2018 European Men's Handball Championship
The 2018 EHF European Men's Handball Championship was the 14th edition of the tournament, hosted for the second time in Croatia from 12 to 28 January 2018. Croatia was awarded hosting the tournament during the EHF congress in Dublin on 20 September 2014. This was the last edition to feature 16 teams, with the 2020 edition expanding to 24 teams and six preliminary groups format.
Spain won their first title after defeating Sweden 29–23 in the final. France captured the bronze medal after defeating Denmark 32–29. Defending champions Germany finished 9th while the hosts Croatia broke the streak of playing 7 semifinals in a row by finishing 5th.
Bidding process
The interested nations were as follows:In December 2013, these were announced as the bids:Croatia
Croatia was recommended as the preferred bid. Croatia was confirmed as the host on 20 September 2014.
Venues
Each venue hosted one group, while Zagreb and Varaždin hosted the main round. The final weekend was in Zagreb.| Zagreb | Split | |
| Arena Zagreb Capacity: 15,200 | Spaladium Arena Capacity: 10,941 | |
| Varaždin | Poreč | |
| Varaždin Arena Capacity: 5,200 | Žatika Sport Centre Capacity: 3,700 | |
Qualification
Qualified teams
Note: Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.Draw
The draw was held on 23 June 2017.Seeding
The seedings were announced on 19 June 2017.| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
Match officials
On 26 October 2017, 12 couples were announced.| Country | Referees |
| Andrei Gousko Siarhei Repkin | |
| Matija Gubica Boris Milošević | |
| Václav Horáček Jiří Novotný | |
| Martin Gjeding Mads Hansen | |
| Stevann Pichon Laurent Reveret | |
| Lars Geipel Marcus Helbig |
| Country | Referees | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vaidas Mažeika Mindaugas Gatelis | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 MacedoniaPORROUESPRUScol-endPreliminary round''All times are local.''Group A-------- Group B-------- Group C-------- Group D-------- Main roundPoints and goals gained in the preliminary group against teams that advanced, were taken over.Group I-------- ---- Group II-------- ---- Knockout stageSemifinals----Ranking and statisticsFinal ranking
All-Star TeamThe all-star team and awards were announced on 28 January 2018.
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