PRELIMINARY ROUND SET FOR WOMEN’S EHF EURO 2024
04/19/2024The stage is set for the Women’s EHF EURO 2024 in Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland! The draw for the six groups in the preliminary round of the biggest women’s European championship so far took place in Vienna on Thursday (18 April).
The 16th Women’s EHF EURO takes place from 28 November until 15 December 2024 and features 24 teams on the starting grid, eight more than at previous editions.
Apart from the three co-hosting nations and defending champions Norway, 20 teams booked their ticket during the Qualifiers, which wrapped up earlier this month.
All 24 participants learned their three opponents for the preliminary round during Thursday’s ceremony in Vienna, where Norway’s Silje Solberg, Austria’s Petra Blazek, Switzerland’s Lea Schüpbach, and Hungary’s Viktoria Györi-Lukacs assisted with the draw.
Norway are set to start their title defence in group E in Innsbruck against hosts Austria, Slovenia and Slovakia. Hungary host Sweden, North Macedonia, and debutants Türkiye in group A in Debrecen, and Switzerland in group D welcome Denmark, Croatia and the second Women’s EHF EURO debutants, Faroe Islands, to Basel.
The top-two teams from each group advance to the main round in Debrecen and in Vienna, before the Austrian capital will also host the final weekend.
Thursday’s draw marked the latest step towards the Women’s EHF EURO 2024, a few days after ‘Live is life’ from Austrian cult band OPUS was presented as the official tournament song, and ‘Catchy’ – a playful variation of the event’s motto ‘Catch the Spirit’ – was revealed as the name of the official mascot.
Group A, Debrecen (HUN): SWE, HUN, MKD, TUR
Group B, Debrecen (HUN): MNE, ROU, SRB, CZE
Group C, Basel (SUI): FRA, ESP, POL, POR
Group D, Basel (SUI): DEN, SUI, CRO, FAR
Group E, Innsbruck (AUT): NOR, AUT, SLO, SVK
Group F, Innsbruck (AUT): NED, GER, ISL, UKR