Ivry

The Gymnase Auguste-Delaune holds only 1,500 people. That run alone explains why Ivry-sur-Seine's gym has stayed the fixed point through every promotion and drop since: it is where les Rouges et Noirs have always come home, including in March 2025, when an arson attack on the building forced the derby against Créteil to be played in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés instead.

US Ivry Handball grew out of a multi-sport club founded in 1919, taking its own name and identity in 1947 under Maurice Dubrez. Eight national championships between 1963 and 2007, spaced widely enough to suggest a club that kept rebuilding rather than one that simply dominated a single era.

Luc Abalo came through that system, spending twelve years at Ivry before going on to become a triple Olympic champion elsewhere. Didier Dinart, capped for France many times over, returned in a different role in 2023, taking charge as head coach.

The rivalry with Créteil, the Derby du Val-de-Marne, has outlasted both clubs' fluctuating fortunes, surviving even the loss of a venue. Since the 2013–14 relegation, though, permanence has been harder to come by. Promotion returned within a year, in 2014–15, but Ivry has since drifted between divisions rather than reclaiming the sustained top-flight presence that once defined it, and a place back among France's elite has kept slipping out of reach.