Besançon Women

Besançon's handball side has spent recent seasons rebuilding its standing in the domestic game after slipping out of the top flight, a climb marked by the 2015 Division 2 title that put ESBF back among France's elite. The gap between that promotion and the club's old trophy cabinet says something about how far it had fallen and how far it has come back.

There was a stretch, from the late 1980s through the mid-2000s, when Besançon simply won. Four French Championships came between 1988 and 2003, four Coupe de France titles followed between 2001 and 2005, and in 2003 the club added the EHF Cup Winners' Cup, taking a French league and cup double onto a European stage the same year.

The women's section split off from the original mixed club, Entente sportive bisontine, in 1992, becoming Entente sportive Besançon féminin in its own right after growing out of a club founded in 1970. Supporters still know the team by its nickname, Les Engagées.

Home games are played in front of 3,380 seats at the Palais des sports Ghani-Yalouz.