Handball. Sophie Herbrecht in Blue in Mulhouse, happiness by proxy

“It’s very far away”, smiles Sophia Herbrecht (41 years). His international career has been so rich that even this special moment has somewhat evaporated in his memory. It must be said that the Alsatian climbed very young on the blue train. The selections – 193 between 2001 and 2012 –, the competitions, the emotions, the joys and the disappointments followed one another at breakneck speed.

But this February 25, 2010, the France team faces Romania in a friendly in Mulhouse. In his region, left at the age of 16 to complete the course that we know, in his hometown, in front of his family and friends gathered in full force. And the 2003 world champion does not forget that this is the only time it has happened to her in the blue jersey.

“We often played in Metz,” recalls Sophie Herbrecht. It was also at the Arena that she honored her first selection on November 3, 2001, at only 19 years old.

“I remember wondering if I could play”

This time it was at home, in front of nearly 3,000 spectators, and the Haut-Rhinoise had felt unusual “pressure”. “I had more than for another game. It wasn’t necessarily pleasant. There was the stress of doing well. “The post-match, too, did not leave him with lasting memories. “We can’t really take advantage, there is a very square protocol. »

“It’s not a bad memory,” adds Sophie Herbrecht quickly. But I don’t remember him more than another, he’s not among my best (in the blue jersey, editor’s note). »

Because it was only a friendly match after all – won 25-21 –, a step towards new conquests. “We were preparing more important things, we had high goals. So this evening, even at her place, cannot constitute a Holy Grail. “But I’m happy to have been able to play at least once in Alsace in my career(in the French team)

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… and Alice Lévêque. A necessarily unforgettable moment for the two young internationals (20 years old at the time). Photo Alsace/Jean-François FREY

That evening, his happiness was above all to offer some to his family and loved ones. “I was really happy for them, they had been able to see an international match in the Haut-Rhin. This is above all what I remember. »

“It’s a moment that people will treasure for a long time”

“The public was happy, it’s a moment that people will keep for a long time”, breathes the one who ended her playing career in Altkirch in 2020, before going to the other side of the barrier by settling on the bench of Thann/Steinbach, which she raised to N1 in the spring of 2022.

Les Bleues are therefore preparing to return to Alsace for the first time in thirteen years. And history will repeat itself. Like Sophie Herbrecht in 2010, Strasbourg’s Laura Flippes (28) will play for the first (and last?) time in her hometown with the France team.

Undoubtedly not a peak in view of what she has accomplished for several years (world champion in 2017, European champion in 2018 and Olympic champion in 2021), but a unique moment in a career.