European Women's Handball Championship

The European Women's Handball Championship is the official competition for senior women's national handball teams of Europe, and takes place every two years. In addition to crowning the European champions, the tournament also serves as a qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games and World Championship. As of December 2022, the only teams that have ever won the championship are Norway (nine times), Denmark (three times), Hungary, Montenegro and France (each once).

European Women's Handball Championship

Current season, competition or edition: 2022 European Women's Handball Championship
Sport	Handball
Founded	1994; 29 years ago (1994)
No. of teams	16 (finals)
Continent	Europe (EHF)
Most recent champion(s)	Norway (9th title)
Most titles	Norway (9 titles)

History

In year 1946, the International Handball Federation was founded by eight European nations,^[1] and though non-European nations competed at the World Championships, the medals had always been taken by European nations.^[2] European Handball Federation is founded in 1991. At the same time (1995), the World Championship was changed from a quadrennial to a biannual event, and the European Handball Federation now began its own championship – which also acted as a regional qualifier for the World Championship.^[3] The tournament will be expanded to 24 teams in 2024 to take place in Austria, Hungary and Switzerland.

Tournaments

Year	Host		Final				Third place match				Teams
			Champions	Score	Runners-up		Third place	Score	Fourth place
1994 Details	Germany		Denmark	27–23	Germany		Norway	24–19	Hungary		12
1996 Details	Denmark		Denmark	25–23	Norway		Austria	30–23	Germany		12
1998 Details	Netherlands		Norway	24–16	Denmark		Hungary	30–24	Austria		12
2000 Details	Romania		Hungary	32–30 (ET)	Ukraine		Russia	21–16	Romania		12
2002 Details	Denmark		Denmark	25–22	Norway		France	27–22	Russia		16
2004 Details	Hungary		Norway	27–25	Denmark		Hungary	29–25	Russia		16
2006 Details	Sweden		Norway	27–24	Russia		France	29–25	Germany		16
2008 Details	Macedonia		Norway	34–21	Spain		Russia	24–21	Germany		16
2010 Details	Denmark / Norway		Norway	25–20	Sweden		Romania	16–15	Denmark		16
2012 Details	Serbia		Montenegro	34–31 (2ET)	Norway		Hungary	41–38 (ET)	Serbia		16
2014 Details	Croatia / Hungary		Norway	28–25	Spain		Sweden	25–23	Montenegro		16
2016 Details	Sweden		Norway	30–29	Netherlands		France	25–22	Denmark		16
2018 Details	France		France	24–21	Russia		Netherlands	24–20	Romania		16
2020 Details	Denmark		Norway	22–20	France		Croatia	25–19	Denmark		16
2022 Details	Montenegro / North Macedonia / Slovenia		Norway	27–25	Denmark		Montenegro	27–25 (ET)	France		16
2024 Details	Austria / Hungary / Switzerland										24
2026 Details	TBD										24
2028 Details	Norway / Denmark / Sweden										24

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Norway	9	3	1	13
2	Denmark	3	3	0	6
3	France	1	1	3	5
4	Hungary	1	0	3	4
5	Montenegro	1	0	1	2
6	Russia	0	2	2	4
7	Spain	0	2	0	2
8	Netherlands	0	1	1	2
	Sweden	0	1	1	2
10	Germany	0	1	0	1
	Ukraine	0	1	0	1
12	Austria	0	0	1	1
	Croatia	0	0	1	1
	Romania	0	0	1	1
Totals (14 entries)		15	15	15	45

Statistics

Summary (1994-2020)

Rank	Team	Part	Points	M	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1	Norway	14	181	106	87	7	12
2	Denmark	14	129	98	62	5	31
3	Russia	14	109	94	49	11	34
4	Hungary	14	104	94	48	8	38
5	Germany	14	96	89	45	6	38
6	France	11	95	75	46	3	26
7	Romania	13	91	87	43	5	39
8	Sweden	12	65	72	29	7	36
9	Spain	11	53	68	22	9	37
10	Croatia	11	51	54	25	1	28
11	Montenegro	6	44	38	21	2	15
12	Netherlands	8	41	47	20	1	26
13	Ukraine	11	41	59	17	7	35
14	Austria	8	36	47	18	0	29
15	Serbia	8	20	35	8	4	23
16	Poland	7	18	33	8	2	23
17	North Macedonia	5	17	27	7	3	17
18	FR Yugoslavia	2	15	13	7	1	5
19	Czech Republic	7	14	34	7	0	27
20	Slovenia	7	12	27	6	0	21
21	Belarus	4	9	18	2	5	11
22	Slovakia	2	4	12	1	2	9
23	Serbia and Montenegro	1	2	6	1	0	5
24	Lithuania	1	1	6	0	1	5
25	Iceland	2	0	6	0	0	6
26	Portugal	1	0	3	0	0	3

Total hosts

Rank	Nation	Hosts	Year(s)
1	Denmark	5	1996, 2002, 2010, 2020, (2028)
2	Hungary	3	2004, 2014, (2024)
	Sweden		2006, 2016, (2028)
4	North Macedonia	2	2008, 2022
	Norway		2010, (2028)
6	Germany	1	1994
	Netherlands		1998
	Romania		2000
	Serbia		2012
	Croatia		2014
	France		2018
	Montenegro		2022
	Slovenia		2022
	Austria		(2024)
	Switzerland		(2024)
	Russia		(2026)

Top scorers by tournament

The record-holder for scored goals in a single Euro Championship is Bojana Radulović, where she scored 72 goals Hungary at the 2004 European Women's Handball Championship in Hungary.

Year	Player	Goals
1994	Ágnes Farkas	48
1996	Kjersti Grini	48
1998	Ausra Fridrikas	68
2000	Simona Gogîrlă	68
2002	Ágnes Farkas	58
2004	Bojana Radulović	72
2006	Nadine Krause	58
2008	Linn-Kristin Riegelhuth	51
2010	Cristina Neagu	53
2012	Katarina Bulatović	56
2014	Isabelle Gulldén	58
2016	Nora Mørk	53
2018	Katarina Krpež Slezak	50
2020	Nora Mørk	52
2022	Nora Mørk	50

Best players by tournament

Year	Player
1994	Not awarded
1996	Anja Andersen
1998	Trine Haltvik
2000	Beáta Siti
2002	Karin Mortensen
2004	Gro Hammerseng
2006	Gro Hammerseng
2008	Kristine Lunde
2010	Linnea Torstenson
2012	Anja Edin
2014	Isabelle Gulldén
2016	Nycke Groot
2018	Anna Vyakhireva
2020	Estelle Nze Minko
2022	Henny Reistad

Participating nations

Main article: National team appearances in the European Women's Handball Championship

Legend

• 1st – Champions
• 2nd – Runners-up
• 3rd – Third place
• 4th – Fourth place
• 5th – Fifth place
• 6th – Sixth place
• 7th – Seventh place
• 8th – Eighth place
• 9th – Ninth place
• 10th – Tenth place
• 11th – Eleventh place
• 12th – Twelfth place
• 13th to 16th – Thirteenth to sixteenth place
• Q – Qualified for upcoming tournament
• q – may still qualify for upcoming tournament
•  •  – Did not qualify
•  •×  – Disqualified
•  ×  – Did not enter / Withdrew / Banned
•    – Hosts

For each tournament, the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown.

Nation	1994	1996	1998	2000	2002	2004	2006	2008	2010	2012	2014	2016	2018	2020	2022	2024	2026	2028	Participations
Austria	9th	3rd	4th	12th	9th	10th	10th	15th	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	Q			9
Belarus	•	•	•	11th	16th	16th	•	12th	•	•	•	•	•	•	×	×			4
Croatia	5th	6th	•	•	•	13th	7th	6th	9th	13th	13th	16th	16th	3rd	10th				12
Czech Republic	8th	•	•	•	8th	15th	•	•	•	12th	•	10th	15th	15th	•				7
Denmark	1st	1st	2nd	10th	1st	2nd	11th	11th	4th	5th	8th	4th	8th	4th	2nd			Q	16
France	•	•	•	5th	3rd	11th	3rd	14th	5th	9th	5th	3rd	1st	2nd	4th				12
Germany	2nd	4th	6th	9th	11th	5th	4th	4th	13th	7th	10th	6th	10th	7th	7th				15
Hungary	4th	10th	3rd	1st	5th	3rd	5th	8th	10th	3rd	6th	12th	7th	10th	11th	Q			16
Iceland	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	15th	15th	•	•	•	•	•				2
Lithuania	•	12th	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•				1
Montenegro^1							•	•	6th	1st	4th	13th	9th	8th	3rd				7
Netherlands	•	•	10th	•	14th	•	15th	•	8th	•	7th	2nd	3rd	6th	6th				9
North Macedonia	•	•	8th	8th	•	•	12th	7th	•	16th	•	•	•	•	16th				6
Norway	3rd	2nd	1st	6th	2nd	1st	1st	1st	1st	2nd	1st	1st	5th	1st	1st	Q		Q	17
Poland	•	11th	5th	•	•	•	8th	•	•	•	11th	15th	14th	14th	13th				8
Portugal	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	16th	•	•	•	•	•	•	•				1
Romania	10th	5th	11th	4th	7th	7th	•	5th	3rd	10th	9th	5th	4th	12th	12th				14
Russia	6th	7th	9th	3rd	4th	4th	2nd	3rd	7th	6th	14th	7th	2nd	5th	×	×			14
Serbia^1							14th	13th	14th	4th	15th	9th	11th	13th	15th				9
Slovakia	12th	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	12th	•	•	•	•				2
Slovenia	•	•	•	•	10th	9th	16th	•	16th	•	•	14th	13th	16th	8th				8
Spain	•	•	12th	•	13th	8th	9th	2nd	11th	11th	2nd	11th	12th	9th	9th				12
Sweden	7th	8th	•	•	15th	14th	6th	9th	2nd	8th	3rd	8th	6th	11th	5th			Q	14
Switzerland	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	14th	Q			2
Ukraine	11th	9th	7th	2nd	12th	6th	13th	10th	12th	14th	16th	•	•	•	•				11
Historical national teams
Serbia and Montenegro^1						12th													1
FR Yugoslavia^1	•	•	•	7th	6th														2
Total	12	12	12	12	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	24	24	24

¹ FR Yugoslavia competed as such until 2003 when the FRY was reconstituted as a State Union Serbia and Montenegro. Since the dissolution of the union in 2006, national teams exist for both countries.

Most successful players

Boldface denotes active handball players and highest medal count among all players (including these who not included in these tables) per type.

Rank	Player	Country	From	To	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Katrine Lunde (Haraldsen)	Norway	2002	2022	6	2	–	8
2	Karoline Dyhre Breivang	Norway	2004	2014	5	1	–	6
	Marit Malm Frafjord	Norway	2006	2020	5	1	–	6
	Camilla Herrem	Norway	2008	2020	5	1	–	6
	Stine Bredal Oftedal	Norway	2010	2022	5	1	–	6
	Linn-Kristin Riegelhuth Koren *	Norway	2004	2014	5	1	–	6
7	Kari Aalvik Grimsbø	Norway	2006	2016	5	–	–	5
	Nora Mørk **	Norway	2010	2022	5	–	–	5
9	Heidi Løke	Norway	2008	2020	4	1	–	5
10	Kari Mette Johansen	Norway	2004	2010	4	–	–	4

Notes

References

1. from ihf.info, retrieved 7 February 2006
2. from ihf.info, retrieved 7 February 2006
3. (in German) Handball-Bundesliga diskutiert Reduzierung auf 16 Teams, by Erik Eggers, published by Der Spiegel online, 30 January 2006

• "Championship Guide". European Handball Federation. Retrieved 1 January 2009.

External links

• Official website