Dika Mem (born 31 August 1997) is a French professional

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor 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 thr ...

player for

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

and the French national handball team. He is widely regarded as one of the best players of his generation.

Career

Youth Career

Mem was a late starter, learning how to play at the age of 13. He began his career with French club CSM Eaubonne, where he played until he was 15 years old. The following two seasons he was at Pôle Espoirs before one season at Saint Gratien, where he made his senior debut in the French third tier at the age of 16. A week before his 17th birthday he won U-18 European Championship, and a year he won the U17 World Championship.

Senior debut

He made the jump to the handball elite at the age of 17 and in the 2015–16 season he made his debut with Tremblay. In his first season in the LNH, Mem scored 93 goals in 25 games.

Fc Barcelona

In 2016 Mem signed with Spanish champions FC Barcelona on a six year deal. This makes him the youngest first team player, FC Barcelona has ever signed. There, he has won the

Liga ASOBAL Liga Asobal is the premier professional handball league in Spain. It was founded in 1958 with the name of División de Honor, changing its name to the current name in 1990. The Liga ASOBAL, which is played under EHF rules, currently consists of ...

Copa ASOBAL The Copa ASOBAL is an annual handball cup competition for Liga ASOBAL teams. It was first played for in 1990 and is contested by the top four teams at the end of the first half of the Liga ASOBAL Liga Asobal is the premier professional handball ...

and

Copa del Rey de Balonmano The Copa del Rey de Balonmano ( English: '' King's Cup of Handball'') is an annual cup competition for Spanish handball teams. Organized by the Liga ASOBAL. It was originally known as the ''Copa del Generalísimo'' and was renamed ''Copa de SM El ...

treble for seven consecutive seasons. In his second season he was named as best young player in the world by Handball Planet. Already in 2018 he extended his contract to 2024. In 2019 won the

IHF Super Globe The Men's Super Globe is a handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a bal ...

, beating German club

THW Kiel THW Kiel is a professional handball club from Kiel, Germany. Currently, they compete in the Handball-Bundesliga and are the record champion with 23 titles. 2007 and 2012 were the most successful years in the club's history, as THW completed t ...

34:32 in the final. In May 2022 he extended his contract until 2027. A month later he won the

2021–22 EHF Champions League The 2021–22 EHF Champions League was the 62nd edition of Europe's premier club handball tournament and the 29th edition under the current EHF Champions League format, running from 15 September 2021 to 19 June 2022. Barça won the competition ...

beating Polish

Vive Kielce KS Iskra Kielce SA, officially known for sponsorship reasons as Industria Kielce, and previously named Vive Kielce between 2002 and 2022, is a professional men's handball club based in Kielce in southeastern Poland. The club plays in the Polish ...

on penalties. Mem was in the Champions League all star team for the tournament. From the 2023/24 season he became the team captain of Barcelona. The same season he was named best right back in the world at the 2024

EHF Excellence Awards The EHF Excellence Awards is an annual handball awards ceremony held by the European Handball Federation. It was first held in 2023 in Vienna, Austria. The best players of the season on each position both on the men's and women's side are awarded, ...

National team

At the age of 19 he was on the France squad at the

2017 World Men's Handball Championship The 2017 IHF World Men's Handball Championship was the 25th event hosted by the International Handball Federation. The event was held in France from 11 to 29 January 2017. France, in a clean sweep, defended their title by defeating Norway 33–26 ...

, that won a gold medal. He won an additional gold medal with the French national team at the

2020 Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. In 2024 he completed the set when he won a gold medal at the 2024 European Championship. At the 2025 World Championship he won bronze medals with France, losing to Croatia in the semifinal and beating Portugal in the third place playoff.

Personal life

Two of his brothers are basketball players in the

Ligue Nationale de Basket The Ligue nationale de basket (LNB; English: National Basketball League) is the governing body of men's professional club basketball in France. The LNB organises the first-tier Pro A and the second-tier Pro B. Additionally, the federation ann ...

. He was born to a

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

ian father and a

Réunion Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the isl ...

ese mother.

Honours

Club

EHF Champions League The 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's com ...

** ''Winner:

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

'' ** ''Second place:

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

'' * Super Globe ** ''Winner:

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

'' ** ''Second place:

'' ** ''Third place:

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 *

2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 * Spanish Super Cup (''Supercopa de España de Balonmano'') 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 * Catalan Super Cup 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 *

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 * Iberian Super Cup 2022 and 2023

Individual awards

* All-Star Right Back of

* Best right back at the 2023/24

* Best young player in the world 2017/2018 * Liga ASOBAL all star team (right back): 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mem, Dika 1997 births Living people Handball players from Paris French male handball players French sportspeople of Cameroonian descent French people of Réunion descent FC Barcelona Handbol players Liga ASOBAL players Handball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for France Olympic medalists in handball Olympic handball players for France Handball players at the 2024 Summer Olympics French expatriate handball players in Spain Black French sportspeople 21st-century French sportsmen