Tamara Horacek: “Nantes’ mantra is patience and ambition”

“I mean, I probably could have stayed in Metz, but I wanted to give myself a new challenge. And since Nantes are a very ambitious club, things clicked pretty quickly,” the French international reflects on her transfer.

Metz have always been home for Tamara Horacek. Her mother, Vesna, played for the club for six seasons, from 2004 to 2010. Tamara learnt everything about handball there and only moved away for the first time in 2017 to join Paris 92.

She then had a stint at Hungarian side Siófok KC in 2020/21 before returning to France and coming home to Metz again for two more seasons.

And now Neptunes Nantes?

Horacek is quick to underline the ambitions of her new club.

“The staff has built a team that has a lot of talent and experience. The project is a big one, but everyone at the club is also aware that you can’t build a winning team in the blink of an eye,” says Horacek, who has been named the team captain in her first season with Nantes.

“Sure, we all eye at the EHF Champions League, but I know that it might take two or three years for us to maybe reach it.”

For now, Neptunes are happy playing in the EHF European League, a competition they won in its inaugural season in 2020/21. As a coincidence, Nantes beat Siófok 36:31 in that final and Horacek scored three times for the Hungarian side.

For Horacek, playing in the EHF European League after a couple seasons in the EHF Champions League doesn’t make too much of a difference.

“Physically, my body does not say ‘no’ to having a few weekends off,” she says. “The competition is rising every season, and there are some really good teams in here. To me the difficulty is that when you play the Champions League, you know you have to be 100 per cent every game. And subconsciously, you might be tempted to think that 90 per cent will be enough in the European League, which is completely wrong.”

It is for this kind of experience that Nantes picked Tamara Horacek alongside Swedish goalkeeper Jessica Ryde, Danish centre back Helene Fauske, and Dutch right wing Kelly Vollebregt to reinforce their squad for the 2023/24 season.

But despite their impressive roster, the club from the West of France is not talking about any goals for the EHF European League season yet.

“Our mantra will be patience and ambition. Of course, we want to go as far as possible in the competition, winning every game,” Horacek says. “But we also have to keep in mind that building a strong foundation for a club to grow takes time. Yes, Nantes won the European League in 2021, but are still a very young club.”

And even before thinking ahead, Neptunes will have to get past Molde Elite in the final qualification round before the group phase starts in January 2024. Nantes first play Molde at home on Sunday 12 November at 17:00 CET; the return leg takes place exactly one week later in Norway.

Molde eliminated another French side – JDA Bourgogne Dijon Handball – in the first qualification round, winning the first leg 35:29 in France and the second 40:23 in Norway.

“We are very aware of their quality and we will be very focused when both games come,” Horacek says.

“I know that qualifying for the group phase and having a nice European journey over the course of the season is very strengthening for the team, but also the club as a whole. So, we will take those games one by one and do our best for this qualification round to be just a beginning.”

photos © 2023 Kevin Domas