At a rare juncture in handball and sports, the expectation on the last day of the European Handball Championship fell on the same dimension between the match for third place and the final. Germany, the host, and Sweden, the top winner of the competition, opened Sunday with the ticket to Paris and the podium at stake. Denmark and France, already with the Olympic place secured by being world champion and host, respectively, then reissued the Olympic and world finals.
And the current Olympic champion will come to the Games on his land as the European monarch as well. In overtime, the French national team defeated the Danish 33-31 and celebrated in Cologne. The only Olympic place in the championship was held by the Swedish team. Dominant on the scoreboard throughout the game, it condemned the Germans to play in the pre-Olympic qualifying period with a score of 34 to 31.
The sixteenth edition was sold out in the final round, a live audience of more than 45 million spectators and was described by Michael Wiederer, president of the European Handball Federation (EHF), as “the best in the history of the championship”.
Egypt did not disappoint its status as the favorite in the African continental competition. The now three-time champion and winner of four of the last five editions, shouted undefeated champion in Cairo in front of his people, placed one crown behind Tunisia (10) and will represent Africa in the Olympic Games for the eighth time, in addition to having secured his place in the 2025 World Championship together with runner-up Algeria, the Tunisian team (finished third), Cape Verde (fourth) and Guinea (fifth).
In the Asian Championship held in Bahrain, Qatar won the sixth trophy in a row - the longest streak of conquests in the history of the competition - after beating Japan 30-24 in the definition. The two finalists, host Bahrain (third) and Kuwait (fourth) qualified for the next World Cup. Japan, in October 2023, had obtained the only direct place to Paris 2024, an event in which Qatar will be absent.
A week earlier and on the other side of the globe, Brazil, led by an implacable Rudolph Hackbarth, had retaliated against Argentina, the executioner in the Pan-American final and the Olympic ticket in Santiago 2023, by defeating them 28 to 26 in the last and decisive match of the South American Championship. Along with Chile, Denmark, Norway and Croatia also signed their place in the World Cup.
The six Olympic places still vacant will be decided in the three pre-Olympic games in March. To take place between Thursday 14th and Sunday 17th and with venues to be confirmed shortly, each qualifier will award two tickets. Spain, Slovenia, Bahrain and Brazil will participate in the first, Germany, Croatia, Algeria and Austria in the second and Norway, Hungary, Portugal and Tunisia in the third.
In Paris, both the men’s and women’s tournaments will kick off on Thursday, July 25, the day before the opening ceremony, and will conclude on Sunday, August 11, a few hours after the extinction of the Olympic flame. Both competitions will play their preliminary phase at the Arena Sud 6 in Paris, before moving their final stage, starting from the quarterfinals, to the multi-purpose Pierre Mauroy stadium in the city of Lille.
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