# Jackson Richardson

Jackson Richardson (born 14 June 1969) is a French former handball player. Regarded as one of the best and most influential handball players of his era, Richardson won fourteen titles at club level and the World Championship in 1995 and 2001 with the French national team. He was awarded IHF World Player of the Year in 1995, and voted the most valuable player at the World Championships in 1990 and 1995, and the 2000 European Championship.
With the national team, Richardson also received one silver medal and three bronze medals at the World Championships in 1993, 1997, 2003 and 2005, and won the bronze medal in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. He holds the record for most caps for the French national team with 417 appearances. As the captain of the national team, Richardson was France's flag bearer during the 2004 Olympic Games opening ceremony in Athens.

## Club career

Richardson started playing handball when he was six years old and was a part of the youth team at Saint-Pierre HBC from 1977 to 1989. In 1988, he was spotted during a match at Réunion Island by French national team head coach Daniel Costantini who was scouting for a Réunionese player for Bataillon de Joinville, a military unit of the French army for sport conscripts. After completing his military service, Richardson signed for Paris-Asnières in 1989.
In 1991, Richardson transferred to OM Vitrolles, where he would win the French league in 1994 and 1996, the French cup in 1993 and 1995, and the EHF Cup Winners' Cup in 1993. He joined German club TV Großwallstadt in 1996 and won the EHF Challenge Cup in 2000. That same year, Richardson moved to Spanish club Portland San Antonio, where he won the EHF Champions League in 2001 and the Spanish league in 2002 and 2005. He was also voted Best playmaker of the Spanish league for three consecutive seasons from 2003 to 2005.
Richardson returned to France in 2005 to play for Chambéry Savoie Handball. In 2008, Richardson retired after a final match against US Ivry, but later came out of retirement to briefly play for Rhein-Neckar Löwen in 2009.

## International career

Richardson made his debut for the French national team in 1990. He was voted the most valuable player at the 1990 World Championship where France placed ninth. Jackson was part of the French squad that won the bronze medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Jackson and the national team placed second at the 1993 World Championship and won the 1995 World Championship, where he was again voted the most valuable player of the tournament.
France finished second at the 1997 World Championship and fourth at the 2000 European Championship, where Richardson received his third most valuable player award for a major international competition. He won the 2001 World Championship with the national team, and placed third at the World Championships in 2003 and 2005.
Richardson retired from the national team in 2005, having made 417 appearances and scored 775 goals. The French Handball Federation celebrated his farewell to the team with a ceremony after the Paris-Bercy tournament attended by sport figures and his mother, who had traveled from their native Réunion. Richardson dedicated the tournament to his father who had recently passed away.

## Personal life

Richardson is married and has two children. His son, Melvyn, is a handball player for FC Barcelona and member of the French national team.

## Honours
### Club

OM Vitrolles
* EHF Cup Winners' Cup: 1993
* LNH Division 1: 1994, 1996
* Coupe de France: 1993, 1995
TV Großwallstadt
* EHF Challenge Cup: 2000
Portland San Antonio
* EHF Champions League: 2001
* EHF Cup Winners' Cups: 2004
* EHF Supercup: 2000
* Liga ASOBAL: 2002, 2005
* Copa del Rey: 2001
* Supercopa ASOBAL: 2001, 2002

### International

* World Championship:
** Gold: 1995, 2001
** Silver: 1993
** Bronze: 1997, 2003, 2005
* Olympic Games
** Bronze: 1992

### Individual

* IHF World Player of the Year: 1995
* EHF Champions League Ultimate Selection: 2013
* MVP at the 1990 World Championship
* MVP and best centre back at the 1995 World Championship
* MVP and best centre back at the 2000 European Championship
* Best foreign player of the Spanish League: 2001, 2002
* Best playmaker of the Spanish League: 2003, 2004, 2005
* European Handball Federation Hall of Fame in 2023.