Men's EHF EURO 2024
France return to top of Europe after 10-year wait
A new world record, unprecedented audience numbers and a thrilling competition culminating in France’s return to the top of the podium — the Men’s EHF EURO 2024 held in Germany from 10 to 28 January was a success from every angle.
And it started with a new world record in handball as 53,586 spectators witnessed the opening matches in Merkur Spiel-Arena in Düsseldorf, where the ultimate champions France and hosts Germany took the first wins of the event.
Both France and Germany would go on to make it all the way to the semi-finals, held in Cologne’s LANXESS arena, along with Sweden and Denmark. The final saw a classic match-up, as France met Denmark to decide the trophy, with France coming out on top, 33:31, after overtime. It was France’s fourth title in the event, following their wins in 2006, 2010 and 2014 — when they beat none other than Denmark to clinch the trophy.
Sweden secured the bronze medal after defeating Germany 34:31.
The semi-finals saw two close matches played out. France took an overtime victory against Sweden, 34:30, while Denmark beat Germany 29:26. Although they were the finalists in the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and have won the last five World Championship titles between them, neither Denmark nor France had reached the EURO final since their last battle for the trophy in 2014.
With France’s victory, Nikola Karabatic secured his 11th national team title — a record in men’s handball.
Karabatic’s teammate Nedim Remili was named MVP of the tournament. The All-star Team included Germany’s Andreas Wolff as goalkeeper and Juri Knorr as centre back, Austria’s Robert Weber as right wing, Denmark’s Mathias Gidsel as right back and Magnus Saugstrup as best defender, Portugal’s Martim Costa as left back, Sweden’s Hampus Wanne as left wing and France’s Ludovic Fabregas as line player. Costa and Gidsel shared the top scorer crown, with 54 goals apiece.
The final weekend opened with the 5/6 placement match, where Hungary beat Slovenia 23:22.
There were surprises, last-minute wins and sold-out arenas along the way to the final weekend. One of the biggest shocks was Spain’s early exit, in the preliminary round, after the side played the final weekend at six consecutive EUROs prior to that and raised the trophy in 2018 and 2020.
Iceland, Portugal and Austria narrowly missed places on the final weekend, with the latter two climbing from 19th and 20th at the previous EURO to seventh and eighth, respectively.
Three nations made their EHF EURO debut at the event: Faroe Islands, Georgia and Greece.
spectators at the opening match (world record attendance)
TV broadcast in over 100 territories
cumulative TV audience
matches with live audio description
digital reach
video views on EHF channels
