European Women's Handball Championship facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
European Women's Handball Championship

Sport	Handball
Founded	1994; 31 years ago (1994)
No. of teams	16 (finals)
Continent	Europe (EHF)
Most recent champion(s)	Norway (9th title)
Most titles	Norway (9 titles)

The European Women's Handball Championship is a big competition for national women's handball teams in Europe. It happens every two years. This tournament isn't just about finding the best team in Europe. It also helps teams qualify for major events like the Olympic Games and the World Championship.

As of December 2022, only a few teams have won this championship. Norway has won it nine times, which is a lot! Denmark has won three times. Hungary, Montenegro, and France have each won once.

History of the Championship

Handball has been popular in Europe for a long time. In 1946, the International Handball Federation was created by eight European countries. Even though teams from outside Europe played in the World Championships, European teams always won the medals.

Later, in 1991, the European Handball Federation (EHF) was formed. Around the same time, the World Championship started happening every two years instead of every four. This led the EHF to start its own European Championship in 1994. This new tournament also helped teams qualify for the World Championship.

The tournament is growing! In 2024, it will have 24 teams, up from 16. It will be hosted by Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland.

Tournament Winners

This table shows the winners and top teams from each European Women's Handball Championship.

Year	Host		Final Match				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	Czech Republic / Poland / Romania / Slovakia / Turkey										24
2028 Details	Norway / Denmark / Sweden										24

Medal Winners

This table shows which countries have won the most medals in the championship.

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

Tournament Statistics

Summary of Teams (1994-2022)

This table shows how different teams have performed from 1994 to 2022.

• Rank: Their overall position.
• Team: The country's team.
• Part: How many times they've participated.
• Points: Points earned (usually 2 for a win, 1 for a draw).
• M: Total Matches played.
• W: Total Wins.
• D: Total Draws (tied games).
• L: Total Losses.
• GF: Goals For (how many goals they scored).
• GA: Goals Against (how many goals were scored against them).
• GD: Goal Difference (GF minus GA).

Rank	Team	Part	Points	M	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1	Norway	15	194	114	94	6	14	3232	2519	+713
2	Denmark	15	142	106	69	4	33	2754	2553	+201
3	Russia	14	109	94	49	11	34	2480	2284	+196
4	Hungary	15	109	100	52	5	43	2649	2594	+55
5	France	12	107	83	52	3	28	2076	1907	+169
6	Germany	15	103	95	49	5	41	2394	2387	+7
7	Romania	14	96	93	46	4	43	2335	2331	+4
8	Sweden	13	75	79	34	7	38	1997	2023	-26
9	Spain	12	56	74	23	10	41	1821	1899	-78
10	Montenegro	7	55	46	27	1	18	1169	1160	+9
11	Croatia	12	53	60	26	1	33	1440	1555	-115
12	Netherlands	9	48	54	23	2	29	1397	1409	-12
13	Ukraine	11	40	59	18	7	37	1428	1527	-99
14	Serbia	12	37	57	17	3	37	1537	1653	-116
15	Austria	8	36	47	18	0	29	1117	1240	-123
16	Poland	8	21	36	10	1	25	844	964	-120
17	Slovenia	8	18	33	9	0	24	824	965	-141
18	Macedonia	6	16	30	7	2	21	694	852	-158
19	Czech Republic	7	14	34	7	0	27	787	870	-83
20	Belarus	4	9	18	2	5	11	460	509	-49
21	Slovakia	2	3	12	1	1	10	240	315	-75
22	Switzerland	1	1	3	0	1	2	75	97	-22
23	Portugal	1	0	3	0	0	3	67	101	-34
24	Iceland	2	0	6	0	0	6	125	169	-44
25	Lithuania	1	0	6	0	0	6	124	183	-59

Countries That Have Hosted the Tournament

This table shows which countries have hosted the European Women's Handball Championship and how many times.

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 in Each Tournament

The player who scored the most goals in a single Euro Championship is Bojana Radulović. She scored an amazing 72 goals for Hungary in the 2004 European Women's Handball Championship.

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 in Each Tournament

This table lists the "Most Valuable Player" (MVP) or best player chosen for each 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

You can find a full list of all the national teams that have played in the European Women's Handball Championship here: National team appearances in the European Women's Handball Championship.

Most Successful Players

This table shows the players who have won the most medals in the championship. Players whose names are in bold are still playing handball.

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

See also

In Spanish: Campeonato Europeo de Balonmano Femenino para niños