EHF EURO facts & figures: From 1 to 50,000

1 – for the first time a Men’s EHF EURO is hosted in Germany

1 – for the first time since 24 teams began taking part in the Men’s EHF EURO, a single nation is hosting the event

1 host only has won the gold medals at the Men’s EHF EURO so far: Sweden in 2002

1 team – again Sweden – has managed to win the Men’s EHF EURO three times in a row: 1998, 2000, 2002. Spain were close to doing so, but lost the 2022 final 26:27 against Sweden after winning gold in 2018 and 2020

1 German has ever been awarded EHF EURO MVP: Daniel Stephan in 1998. Thomas Knorr, father of current national team player Juri Knorr, is Germany’s only  top scorer at an EHF EURO, netting 41 times in Spain 1996

1 time – at the Men’s EHF EURO 2008 in Norway, three players shared the top scorer award: Ivano Balic (Croatia), Lars Christiansen (Denmark) and Nikola Karabatic (France), all with 44 goals, and all three represented the medallists

1 team in 15 editions of the Men’s EHF EURO has made it to a semi-final but never won a medal: Poland in 2010 in Austria

1 - only one men’s team has been EHF EURO champion, World Champion and Olympic champion at the same time: France in 2010 and 2015

1 top scorer only – Lars Christiansen in 2008 – won the gold medal at the same EHF EURO.

1 player can become the first non-Swedish player to win four EHF EURO trophies: Frenchman Nikola Karabatic, who won the trophy in 2006, 2010 and 2014

1 Dane – Hans Lindberg – can win his third EHF EURO trophy after 2008 and 2012

2 times in Men’s EHF EURO history has the top scorer also been awarded the MVP: Nikola Karabatic in 2008 and Filip Jicha in 2010

2 current head coaches of the 24 participants have been EHF EURO champions as players: Staffan Olsson (coach of the Netherlands with Sweden) and French coach Guillaume Gille with France

2 coaches have steered countries other than their home nations to the winners’ podium at Men’s EHF EURO events: Icelander Dagur Sigurdsson with Germany in 2016 and Norwegian Glenn Solberg with Sweden in 2022

3 nations have been part of all 16 Men’s EHF EURO final tournaments including 2024: France, Croatia and Spain; Denmark, Germany and Sweden will play their 15th EHF EURO

3 EHF EURO 2024 participants are making their debuts at Men’s European Championships: Greece, Georgia and the Faroe Islands

3 nations won all their six qualifiers on the way towards Germany 2024: France, Portugal and Austria

3 times Croatia have been Men’s EHF EURO finalists, but have never taken the trophy

3 – every time France has made it to the EHF EURO final, they have won it: in 2006, 2010 and 2014

3 different Czech players have been top scorers of Men’s EHF EURO final tournaments: Jan Filip, Filip Jicha and Ondrzej Zdrahala – no other nation can count more top scorers

3 players have each been named MVP of Men’s EHF EURO final tournaments twice: Ivano Balic, Nikola Karabatic and Jim Gottfridsson

3 nations only have won the full set of Men’s EHF EURO medals: Germany, Denmark and Spain. France have never won silver, Sweden and Russia have never won bronze, Croatia have never won gold

4 Men’s EHF EURO hosts have made it to the final on home soil and left with silver: Spain in 1996, Slovenia in 2004, Serbia in 2012 and Denmark in 2014

4 - a Swedish player has been named MVP of a Men’s EHF EURO four times: Magnus Andersson in 1994, Magnus Wislander in 2002 and Jim Gottfridsson in 2018 and 2022

5 - Sweden have been Men’s EHF EURO champions five times, making them record holders – after a 20-year long wait they took their latest trophy in 2022

5 Swedish players were four-time EHF EURO champions: Ola Lindgren, Staffan Olsson, Stefan Lövgren, Magnus Wislander, Martin Frandesjö

6 different nations have been Men’s EHF EURO champions: Sweden, Russia, Germany, France, Denmark and Spain

6 cities host the Men’s EHF EURO 2024 in Germany: Dusseldorf, Munich, Berlin, Mannheim, Hamburg and Cologne

9 medals have been won by Spain at the Men’s EHF EURO to top this ranking ahead of Denmark (seven), Sweden and Croatia (six each)

12 different countries have won medals at Men’s EHF EURO events: Sweden, Russia, Germany, France, Denmark, Spain, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Yugoslavia, Norway and Iceland

13 goals is the biggest gap in a Men’s EHF EURO final, in the maiden edition in 1994, when Sweden beat Russia 34:21

15 Men’s EHF EURO tournaments have been played in 15 different countries. Croatia is the only country which hosted the final tournament twice outright (2000 and 2018); the 2020 hosts Sweden, Norway and Austria had been individual hosts before; while the 2022 edition was the first to be played in two countries

17 nations have been represented in the Men’s EHF EURO All-star Teams since 1994

19 teams which qualified for the Men’s EHF EURO 2024 were part of the previous final tournament in 2022

24 - the Men’s EHF EURO 2024 will be the third edition to feature 24 teams, after 2020 and 2022

28 - Romania have waited 28 years for their third ever appearance at a Men’s EHF EURO, after qualifying in 1994 and 1996

65 goals were scored by Norwegian Sander Sagosen to become the best scorer at a single EHF EURO finals tournament, 2020 in Sweden, Norway and Austria

71 matches at EHF EURO finals tournaments is the record held by Nikola Karabatic – and he will add even more at his last EHF EURO this time

100 – the third match of the preliminary round in Berlin against France is the 100th Men’s EHF EURO match for hosts Germany. At present, their record includes 51 victories, 12 draws and 34 defeats

288 goals at EHF EURO final tournaments were scored by Icelander Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson; his record can be broken by Nikola Karabatic in Germany, who is on 279 goals so far

20,000 is the capacity of the LANXESS Arena in Cologne, the biggest venue at the EHF EURO 2024 and the second biggest in the history of the competition below MVM Dome Budapest (20,022, used in 2022) and equal with Kombank Arena Belgrade (2012).

50,000 and more fans will break the world record for attendance at a handball match on the opening day of the Men’s EHF EURO 2024 in Dusseldorf

Photos © FFHandball / IconSport, Christoffer Andersen