Portes takes over French 2nd League club

Photo: esbm-gbdh.fr - Est Républicain A.C (Portes to the left)

Written by: Rasmus Boysen

The French 2nd League (Proligue) club Grand Besançon Doubs Handball has made a scoop signing a contract with the experienced French coach Alain Portes.

Alain Portes, who latest has been the head coach of the French women's national team, becomes the head coach of the French 2nd League club Grand Besançon Doubs Handball. He has signed a 3-year contract from next season to the summer of 2020 replacing the current head coach Christophe Viennet.

The 55-year-old French coach has a long career as both player and coach. The former French national player, who played the left wing position, started his career in the French club Olympic Sète but spent must of his professional career in USAM Nîmes. Furthermore, he played 216 caps for the French national team from 1983 to 1992. In his last Championship with France he won bronze at the Olympics in Barcelona.

In 1995, he became coach of the women's team of HBC Nîmes for 9 years and won the first European title in the history of French women's handball: the 2001 Challenge Cup. In 2006, he joined his former club USAM Nîmes.

In 2009, he became coach of the Tunisian national team. He won the African Championship twice. In the Olympics 2012 Olympic Tunesia with Portes in charge reached the quarterfinals.

In 2013, he succeeded Olivier Krumbholz as head of the French women's national team. He left the job as head coach of the French women's national team in 2016.