November in the Liqui Moly Starligue was billed as the month of Paris vs Montpellier. It still delivered that heavyweight clash, but the wider story was different: Paris kept a perfect domestic record, Nantes were almost flawless and a resurgent Saint-Raphaël suddenly looked relevant again. Limoges and Montpellier both wobbled, and the bottom of the table tightened. This is Power Rankings Liqui Moly Starligue with Hen Livgot.
Lower down, Nîmes used a derby win to reboot their season, Toulouse went to Beaublanc and stole the show, while Tremblay’s attack kept humming. Cesson-Rennes and Dunkerque, on the other hand, came out of the month with more questions than points.
Power Rankings is Hen Livgot monthly take on which teams are truly in form. It’s not about the league table, but about how the teams have performed during the past month.
Hen Livgot is a handball expert and licensed professional players’ agent.
Here are the French Men’s League Power Rankings for November!
Movement of the month
- Biggest heater: Paris stayed perfect with four wins from four, including away victories at Toulouse and Istres plus the marquee home win over Montpellier.
- Giant-killer of the month: Nîmes, who stopped Montpellier’s unbeaten domestic run with that 30–29 derby at a packed Parnasse and followed it up with a controlled home win over Dijon.
- Steepest slide: Limoges, who began the month losing a 40–35 shoot-out at home to Nantes and finished it being blown away in the second half by Toulouse in Beaublanc.
- Crisis watch: Cesson-Rennes, three defeats from three and a painful habit of losing tight games, starting with the 34-32 collapse in Tremblay.
Month-only form table (league games in November only)
- Nantes – 8 pts (4-0-0, +28)
- Paris – 8 pts (4-0-0, +23)
- Saint-Raphaël – 7 pts (3-1-0, +9)
4-6 Nîmes, Tremblay, Chambéry – 5 pts each
Bottom three on form: Chartres, Dunkerque (1 pt), Cesson-Rennes (0 pt).
Ranking below follows this form table but also weighs opponent strength, home/away difficulty and verified context.
1: Paris Saint-Germain
Current league standing: 1
Four league games, four wins, and Paris looked increasingly like a machine. They dug themselves out of trouble in Toulouse, ran away from Istres, and then used back-to-back home wins over Montpellier and Chambéry to open a serious gap at the top.
The most impressive part for Stefan Madsen was that he could rotate and still dominate. With Kamil Syprzak and Jannick Green missing, the goal was protected by Mikkel Lövkvist, who produced a standout performance in Istres, while Luc Steins came off the bench to run that attack with his usual tempo. The Montpellier game showed the defensive ceiling of this group – Paris controlled the key phases and still had enough left in the legs for Europe. A plus-23 goal difference in four matches says everything.
2: HBC Nantes
Current league standing: 2
Photo: HBC Nantes
On pure form, Nantes have every right to think they were the team of the month. They walked into Beaublanc and dropped 40 on Limoges, dismantled Chartres at home, handled Aix without drama and then closed with a convincing win in Dunkerque. It was clean, ruthless work.
The staff of Grégory Cojean leaned heavily on a backcourt that simply overwhelmed opponents. Aymeric Minne orchestrated the show, particularly against Chartres where he paired goals and assists in double figures, and Noam Leopold’s finishing from the left wing kept showing up both in domestic play and Europe. All of this came with Valero Rivera still out, which underlines the depth. Nantes sit behind PSG here only because their schedule was a touch softer.
3: Saint-Raphaël Var Handball
Current league standing: 7
Photo: Ewa Gros / SRVHB
If you are looking for a team that changed its own narrative, it is Saint-Raphaël. They opened with a must-win at home to Nîmes, followed it with a confident victory in Dijon, survived a thriller against Istres and then took a draw away at Chartres. Seven points from four games is serious business for a side that had been drifting.
Credit here passes naturally to the spine of Benjamin Braux’s side. Alexandre Demaille was excellent in goal – that Nîmes match in particular felt like a throwback to his best seasons – and young left wing Drevy Paschal finally turned volume into efficiency with a big scoring night. Winning those one-goal games in Dijon and against Istres is exactly what they had been failing to do earlier in the season.
4: USAM Nîmes Gard
Current league standing: 9
Photo: Vegard Wivestad Grøtt / BILDBYRÅN
Nîmes’ month is defined by one evening, but the story did not stop there. The 30–29 home win over Montpellier flipped the mood around the club, not just because of the derby element but because of how they did it: strong goalkeeping from Wesley Pardin, key goals from Guéric Vincent and a defence that finally looked organised again.
That result could have easily been a one-off. Instead, USAM backed it up. There was still the early stumble in Saint-Raphaël, but a solid home victory against Dijon and a gritty draw away to Limoges showed that David Degouy’s team had rediscovered some resilience. They are still a long way from the European conversation, yet November stopped the slide and turned the season in a different direction.
5: Fenix Toulouse
Current league standing: 8
Photo: Mats Javerud / BILDBYRÅN
The raw numbers for Toulouse – two wins and one loss – do not tell the full story. They went toe to toe with Paris for long stretches before losing at home, took care of business against Dunkerque and then delivered one of the standout results of the month by storming Limoges.
Everything ran through the left side. Nemanja Ilic put together a huge performance at Beaublanc, dropping double-digit goals and completely changing the complexion of that game, while the defence around him tightened as the match went on. For Danijel Andjelkovic this is the blueprint: when Fenix defend with that intensity and get Ilic in rhythm, they look like a dangerous top-eight side again.
6: Tremblay-en-France
Current league standing: 5
Tremblay keep living on the edge and somehow stay on the right side of it more often than not. November brought a wild home win over Cesson-Rennes, a high-scoring draw in Dunkerque, another two-goal success against Sélestat and then, finally, a step back in Montpellier.
The attack is the reason Cherif Hamani sleeps at night. The playmaker line, led by Matteo Fadhuile, produced absurd numbers – that Cesson game in particular looked like a personal highlight reel. Tremblay still give up too many easy goals and will not sustain this season purely by outscoring everyone, but in terms of November form they were consistently difficult to handle.
7: Montpellier HB
Current league standing: 3
Montpellier did not collapse, but they did crack. A comfortable home win against Sélestat to start and a solid performance versus Tremblay to finish would normally anchor a positive month; the issue is what happened in between. The derby defeat in Nîmes and the loss in Paris cost Eric Mathe’s team both top spot and a big psychological edge.
There were still individual performances to like – the wings delivered in volume, and the depth showed in the easier fixtures – yet in the two headline games Montpellier could not control the tempo or impose their defence. Given the Champions League workload they avoid dropping further down this list, but November was the first time the season’s armour really showed cracks.
8: Limoges Handball
Current league standing: 4
Photo: LimogesHandball
Limoges had one of the toughest schedules of anyone, and it showed. The month started with that 40-35 shoot-out defeat to Nantes, continued with an excellent win away in Aix, then moved on to a home draw against Nîmes and a bruising loss to Toulouse.
From Alberto Entrerríos’ perspective, there are positives and red flags at the same time. The team found ways to score even against strong defences, with Andrea Guillaume again among the main threats, but the defensive numbers are simply not at the level of a club dreaming of Europe. When you concede 30 or more in every single game, you make life very hard for yourself.
9: Chambéry Savoie Mont Blanc
Current league standing: 6
Chambéry’s month looked tidy on paper: wins against Dijon and Cesson-Rennes, a draw in Sélestat and defeat only in Paris. It was the kind of run that keeps a team firmly in the upper half without quite announcing them as a top-tier threat.
Under Asier Antonio the side remains pragmatic. They find ways to grind out results against teams below them, but the defensive base is not yet strong enough to seriously trouble the big two. The draw in Alsace and the nervous finish versus Cesson stop Chambéry from pushing into the top tier of this ranking, even if the points total was respectable.
10: Pays d’Aix Université Club (Aix)
Current league standing: 10
For Aix, November was a rollercoaster that finished with the car still intact. The opening win in Dunkerque was exactly what they needed, only for optimism to be punctured by consecutive home defeats against Limoges and Nantes. A clear away victory in Sélestat put a much-needed bandage on the month.
Eric Forêts can at least point to the high points and say the ceiling is still there. When the backcourt is accurate and the defence organised, PAUC look like a side that should be fighting for the top six. The issue is that those versions of Aix and the fragile, error-prone version take turns showing up, sometimes within the same game.
11: Istres Provence Handball
Current league standing: 15
Istres quietly banked two very important wins. They edged Chartres away, beat Cesson-Rennes at home and only lost narrowly in Saint-Raphaël. All of that would have added up to a very positive month if not for the heavy 29–39 defeat against Paris, where the gulf in resources and physicality was laid bare.
Bastien Cismondo can still be encouraged by the response to that PSG loss. The group kept competing, and the second half against the champions showed a level of fight that will be crucial in the relegation battle. The bigger concern is the defensive volume: conceding more than 30 in three of four games leaves no margin for error.
12: Dijon Métropole Handball
Current league standing: 14
Dijon finally found a home win in the top flight, and it mattered. The 29–28 success over Chartres in round 11 gave the team and the Palais des Sports crowd something concrete to hold on to. Around that, though, came defeats in Chambéry and Nîmes and a clear loss at home to Saint-Raphaël.
Mehdi Ighirri’s men are competitive in long stretches of games but still lack the depth and calm to close them. The attack can score enough to stay in contact; it is the final five minutes and the defensive discipline that keep costing them points. They stay ahead of the bottom three because they at least took one of their direct duels.
13: Sélestat Alsace Handball
Current league standing: 16
Photo: FredBocquenetPhotosSports
Sélestat’s results in November were marginally better than their position suggests. They lost in Montpellier, drew at home with Chambéry and then suffered narrow defeats in Tremblay and at home to Aix. There were moments in each of those matches where Laurent Busselier’s side looked like they might turn the corner.
The problem is that it never quite happened. The backcourt produced some good phases against Chambéry and Tremblay, but the defence leaked too many soft goals and the mental drop after setbacks was obvious. Until Sélestat can convert those “almost” nights into wins, they will remain stuck in the bottom zone of this ranking.
14: Chartres Métropole Handball
Current league standing: 12
For Chartres, November was brutal. A home loss to Istres set the tone, followed by a heavy defeat in Nantes and that one-goal heartbreak in Dijon. Only at the very end of the month did they salvage something, drawing 24–24 with an in-form Saint-Raphaël.
Arnaud Calbry is still trying to stabilise a team that concedes in waves. Youenn Cardinal’s scoring burst in Nantes was one of the rare bright spots, but across the month Chartres allowed far too many goals and frequently lost control of games for ten or fifteen minutes at a time. That is how you turn “OK” performances into no points.
15: Dunkerque
Current league standing: 13
Dunkerque’s form line reads like a warning sign. They lost by five at home to Aix, threw away a chance to beat Tremblay by conceding late in a 27–27 draw, then went down heavily in Toulouse and were outclassed at home by Nantes. There were very few periods where Tarik Hayatoune’s side looked in charge of a game.
The attack rarely reached 30 goals, and when it did against Nantes, the defence conceded 34. Confidence seems fragile; once things start to tilt, Dunkerque struggle to reset. On this month’s evidence they are closer to the relegation fight than to mid-table comfort.
16: Cesson-Rennes Métropole Handball
Current league standing: 11
The worst November belongs to Cesson-Rennes. Three games, three defeats, all against direct rivals in the middle and lower half: Tremblay, Chambéry and Istres. The margins were often small, but they always went the wrong way.
Sébastien Leriche will be frustrated because his team had stretches of control in all three matches. In Tremblay they led deep into the second half before collapsing, in Savoie they stayed in touch but never quite found the extra gear, and in Istres they conceded far too easily once the pressure rose. If this pattern repeats, the league position will soon start to reflect the trend.
Team of the month: Paris Saint-Germain
Results considered:
- Toulouse 33–36 Paris
- Istres 29–39 Paris
- Paris 34–31 Montpellier
- Paris 33–26 Chambéry
Four wins, two tricky away trips and a direct blow to a title rival. Paris managed rotation, injuries and European travel while still imposing their game on every opponent. In a month where Nantes were also perfect, the strength of schedule and the head-to-head win over Montpellier tip the vote in PSG’s favour.
Player of the month: Nemanja Ilic (Fenix Toulouse)
No player shifted the temperature of games quite like Ilic. His scoring run at Limoges changed a balanced contest into a statement away win and his numbers across the month kept Toulouse’s attack at a level that allowed them to compete with anyone. When he is in that kind of rhythm, Fenix look like a different team.
Storyline of the month: Nîmes flip the script on their season
The month began with USAM deep in a negative spiral after another defeat, and local talk was almost entirely about crisis. By the end of November they had handed Montpellier their first domestic loss, taken a point in Limoges and beaten Dijon, with Wesley Pardin back to something close to his best. In a league this tight, one month like that can rescue an entire season.
Autor: Hen Livgot
Hen Livgot is a handball expert and licensed professional players’ agent.