When the best handball player in the French league walks into the Parisian brasserie Auteuil, he is still on the phone with his girlfriend. I’ll be right there, he gestures apologetically. He is wearing a gray T-shirt with a print of pineapples. His hair is wet from the shower, his cheeks red from the bike ride through the heat. He’s a few minutes late for the lunch appointment. “I’m really sorry, my appointment with the physio ran late,” says Luc Steins with a lilting Limburg accent as he joins. “Normally I am always on time.”
The 27-year-old Steins has been playing handball in Paris with Paris Saint-Germain since November 2020, after having played successively for the Limburg Lions and the French clubs Massy, Tremblay and Fenix Toulouse. He joined PSG on loan as a replacement for French star player Nikola Karabatic and was allowed to stay for another year after a successful first season, in which he continued to play in Karabatic’s position as a mid-builder.
Steins – with his height of 1.72 meters one of the smallest top handball players – is known for his speed and sharp insight into the game. Since coming to Paris, he has scored 233 goals in 78 matches and has been named the best player in the French league twice. PSG – the club that has been leading the first division for years – has also won the Coupe de France twice since Steins’ arrival. After briefly considering switching to Polish club Vive Kielce this spring, the Limburger extended in June his contract with PSG until the summer of 2026.
What is the biggest difference between PSG and the clubs you played for before?
“The pressure. Because this is the great Paris” – Steins raises his eyebrows – “they always assume that we will win everything. For many media and clubs, for example, it is self-evident that we win the competition. While we must not forget how special that is, especially if we win all games of the season like last year.”
Do you always need more in Paris?
“Yes. For example, people find it incomprehensible that we have never won the Champions League. I put that pressure on myself too. I can also think: how cool would it be to be there when PSG win the Champions League for the first time. Especially because it would be the first time in handball and in football. But that pressure does take its physical toll.”
Is that why you just had to see a physiotherapist?
“Yes, my knee hurts.” He rubs his left leg. “That is a sign that it is physically difficult to keep up with this level. We play seven or eight games a month, during which I’m almost always on the pitch for the full sixty minutes. And even when I play for the Dutch team, I almost always play sixty minutes.”
We play seven or eight games a month. The coach will only take me out if I really can’t make it anymore
What does your physio say about that?
“The physio here doesn’t say anything about it, because then he goes against the trainer. But my physio in the Netherlands would say: can’t you even share your playing time? Then I would also be fitter in national competitions and it could make my career longer. It would also give younger players, who are now sitting on the bench for the entire game, an opportunity to develop.
“But that is not possible at a club like PSG. The trainer [Spanjaard Raúl González, red.] is only there to win matches; he is also charged for that. So he won’t take me out until I really can’t make it anymore. And then he probably just gets another player who is already playing at this level, instead of investing in a young talent. That sounds crude, but that’s how it works at a club like Paris. It’s just business.”
You have been brought in as a replacement for Karabatic, arguably the best handball player ever. Then the team was practically formed around you. How was that for you?
“Well, I was mainly asked because I was one of the few who were available, you know. And ok, who could handle the level. I tried to connect as best as possible and it went well. But it’s also easy when everyone is praising you. If you get criticized and then you can still stand, that’s much better.”
You are best sober and modest, while PSG has a glitter-and-glam image. Does that rub?
Steins laughs and puts his fork on his plate of pasta. “That’s right, yes. I notice that, for example, when we get VIP tickets for a football match, we suddenly have to wear a shirt,” he says with a disapproving look. “And sometimes we get a glass of champagne after the game. I think that’s such nonsense: just give me a glass of water or a Coke. Only if absolutely necessary, for example if there is a mandatory dress code is, I’m in it.”
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Photo Valentina CAMU – Hans Lucas
On Instagram, you also notice that some of your teammates post pictures with expensive cars and at chic holiday destinations, while you put selfies of your parents and photos of your hiking holiday online.
“We are very different in that regard. I’m not materialistic at all and I sometimes laugh at how some guys come to training. Then they wear the newest of the newest clothes, from brands I don’t even know. If they like that, that’s fine of course, but I sometimes think: is that necessary? I don’t want anyone to judge me on how I look or because I’m wearing new shoes. I’d rather people like me because I’m good handball or a nice person.”
Are you expected to participate?
“Sometimes. Like last year when we could get a premium paid in cash or in a watch. Then the whole team opted for a watch worth thousands of euros and at first I thought: what a nonsense, I have a watch after all,” he says, showing his Garmin sports watch, which he received in 2019 when he left the second division. club Tremblay. “But in the end I just did it, because everyone else was doing it.”
The contrast between Voerendaal where you grew up and Paris also seems great to me. How do you experience that?
Steins is silent for a moment. “I don’t always find life in Paris easy. I’m starting to find my way around it now, avoiding the crowds and the tourists. But you can never calmly go to training on your bike here without being almost knocked off your socks. And no one looks up to you or around. In Limburg, but also in Toulouse, everyone greets each other on the street and you always run into people you know. Well, I’ve never met anyone here,” he says, wide-eyed. “The bustle of Paris was also a reason to consider going to Vive Kielce earlier this year.”
Why did you choose to stay in Paris anyway?
“It was a mix of circumstances, but mainly because it was not going well on a private level. My girlfriend is in a somewhat difficult phase of her life and my father has been diagnosed with lymphoma – the diagnosis is very bad. That’s why I want to be close to Limburg so that I can visit it often – sometimes we drive up and down for half a day.
“The fact that things are going well from a sporting point of view does not always mean that everything is pink and moonshine. People who ask, ‘Hey, you’re doing great, huh?’ seem to forget how many things can be playing in the background. Things that are more important than a stupid game of handball.”
Does that make you look at your future differently?
“Look, I think handball is the most beautiful sport in the world. But when my career as a player is over, I don’t want to work as a trainer, for example. Then I’ll be done with moving and living abroad and I just want to be close to my family and friends. I am a sensitive boy in that regard.”