The countdown begins. At the start of next week, Monday January 11, 2016, the organizing committee of the 2017 Men's Handball World Cup in France will display the symbolic date of D – 1 year before the start of the tournament. Two days earlier, general public ticketing will be officially open, at half-time of the Golden League match between France and Qatar. The mascot will be revealed. Time for big maneuvers, in short. President of the French Handball Federation and the 2017 World Cup organizing committee, Joël Delplanque answered questions from FrancsJeux.
FrancsJeux: One year before the three shots, how is the 2017 Handball World Cup selling in France?
Joel Delplanque: It sold very well to the handball family. The first phase of ticketing, which was reserved for it, made it possible to sell 100.000 places, out of the 650.000 tickets offered for the entire competition. The second phase, open to the general public, begins Saturday January 9, 2016. We will see what it has in store for us.
Does the event succeed in attracting economic partners?
We have just signed our first partnership contract with Caisse d’Epargne. We hope to have more in the coming months, but we have not set any sponsorship targets. The World Cup belongs to the International Federation (IHF). Bringing in a partner therefore consists of a three-way game between the organizing committee, the sponsor and the IHF. The budget for the World Cup is set at 25 million euros. Half of this amount must be provided by ticket sales. The rest will come partly from subsidies. The State, in particular, has committed to contributing 4 million euros to the event.
France has already organized the handball world championship twice, in 2001 and 2007. Will the 2017 edition be comparable to the previous two?
No. The organization of the 2007 World Cup was thought of in a very different way. For the first time, it was entrusted to an external company, the Keneo agency. Another agency, Infront, is responsible for communications and marketing. As a result, the organization is very centralized. We had to sign agreements with the communities and territories concerned by the event, but the specifications are common to all, they were validated by the organizing committee. After the Rio Games, each of the competition sites will be supervised by a director, also appointed by the organizing committee. We have validated all the organization charts. In 2001 and 2007, event management was much more decentralized.
The 2017 World Cup will be located eight months before the IOC designates the host city for the 2024 Games. Will Paris' candidacy have an impact on the event?
She already had one. When we learned that the city of Aix-en-Provence was finally giving up hosting matches, we chose to repatriate matches from the first group phase to Paris. Thus, the 2017 World Cup will be present in the capital from the first to the last day. We hope to be able to contribute to the Paris 2024 bid by showing our ability to host an event of this scale.
Could the 2017 Handball World Cup play a role in the campaign to win the Games?
We hope. But the first contribution of French handball to the Paris 2024 file remains the success of our men's team. She won the last two Olympic titles. We hope she will win a third in August in Rio.
