The European Open is part of the Partille Cup, the traditional youth handball festival held annually in Gothenburg, Sweden, and alternates between a women's 16 and a men's 18 event. After Spain won the men's competition last year, it will be a women's edition again in 2024.
The line-up includes 20 national teams. For Wednesday's draw, they were divided into five pots. The draw, conducted by Atilla Heim, head of the National Team Competitions department of the EHF, and Chief Sports Officer Markus Glaser, resulted in the following groups for the preliminary round of the European Open:
The top seven teams of the European Open earn a starting berth for the 2025 European Youth Olympic Festival in Skopje, North Macedonia.
Previous winners of the women's edition of the European Open are:
- Denmark (2006, 2010)
- Norway (2008)
- Russia (2012, 2014)
- Sweden (2016)
- Hungary (2018)
- Spain (2022)
More information on the W16 European Open 2024 is available on the official Partille Cup website.