However, later on, when the bids were announced for the 2022 and 2024 EHF Euros, Russia's bid was withdrawn and thus there were no applications left.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.[5][6]
Delay the vote
Votes
Yes
37
No
5
Total
42
Second bidding process
In April 2019, the EHF reopened the bidding process. On 20 September 2019, there were 3 new bids.[7]
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.[1][8]
On 12 January 2023, the Hungarian government's chancellery minister, Gergely Gulyás, announced that Hungary would withdraw as hosts due to financial reasons.[9] 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.[10] 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.[11] 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 (one Main Round group and the Final Weekend) being axed and replaced by Vienna.[12] During all the uncertainty, Romania had stated that they would be able to host the tournament if the original hosts could not.[13]
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[16]
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.[17] In January 2019, they had introduced a working group to oversee the possible enlargement.[18] On 5 April 2019, based on the recommendations by the working group, the EHF officially decided to expand the tournament to 24 teams.[18][19]
Map of qualifiers for the 2024 European Women's Handball Championship:
Team qualified for Women's EHF Euro 2024
Team failed to qualify
Team banned from competition
Did not enter
31 teams registered for participation and competed for 20 places at the final tournament. Great Britain withdraw late which would have been the 32nd team. The teams were drawn into seven groups of four and one group with three teams. The top-two placed teams in each group qualified for the final tournament, alongside the four best-ranked third-placed teams, not counting the matches against fourth-placed teams. The qualifiers draw took place on 20 April 2023 in Zürich, Switzerland. Qualification started in October 2023 and ended in April 2024.
All 16 teams from the 2022 edition qualified, including North Macedonia who qualified for a major handball competition on merit for the first time since 2012. Debuting in the first 24 team championship are Faroe Islands and Türkiye, with the former becoming the smallest nation ever to qualify for the finals.
Denmark were the first team to secure qualification after defeating Poland in February,[20] while the Danes, Germany, Hungary and Norway all continue their flawless record of making every European Championship.
^Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.
Draw
The draw was held at 18:00 CET on 18 April 2024 in Vienna, Austria.[21] 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.[22]
18 referee pairs were selected on 2 July 2024.[24] It was updated on 4 September 2024, when the Danish pair replaced the Turkish pair.[25] 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.[26]
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.[36]
The mascot was announced on 2 April 2024.[37][38] 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:[39][40][41][42]
Preliminary round, Group A in Debrecen (featuring Hungary): 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
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.[43] The song was officially unveiled at the draw on 18 April 2024. Music video released 20 August 2024.[44]
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