Nantes

The H Arena in Nantes seats around 5,450. When the visitor is bigger than the venue, HBC Nantes moves the fixture across town to the Hall XXL at the Parc des Expositions de la Beaujoire, a hall that once held 10,753 people for a single match, a French attendance record for the sport.

The club traces itself to 1953, though it spent decades outside the top flight before winning Division 2 in 2006 and returning to the Starligue two years later. What followed was built largely under Thierry Anti, who coached the team for a decade and took it, in 2018, to its first EHF Champions League final, lost to Barcelona. Three years later Nantes reached the Final Four again, then went one place better in 2025, finishing third.

Domestically the trophies have piled up in the same stretch: three Coupe de France wins, in 2017, 2023 and 2024, two Coupe de la Ligue titles, and three Trophée des Champions. The first team and the French national side alike have benefited from players such as Nicolas Tournat and Romain Lagarde.

The nearest needle for supporters is Cesson-Rennes Métropole, the other side of the Derby Breton; further afield, Paris and Montpellier are strong contenders in the title race. None of that changes where Saturday nights are spent — in a violet-and-yellow hall in Nantes, or, when the visitors demand more room, in the exhibition hall across the Loire where the record crowd once stood.