Thierry Omeyer (born 2 November 1976) is a retired French

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

goalkeeper. A member of the French national team since 1999, he has won all major titles with the team: world champion (five times), European champion (three times) and Olympic champion twice. He is widely considered to be one of the best handball goalkeepers of all time, and is the third goalkeeper so far to have been elected best player of the world by the

International Handball Federation The International Handball Federation (IHF) is the administrative and controlling body for handball and beach handball. IHF is responsible for the organisation of handball's major international tournaments, notably the IHF World Men's Handball C ...

(the two others being

Henning Fritz Henning Fritz (born 21 September 1974) is a German retired handball goalkeeper, current entrepreneur, book author and TV expert. In 2004, he was the first goalkeeper to be named World Player of the Year. Sports career At , Fritz is a relativ ...

, in 2004, and Árpád Sterbik, in 2005), what he achieved in 2008. In his former club (

THW Kiel THW Kiel is a handball club from Kiel, Germany. Currently, they compete in the Handball-Bundesliga and are the record champion with 22 titles. 2007 and 2012 were the most successful years in the club's history, as THW completed the treble, win ...

), his nickname was ''Die Mauer'' (The Wall).

Club career

Omeyer started handball at the age of 9 in Cernay (

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

). In 1994, he joined his first professional club, Sélestat. His save percentage being up to 50%, he caught the attention of the best club in the French championship,

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the department of Hérault. In 2018, 290,053 people l ...

. Quickly becoming the first choice goalkeeper, he won five championships (from 2002 to 2006) and five national cups (2001, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006). The biggest highlight of his time there is the win of the 2003

EHF Champions League The Men's EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the men ...

, a title that had never been won by a French club before. In 2006, he decided to leave for a more competitive championship and joined the German club

, with whom he won the double, the

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

and the national cup in 2007 and 2008, plus the Champions League in 2007, 2010 and 2012. On 15 April 2014,

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As ...

announced that both Thierry Omeyer and William Accambray were leaving Montpellier in order to join their club next season. Omeyer played his last professional match on 6 June 2019 against Cesson-Rennes, PSG, who had already secured the title, defeated Cesson-Rennes 29-20, which ensured the latter's relegation.

International career

He made his debut for the French national team on September 19, 1999 against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

.ff-handball.org: France national team
In 2001, he became

World champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

after beating

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28-25 (after two extra-times) in the final. In 2008, he became Olympic champion after an excellent tournament where he was voted best goalkeeper with a rate of 41% shots saved all over the competition. In the final, he saved 11 shots out of 39 to ensure France' 28-23 win over

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. In 2015, he became

after beating

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it s ...

25-22. He was voted best goalkeeper and the MVP of the tournament.

Individual awards

*Most Valuable Player (

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a partic ...

) of the World Championship:

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

*All-Star Goalkeeper of the World Championship:

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

*All-Star Goalkeeper of the European Championship:

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 FIFA ...

* IHF World Player of the Year: 2008

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Omeyer, Thierry 1976 births Living people Sportspeople from Mulhouse French male handball players Handball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic handball players of France Olympic gold medalists for France Olympic silver medalists for France French twins Montpellier Handball players Olympic medalists in handball Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite European champions for France Expatriate handball players French expatriate sportspeople in Germany THW Kiel players Handball-Bundesliga players 21st-century French people