A vibrant tribute for several Rouge et Bleu

In front of a sold-out AccorArena, Les Rouge et Bleu set a new record in the French championship and added a new line to their immense trophy cabinet on Friday evening. Following the presentation of the league trophy, proudly lifted by Nikola Karabatic, several members of the capital received a special tribute, starting with Yoann Gibelin. After two seasons under Raul Gonzalez, the left-back leaves Paris Saint-Germain with two French league titles to his name. Dominik Mathé, who also joined in 2022, thanked the fans, staff and team in French before being cheered by the Parisian fans.

The first two tributes were followed by those for two graduates of the Rouge et Bleu youth academy: Sadou Ntanzi and Adama Keita. Having played seven and nine seasons respectively for the capital club, the two homegrown talents received a rousing farewell from the 14,840 spectators who packed the AccorArena.

Finally, a very special tribute was paid to the legend that is Nikola Karabatic. In addition to the collector's jersey, presented by Thierry Omeyer and Daniel Narcisse - a gift given to all players leaving the capital club this summer - our No.44 received moving testimonials from a number of former team-mates and rivals from the world of handball. Mikkel Hansen, Uwe Gensheimer, Jackson Richardson, Valentin Porte... Many stars had a words of farewell for a player who established himself as one of, if not the, best player in the history of his sport. Nikola Karabatic is taking his leave, and from now on the whole sport will be bereft of its greatest legend.

(Credits: L. Valroff/ Team Pics/PSG)