportive Fréjus Saint-Raphaël, commonly known as ASFSR. It was in 1963, at the initiative of René Cenni, that the handball section was born. Marcel Tafani was then appointed president of the section.

In 1971, the handball section created a women's team and found a home in a sports hall inaugurated on 7 November 1972 during a match against Draguignan: the Esterel sports hall. In 1974, the town of Fréjus created the AMSLF. The Raphael section, freshly promoted to National 3, was destabilized by the loss of many elements and went down to the regional championship the following year. Three years later, in 1977, the club lost its inter-municipal status. It lost its "F" and became A. S. S. R. for Association Sportive Saint-Raphaël. Over time, the club grew and evolved. It reached the National 3 level in 1983, National 2 in 1992 and National 1 in 1994.

In 1995, the section separated from the communal club and the club was created under the name Saint-Raphaël Var Handball. The club finally reached the elite in 2004 but was relegated the following season to D2. The Palais des sports Jean-François-Krakowski was inaugurated in 2005 during a gala match against Chambéry. The club returned to the LNH two years later, in 2007, after winning the D2 championship.

Since his return in elite, coach Christian Gaudin has made the club one of the best in France, finishing 4th in 2010 and 2011 and 3rd in 2012. The club also reached the League Cup final three times (2010, 2012 and 2014), losing three times to Montpellier AHB. On March 18, 2014, the club's president announced, a year in advance, the end of Christian Gaudin's contract. He was replaced by Joël da Silva, from Toulouse, who allowed the club to reach a new level by returning to 3rd place in 2015 and becoming vice-champion of France in 2016. Under his orders, the club also reached the final of the EHF European Cup in 2018. With his contract set to expire in June 2019, Joel Da Silva has been replaced by his assistant Rareș Fortuneanu as coach. The former Romanian international, who played for Saint-Raphaël, has been assistant coach for the last 4 seasons. His assistant, Wissem Hmam also knew the SRVHB as a player.

In October 2020, Jean-François Krakowski decided to retire after 33 years at the head of the club and was replaced by Emmanuel Murzereau.

Prize list

‘National competitions'	‘International competitions'
France championship (0) Vice-champion (1) : 2016. Third : 2012, 2015. French Cup (0) Semi-finalist : 1996 and 2003. League's Cup (0) Finalist : 2010, 2012 and 2014. Champions Trophy (0) Finalist : 2015, 2018. French D2 Championship (1) Champion : 2007.	EHF Cup(C3) (0) Finalist : 2018. Fourth : 2017.

Season by season review (from 2001)

Season	Div.	Ranking	French Cup	League's Cup	Champion's Trophy	European Cups
1993-1994	Nat.1	Finalist	N.Q	No competition	No competition	N.Q
1994-1995	Div.2	8th	2nd round	No competition	No competition	N.Q
1995-1996	Div.2	7th	1/2 final	No competition	No competition	N.Q
1996-1997	Div.2	12th	?	No competition	No competition	N.Q
1997-1998	Nat.1	?	1/8 final	No competition	No competition	N.Q
1998-1999	Nat.1?	?	?	No competition	No competition	N.Q
1999-2000	Nat.1?	?	?	No competition	No competition	N.Q
2000-2001	Nat.1?	?	?	No competition	No competition	N.Q
2001-2002	Nat.1	2nd	1/64 final	N.Q	No competition	N.Q
2002-2003	Div.2	10th	1/2 final	N.Q	No competition	N.Q
2003-2004	Div.2	2nd	No competition	N.Q	No competition	N.Q
2004-2005	Div.1	14th	?	N.Q	No competition	N.Q
2005-2006	Div.2	4th	?	N.Q	No competition	N.Q
2006-2007	Div.2	1st	1/32 final	N.Q	No competition	N.Q
2007-2008	Div.1	6th	1/4 final	1/8 final	No competition	N.Q
2008-2009	Div.1	6th	1/8 final	1/8 final	No competition	N.Q
2009-2010	Div.1	4th	1/4 final	Final	No competition	N.Q
2010-2011	Div.1	4th	1/8 final	1/4 final	N.Q	C3 : 1/4 final
2011-2012	Div.1	3rd	1/4 final	Final	3rd	C3 : 1/4 final
2012-2013	Div.1	6th	1/16 final	1st round	N.Q	C3 : 3rd round
2013-2014	Div.1	6th	1/8 final	Final	N.Q	N.Q
2014-2015	Div.1	3rd	1/8 final	1/4 final	N.Q	N.Q
2015-2016	Div.1	2nd	1/4 final	1/4 final	Final	C3 : 1/4 final
2016-2017	Div.1	4th	1/4 final	1/2 final	4th	C3 : 4th place
2017-2018	Div.1	4th	1/4 final	1/8 final	4th	C3 : Final
2018-2019	Div.1	7th	1/8 final	1/2 final	Final	C3 : 1/4 final
2019-2020	Div.1	8th	1/8 final	1/8 final	N.Q	N.Q
2020-2021	Div.1	In progress	In progress	No competition	No competition	N.Q

European record

Season	Competition	Round	Club	1st leg	2nd leg	Aggregate

2016–17	EHF Cup	R3	SKA Minsk	28–30	33–25	61–55
		Group Stage	Füchse Berlin	27–21	31–33	2nd place
			GOG	32–36	32–28
			RD Ribnica	26–22	31–24
		QF	MT Melsungen	30–26	31–23	61–49

Evolution of the SRVHB budget

Season	Budget	Evolution
2011/12	€2440000
2012/13	€2875600
2013/14	€3500000
2014/15	€3590000
2015/16	€3720000
2016/17	€4000000
2017/18	€4180000
2018/19	€4200000
2019/20	€4280000
2020/21	€3890000

Current squad

Squad of 2023-2024 season

Goalkeepers

01 Rangel da Rosa
16 Mickaël Robin

Wingers
LW

20 Raphaël Caucheteux
97 Drevy Paschal

RW

10 Martial Caïs
24 Arthur Vigneron

Line players

08 Jonathan Mapu
36 Johannes Marescot
66 Antoine-Xavier Armani

Back players
LB

15 Nik Henigman
17 Benjamin Bataille
22 Noah Kouadio

CB

05 Mihailo Vojinovic
09 Chema Márquez
28 Sergio Pérez Manzanares

RB

32 Adrien Dipanda (c)
93 Mike Brasseleur

Transfers

Transfers for the 2024–25 season

Joining

Jure Dolenec (RB) (from Limoges Handball) ?

Leaving

Adrien Dipanda (RB) (Retires)

Club-related players

In 'bold' , players currently at the club.

Aurélien Abily : from 2009 to 2018.
Arnór Atlason : from 2013 to 2016.
Xavier Barachet : from 2013 to 2014 since 2017.
Johan Boisedu : from 2007 to 2010.
Raphaël Caucheteux : since 2007.
Adrien Dipanda : since 2012.
Slaviša Đukanović : from 2007 to 2017.
Dan Rares Fortuneanu : from 2004 to 2013.
Christian Gaudin : from 2003 to 2006.
Wissem Hmam : from 2014 to 2018.
David Juříček : from 2011 to 2013.
Miroslav Jurka : from 2013 to 2019.

Nicolas Krakowski : from 2007 to 2021.
Geoffroy Krantz : from 2011 to 2018.
Alexander Lynggaard : from 2013 to 2020.
Heykel Megannem : from 2009 to March 2013.
Nicolas Moretti : from 2007 to 2013.
Morten Olsen : from 2013 to 2015.
Yohann Ploquin : from 2009 to 2013.
Mihai Popescu : since 2016.
Daniel Sarmiento Melián : since 2016.
Alexandru Șimicu : since 2015.
Jan Stehlík : from 2009 to 2017.
Arthur Vigneron : since 2012.

Individual distinctions

Season	Laureates	Positions
2014-2015	Adrien Dipanda	Best Right Backcourt
2015-2016	Joël da Silva	Best coach
2017-2018	Raphaël Caucheteux	Top scorer with 167 goals.
2018-2019	Raphaël Caucheteux	Top scorer with 179 goals.
2019-2020	Raphaël Caucheteux	Top scorer with 145 goals.

Top scorers in the history of SRVHB in the league

In 'bold' , players currently at the club.

N°	Players	Nbr. of matches	Nbr. Of goals	Passed in France by
1	Raphaël Caucheteux	330	1826	Montpellier HB (25 matches - 30 goals)
2	Aurélien Abily	205	699	Angers Noyant and Aurillac HB CA (24 matches - 121 goals)
3	Adrien Dipanda	189	508	Montpellier HB (59 matches - 73 goals)
4	Jan Stehlik	169	494
5	Dan Rares Fortuneanu	157	449
6	Heykel Megannem	90	405	SC Sélestat, USAM Nîmes (47 matches - 279 goals) and Montpellier HB (26 matches - 72 goals)
7	Alexander Lynggaard	155	382
8	Alexandre Tomas	148	344	Montpellier HB (49 matches - 69 goals) and Tremblay-en-France (50 matches - 108 goals)
9	Miroslav Jurka	126	302
10	Alexandru Șimicu	91	291
11	Arnaud Chapuis	79	280
12	Daniel Sarmiento Melián	77	272
13	Johan Boisedu	70	263	Saint-Marcel Vernon Handball (22 matches - 140 goals) and US Ivry (13 matches - 25 goals)
14	Geoffroy Krantz	107	261	Montpellier HB (67 matches - 120 goals)
15	Morten Olsen	45	222

- ‘'updated on April 30, 2020 -

Gallery

Players

Saint-Raphaël Var Handball in March 2016
Joël da Silva and his players during a timeout.
Slaviša Đukanović, last bulwark of defense.
Wissem Hmam and Alexander Lynggaard.
Arnór Atlason and Alexandru Șimicu.

External links

Official website