The 2024 EHF European Men's Handball Championship was the 16th edition of the tournament and the third to feature 24 national teams. It was hosted in Germany from 10 to 28 January 2024.
The two opening games of the tournament were attended by 53,586 spectators, setting a world record for the largest audience at a handball event. Additionally, the tournament achieved a record for the highest total number of spectators in handball history, becoming the first to exceed one million attendees.
France won their first title in a decade after defeating Denmark in the final. Defending champions Sweden captured the bronze medal after defeating hosts Germany.
Bid process
Bids On 4 May 2017, it was announced that the following countries had sent in an official expression of interest: , & &
North Macedonia (potentially with )
However, when the deadline for submitting the final bids expired, the following applications had been received: & & (withdrew after receiving the 2022 hosting rights)
Host selection On 20 June 2018 at the 14th ordinary EHF Congress held in Glasgow, Germany was selected to host the competition.
+Voting results Country Votes 27 & 19 & - Total 46
Venues On 10 June 2021, the host cities were announced where the championship will be played in six cities. The opening game will be held in Merkur Spiel-Arena in Düsseldorf and is aiming to break the world record for the largest attendance at an indoor handball game and the final will be held in Lanxess Arena in Cologne. On 14 September 2022, it was announced that the classic venue Olympiahalle in Munich (previously hosted Handball at the 1972 Summer Olympics main round and medal games and also the group stage games in the 2019 World Men's Handball Championship) would replace the delay-ridden SAP Garden. Due to material and labour shortages, the venue would not be completed in time for the tournament in January 2024, therefore being dropped by the organisers. Both Olympiahalle and the future SAP Garden are located close to each other in the Olympiapark.
Düsseldorf Cologne Berlin Merkur Spiel-Arena Lanxess Arena Mercedes-Benz Arena Capacity: 54,600 Capacity: 19,750 Capacity: 14,800 Hamburg Mannheim Munich Barclays Arena SAP Arena Olympiahalle Capacity: 13 300 Capacity: 13,200 Capacity: 12,150
Qualification
The qualification for the final tournament has taken place between November 2021 and April 2023. Germany as the host team, and the three best placed not already qualified teams from the previous championship, were automatically qualified, leaving a total of 36 national teams to compete for the remaining 20 places in the final tournament.
The competition consists of two rounds: a relegation round and qualifiers. In the relegation round, the three best placed teams from the 2021 Men's IHF/EHF Trophy joined by Luxembourg as best ranked team according EHF which haven't participated in the second round of the previous qualifiers, faced the four worst ranked fourth-placed teams from the second round of the 2022 qualification. The four winners of the two-legged relegation round matches advance to the qualifiers, joining the remaining twenty teams that participated in the 2022 championship and the remaining eight teams that were eliminated in the second round of the 2022 qualification. Those 32 teams will be divided into eight groups by four teams, with top two teams and four best ranked third-teams qualifying.
Qualified teams
Marketing The official logo and slogan was unveiled on 6 January 2022. The basis for the logo design is the place where everything is decided in handball and where emotions arise: the lines of the court. Those were transformed into the compact shape of a ball that conveys the dynamics of the sport. The logo was designed by and in collaboration with Berlin-based agency Styleheads. The heart of the communication is the claim "HERE TO PLAY!" This is activated in several variants in order to convey the different facets of the Men's EHF EURO 2024 and the individual locations. The following variations of the claim were used:
HERE TO PLAY HERE TO DREAM HERE TO BE LOUD HERE TO CELEBRATE HERE TO RELAX HERE TO CONNECT HERE TO ENJOY HERE TO WATCH HERE TO EXPLORE.
Draw The draw took place on 10 May 2023 in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Seeding The seedings were announced on 1 May 2023.
Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4
Referees The 18 referee pairs were selected on 25 September 2023.
Referees Amar KonjičaninDino Konjičanin Václav HoráčekJiří Novotný Mads HansenJesper Madsen Charlotte BonaventuraJulie Bonaventura Karim GasmiRaouf Gasmi Maike MerzTanja Kuttler Robert SchulzeTobias Tönnies Jónas ElíassonAnton Pálsson Vaidas MažeikaMindaugas Gatelis Referees Igor CovalciucAlexei Covalciuc Ivan PavićevićMiloš Ražnatović Slave NikolovGjorgji Nachevski Lars JørumHåvard Kleven Daniel MartinsRoberto Martins Bojan LahDavid Sok Andreu MarínIgnacio García Arthur BrunnerMorad Salah Mirza KurtagicMattias Wetterwik
Squads
Each team consists of up to 20 players, of whom 16 may be fielded for each match.
Tiebreakers In the preliminary and main rounds, if two or more teams are equal on points, their ranking is determined as follows:
During the round matches Superior goal difference from all group matches; Higher number of goals scored in all group matches; Alphabetical order. After completion of the round matches Higher number of points obtained in the group matches played between the teams in question; Superior goal difference from the group matches played between the teams in question; Higher number of goals scored in the group matches played between the teams in question; Superior goal difference from all group matches; Higher number of goals scored in all group matches.
If the ranking of one of the teams in question is determined, the criteria are consecutively reapplied to the remaining teams until all the rankings are determined. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, the Fair Play Ranking decides about the final group ranking. The Fair Play Ranking is decided by the EHF in accordance with the parameters rated as follows: Yellow cards: 1 point Two-minute suspensions: 2 points Red cards: 8 points In case the number of points in the Fair Play Ranking are identical, a draw is carried out by the EHF in the presence of at least one official from each of the concerned teams.
Preliminary round The schedule was released on 1 March 2023.
All times are local (UTC+1).
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Main round Points and goals gained in the preliminary group against teams that advance were transferred to the main round.
Group I
Group II
Knockout stage Bracket
Fifth place game
Semifinals
Third place game
Final
Ranking and statistics Final ranking The teams ranked fourth in each group after the completion of the preliminary round matches will be ranked 19 to 24, while teams ranked third in each group after the completion of the preliminary round matches will be ranked 13 to 18 according to the number of points won in the preliminary round. Places seven or eight will be attributed to the two teams ranked fourth in the main round groups, places nine and ten to the two teams ranked fifth in the main round groups, places eleven and twelve to the two teams ranked sixth in the main round groups according to the number of points won by the respective teams after completion of the main round matches. Places one to six will be decided by play–off or knock–out.
Rank Team Qualification OG WC EC Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q 4 q q2 5 q2 6 7 q 8 9 q Q Q 10 q2 q2 11 q Q 12 q2 13 q 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Entry stage Q Final tournament q2 Qualification phase 2 (2025 World Championship and 2026 European Championship) q 2024 Olympic Qualification Tournaments Method of qualification Qualified for the phase indicated based on this tournament Qualified for the phase indicated based on the 2023 World Championship Qualified for the final tournament as host Qualified for the final tournament as defending champion
2024 Men's European Champions France4th title
Team roster: Samir Bellahcene, Yanis Lenne, Nedim Remili, Elohim Prandi, Melvyn Richardson, Dika Mem, Nicolas Tournat, Nikola Karabatić, Kentin Mahé, Charles Bolzinger, Timothey N'Guessan, Luka Karabatic, Ludovic Fabregas, Hugo Descat, Valentin Porte, Benoît Kounkoud, Dylan Nahi, Karl Konan, Rémi Desbonnet.Head Coach: Guillaume Gille
All Star Team The all-star team was announced on 28 January 2024.
Position Player Most valuable player Nedim Remili Best defender Magnus Saugstrup Goalkeeper Andreas Wolff Right wing Robert Weber Right back Mathias Gidsel Centre back Juri Knorr Left back Martim Costa Left wing Hampus Wanne Pivot Ludovic Fabregas
Statistics
Top goalscorers Rank Name Goals Shots % 1 Martim Costa 54 81 67 Mathias Gidsel 66 82 3 Juri Knorr 50 86 58 4 Dika Mem 49 76 64 5 Rutger ten Velde 45 65 69 6 Ludovic Fabregas 44 50 88 Aleks Vlah 75 59 8 Mykola Bilyk 41 72 57 9 Niels Versteijnen 39 59 66 10 Felix Claar 38 52 73
Top goalkeepers Rank Name % Saves Shots 1 Emil Nielsen 39 77 195 2 Andreas Palicka 38 77 205 3 Dominik Kuzmanović 37 55 148 Tomáš Mrkva 34 93 5 Constantin Möstl 35 81 229 6 Andreas Wolff 34 92 274 7 Torbjørn Bergerud 32 56 175 8 Samir Bellahcene 31 63 204 Viktor Gísli Hallgrímsson 64 204 Niklas Landin Jacobsen 50 163 Martin Tomovski 17 54
Fair play ranking Rank Team (Penalty) points (8 pts) (2 pts) (1 pt) Avg. Total 1 4.7 14 7 3 2 4.8 43 18 7 9 3 5.0 15 7 1 3 4 5.3 16 7 2 3 5 5.7 51 23 5 9 6 6.2 56 26 4 9 7 6.3 44 1 17 2 7 8 6.6 59 28 3 9 9 6.7 47 22 3 7 10 7.3 22 1 6 2 3 11 7.4 52 24 4 7 12 7.6 53 24 5 7 13 8.3 58 28 2 7 25 12 1 3 58 2 19 4 7 16 8.6 69 30 9 8 17 8.7 26 12 2 3 18 9.0 27 1 9 1 3 19 9.3 74 1 31 4 8 20 9.7 29 1 9 3 3 21 10.0 30 15 3 22 10.3 31 14 3 3 23 13.0 39 2 10 3 3 24 14.3 43 1 17 1 3
Notes
References
External links EHF Euro 2024 at eurohandball.com