Thierry Omeyer

Thierry Omeyer
Personal information
Born (1976-11-02) 2 November 1976
Mulhouse, France
Nationality French
Height 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)
Playing position Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club PSG Handball
Number 16
Youth career
Years Team
1985–1994 Cernay
Senior clubs
Years Team
1994–2000 Sélestat HB
2000–2006 Montpellier Handball
2006–2013 THW Kiel
2013–2014 Montpellier Handball
2014– PSG Handball
National team
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1999–2017 France 356 (4)
Medal record
Olympic Games
2008 BeijingTeam
2012 LondonTeam
2016 Rio de JaneiroTeam
World Championship
2001 France
2009 Croatia
2011 Sweden
2015 Qatar
2017 France
2003 Portugal
2005 Tunisia
European Championship
2006 Switzerland
2010 Austria
2014 Denmark
2008 Norway

Thierry Omeyer (born 2 November 1976) is a French handball goalkeeper for Paris Saint-Germain Handball and the French national team.

Member of the French national team since 1999, he has won all major titles with the team: world champion (five times), European champion (three times) and Olympic champion (twice).[1]

He is widely considered to be one of the best handball goalkeepers of all time, and is the third goalkeeper so far to have been elected best player of the world by the International Handball Federation (the two others being Henning Fritz, in 2004, and Árpád Sterbik, in 2005), what he achieved in 2008. In his former club (THW Kiel), his nickname was Die Mauer (The Wall).

Club career

Omeyer started handball at age 9 in Cernay (Alsace). In 1994, he joined his first professional club, Sélestat. His save percentage being up to 50%, he caught the attention of the best club in the French championship, Montpellier. Quickly becoming the first choice goalkeeper, he won five championships (from 2002 to 2006) and five national cups (2001, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006). The biggest highlight of his time there is the win of the 2003 EHF Champions League, a title that had never been won by a French club before.

In 2006, he decided to leave for a more competitive championship and joined the German club THW Kiel, with whom he won the double, the championship and the national cup in 2007 and 2008, plus the Champions League in 2007, 2010 and 2012.

International career

He made his debut for the French national team on September 19, 1999 against Romania.[2] In 2001, he became World champion after beating Sweden 28-25 (after two extra-times) in the final.

In 2008, he became Olympic champion after an excellent tournament where he was voted best goalkeeper with a rate of 41% shots saved all over the competition. In the final, he saved 11 shots out of 39 to ensure France's 28-23 win over Iceland.

In 2015, he became World champion after beating Qatar 25-22. He was voted best goalkeeper and the MVP of the tournament.

Individual awards

References

  1. ↑ "2015 World Championship Roster" (PDF). IHF. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  2. ↑ ff-handball.org: France national team Archived 2008-06-03 at the Wayback Machine.
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