France left back Thibaud Briet was an IHF Men’s World Championship silver medallist at the age of just 23, when his side made it to the final of Poland/Sweden 2023, only to lose to Denmark.

Now, with the year of his age neatly the same as the world championship itself, he, once again, finds himself with a team in the quarter-finals of an IHF Men’s World Championship, but this time, he will have the chance to play in it after injury ruled him out of the final three games two years ago.

2025 marks another stop on a rapid journey for the now 25-year-old, who was playing in the French fifth division for local side Rouen in 2019 when he was signed by Nantes, where he has remained ever since.

“First, it's to have pleasure,” says Briet to ihf.info when asked what his thoughts on when playing for his national team. “Then, it's me. I’m, focused on me, because this is how I'm happy. This is how I love to play the game. I'm here for me and to be good. To perform at the highest level I can, because this is a challenge between me and me. I would not be here if it wasn't for me and then there's my family who support me, and my friends too.

“It’s tough because you like to play handball and everybody is watching. In January, the world of handball is watching,” he added. “When you play with the French national team it's not like you're playing at your club, like Nantes for me, where every week you get to see the people in the arena cheer you up, sending you texts after the game. I've never played for the French national team in a national competition in France, where you can really understand the fervour.”

In 2022, Briet made his competitive debut for France at the European Championship, and after moving up to the highest level of handball there is in France quickly realised what was expected of him in a team featuring such household names then as Nikola Karabatic, Dika Mem and others.

“Mentally, it’s tough, because you know you're playing with the best, and there's lots of, not pressure, but it’s a very exhausting requirement,” explains the Rouen-born player. “This is the most difficult part for me, because I want to prove to me, prove to them that I can play at the highest level. You know they’re great, they’re used to it and you're not. I'm like; ‘Okay, I'm going to show you guys I can be here’ – to be here every two days and show them I'm good, that I will play good, and to do it again and again, during the training, during the game, this is the toughest part.

“I want to win with them. I want to know them, to help them to be better and adapt my way of playing, to be just one with them and performing at the highest level.”

A younger brother, Baptiste, also plays handball, with the two clashing in the French leagues previously, but while his path to Les Bleus has been called ‘atypical’ by many, his way of relaxing from the sport during Croatia/Denmark/Norway is unique.

“I'm trying to avoid the phone,” he admits about what he does in his free time, with France enjoying two days off from games after moving from Varazdin to Zagreb, itself following a move from Porec originally. 

“I'm studying right now, management. It's been six months and I've never worked that much for six months. It's at university, all online, so I just go on my computer and work. I studied physics when I was younger, but it's impossible to do it online, so I had to choose something. The aim was just to make my brain work and it’s interesting.

“At the end of the day, it's good to have that because I can escape my mind from the tournament and think about nothing except working on my business,” he added. “This is good, but even with rest days, when we've got time, you're always tired. You play every two days, so even if you have time sometimes you think ‘okay, I'm just going to bed and have some sleep’. It's not easy. It's really not.”

Briet is an engaging character, interested in talking and listening in equal measure, all while belying his young years. A co-founder of the ‘Heracles Academy’ one year ago which aims to ‘…support tomorrow's athletes by giving them all the tools they need to succeed and train in the best conditions,’ he regularly updates on the business networking tool LinkedIn.

This gives a brief insight into the wider interests the left back has than the world of sport. Back in 2020, he obtained a DUT (Diplôme Universitaire de Technologie) in Thermal Engineering and Energy (Génie Thermique et Énergie – GTE), with the knowledge gained from this qualification equipping him with scientific and technical skills in the field of renewable energies predominantly. 

“After my Baccalauréat (a national examination taken at the end of secondary education in France) six or seven years ago, before I was even aiming to be professional (in handball) I started that. It was general physics but I liked it because it was related to the environment and I'm really into it. I want the world to be a better place, I want the big oil companies to stop be into renewable energy. It was really interesting.

“The logic of physics, I love it, but when I moved to Nantes, I finished it, and was like; ‘Okay, now I need to be focused on handball, because it's all new’. I went very quickly from the bottom to the top, so I had a lot of things in my head by that time, so I stopped it, but now it's time to feed my brain again.”

On court, it is Briet’s teammates doing the feeding as he has struck 24 times in six games at the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship, testing his skills against teams from Asia, including Kuwait and Qatar and Europe, with Africa the next continent experienced, when his side face Egypt in the last eight.

“Before playing Kuwait I didn't have the feeling it was the ‘same’ handball (we play), but when I saw them play – okay, there was a 20-goal difference at the end of the game – they really played good, played handball,” he said about their preliminary match, won by France 43:19 in which Briet scored five.

“It was great that they played that good because (it shows) handball is becoming a world sport. Everybody can play handball, and we play the same way. It's great to see these countries becoming better year after year, every day. It’s funny, because I was talking about that with my teammates yesterday. These games are not the same as the French national team and French national championship way of playing. They’re totally different and that's good to see. It's like a melting pot [of styles].”

Briet was quick to point out his learning from playing against these different styles is part of his continued development as a player, a player who he wants to be the best.

“If you want to be the best, you have to do more, you have to prepare more,” said Briet, who has scored over 50 times for the national team.

“When you’re with the coach (doing video analysis) you only see good or bad things, you don't see everything. We don't have the time to see everything with the coach so I think if you want to be the best, you, for sure, have to do more. For me it's not even a question.

“I know I have to prepare myself more than what we do, because I don't know how he (opposition players) reacts on this movement, how he loses the ball during the game, on which situation is a tough one. You've got so many things to see, and you can't see everything in 45 minutes, so I will do more and a lot of guys do more now too.”

And how does that translate into training or matches?

“I tell the players,” explains Briet. “Because it's a very specific relationship, I'm going say to Nedim (Remili), Dika (Mem) or whomever I am playing with; ‘Okay, I want to play like this’. Maybe, it’s just for me – in defence, when I know I will play in the middle, I know he (opposition player) likes to do that and I will react specifically about that.

“The thing we can adapt the most is when we are in defence, because in offence, it's mostly you against you, in defence, it's really you against them, like a chess match.”

The latest video analysis for Briet will see him study the African champions, Egypt, coached by Juan Carlos Pastor, who France face late on Tuesday (28 January) evening.

“We'll see a lot of videos; the games they played, how they defend, how they attack their assets, their weak points in defence, in offence,” said the player who has scored 33 times in the EHF Champions League this season.

“We look at how will we adapt on this player if he's too good and it's good to have that to think about. Aymeric (Minne – club and national teammate) and I were talking because we're used to preparing for the games together in Nantes. We’re looking at weaknesses, how can we focus on them and put the player in a difficult situation.

“This is what we like about handball: we have adversity in front of us and it’s about how we will manage to outsmart them.”