2024 European Women's Handball Championship

The 2024 European Women's Handball Championship was held in Austria, Hungary and Switzerland from 28 November to 15 December 2024. This was the first tournament to feature 24 teams. Norway were the two time defending champions and defended their title once again with a win over Denmark.

WWW catchthespirit2024.com

Bidding processes

First bidding process

Originally, there were two bids for the EHF Women's Euro 2024.

On 5 September 2017, Russia's bid was the only bid left.

Russia

However, later on, when the bids were announced for the 2022 and 2024 EHF Euros, Russia's bid was withdrawn and thus there were no applications left. On 20 June 2018, the day the host was supposed to be confirmed, the EHF voted to delay the awardment of the hosting rights.

Second bidding process

In April 2019, the EHF reopened the bidding process. On 20 September 2019, there were 3 new bids.

The host announcement took place on 25 January 2020 at the EHF Extraordinary Congress in Stockholm. The winners were Austria, Hungary and Switzerland, who defeated the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia bid, 28–21, in the second round.

Possible hosting change

On 12 January 2023, the Hungarian government's chancellery minister, Gergely Gulyás, announced that Hungary would withdraw as hosts due to financial reasons. A few days prior, the Austrian Handball Federation was informed by the Hungarians about the decision to withdraw. The other co-hosts, Austria and Switzerland, now wanted to negotiate with the EHF about how the tournament will be held. On 28 January, the European Handball Federation released a statement concerning the issue, and said that they were amazed and surprised with the decision to potentially withdraw as co-hosts. On 16 March 2023, the EHF announced a change to the organisation structure of the championships. Hungary remained as a co-host, but played a reduced part in the hosting of the competition, including the whole portion of the tournament at the MVM Dome in Budapest being axed and replaced by Vienna. During all the uncertainty, Romania had stated that they would be able to host the tournament if the original hosts could not.

Venues

The final weekend was scheduled to be held at the MVM Dome in Budapest, Hungary, but later it was replaced with the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria.

Expansion

Expanding the competition, to 20 or 24 teams, was first considered on 30 August 2018. The idea was proposed by the Euro Delegation, but the EHF competitions commission strongly opposed the proposal, due to the fact that:

It would dilute the quality of the event
Trying to find a host would be more difficult because of a bigger tournament
Not many countries, who don't already qualify for the EHF Euro, would create a lasting legacy by qualifying

Despite the opposition from the competitions commission, the EHF received positive feedback from their new commercial partners, Infront and DAZN about the possible expansion. On 15 December, at the EHF Executive Committee in Paris, the EHF decided to examine to proposed expansion further. In January 2019, they had introduced a working group to oversee the possible enlargement. On 5 April 2019, based on the recommendations by the working group, the EHF officially decided to expand the tournament to 24 teams.

Draw

The draw was held at 18:00 CEST on 18 April 2024 in Vienna, Austria. The guests for the draw were Norwegian goalkeeper Silje Solberg, Austrian goalkeeper Petra Blazek, Swiss goalkeeper Lea Schüpbach and right wing for the Hungarian national team Viktória Győri-Lukács. The draw started with the teams from pot one being drawn followed by pots two, three and four.

Seedings

The pots were announced on 8 April 2024.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4

Referees

18 referee pairs were selected on 2 July 2024. It was updated on 4 September 2024, when the Danish pair replaced the Turkish pair. It was updated a second time on 7 November 2024, when the Austrian pair was replaced by another Austrian pair and the Polish pair replaced the German pair.

Preliminary round

''All times are UTC+1.''

Group A

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Group B

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Group C

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Group D

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Group E

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Group F

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Main round

Points and goals gained in the preliminary group against teams that advance will be transferred to the main round.

Group I

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Group II

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Knockout stage

Semifinals

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Final ranking and awards

Final ranking

Rank	Team



4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24

2024 Women's European Champions

Norway
Tenth title
Team roster: Anniken Obaidli, Maren Nyland Aardahl, Stine Skogrand, Live Rushfeldt Deila, Silje Solberg-Østhassel, Kari Brattset Dale, Kristine Breistøl, Katrine Lunde, Marit Røsberg Jacobsen, Ingvild Bakkerud, Camilla Herrem, Sanna Solberg-Isaksen, Henny Reistad, Emilie Hovden, Thale Rushfeldt Deila, Eli Marie Raasok, Ane Høgseth.
Head Coach: Þórir Hergeirsson.

All Star Team

The All Star Team and awards were announced on 15 December 2024.

Position	Player
Goalkeeper	Anna Kristensen
Left wing	Emma Friis
Left back	Tjaša Stanko
Centre back	Henny Reistad
Right back	Katrin Klujber
Right wing	Viktória Győri-Lukács
Pivot	Tatjana Brnović
Best defense player	Pauletta Foppa
Best young player	Petra Simon
Most valuable player	Anna Kristensen

Statistics

Top goalkeepers

Rank	Name	%	Saves	Shots
1	Annika Fríðheim Petersen	42	28	67
2	Sabrina Novotná	39	42	107
2	Zsófi Szemerey	39	73	189
4	Anna Kristensen	38	100	263
5	Hatadou Sako	37	36	98
6	Katharina Filter	36	54	151
6	Laura Glauser	36	73	203
6	Katrine Lunde	36	37	104
6	Silje Solberg-Østhassel	36	63	174
10	Althea Reinhardt	35	26	75
10	Yara ten Holte	35	68	196

Marketing

The official logo was unveiled on 19 November 2022 at the closing press conference of the 2022 edition in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
The official ball for the 2024 European Championship come out on 7 April 2023, made by manufacturer and EHF partner, Select. The ball in made of faux leather and is decorated in contrasting red tones with green accents and white areas with the tournament's slogan "Catch the Spirit" on the ball as well.
The mascot was announced on 2 April 2024. The mascot is a wildcat.

Tickets

For the matches of the European Championship, tickets are offered by the EHF as a package with several matches as follows:

Preliminary round, Group A in Debrecen : three days from 18,600 to 34,800 Ft
Preliminary round, Group B in Debrecen: three days from 7,800 to 20,300 Ft
Preliminary round, Groups C and D in Basel: three days from 105 to 875 Francs
Preliminary round, Groups E and F in Innsbruck: three days from €78 to €159
Main round Group I in Debrecen: four days from 32,000 to 57,200 Ft
Main round, Group II in Vienna: four days from €104 to €248
Final round in Vienna: two days from €74 to €169

Official song

The official song was unveiled on 15 April 2024. It is Live Is Life by Austrian band Opus which has been adapted to fit the tournament. The song was officially unveiled at the draw on 18 April 2024. Music video released 20 August 2024.