The men’s European handball championships are played all over Germany. Wednesday’s opening day already received a special glow in advance, when the matches were played at Düsseldorf’s football stadium.
The men’s EC handball competitions have started in Germany. The games will be played in six cities: Düsseldorf, Cologne, Berlin, Hamburg, Mannheim and Munich.
There are 24 teams in six initial groups. The best two from each group advance. These 12 teams are divided into two further groups, from which the two best teams advance to the semi-finals.
The final will be played on January 28 in Cologne, in a multipurpose hall that can hold almost 20,000 spectators.
The first European Championships were played in 1994 and are held every two years. In 2022, Sweden took the EC gold.
The countries in the table are the best in EC history in the medal table. They are also the countries that have celebrated European Championship gold.
The World Championships organized since 1938 are also played every other year. The world champion has always been found in Europe. In the early years, Germany/West Germany, Sweden and Romania dominated. The last three World Cup golds have been won by Denmark.
In addition to the table, throughout history, the World Cup gold has gone to the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, West Germany and Czechoslovakia once.
The EC tournament started on Wednesday with the matches of the A group. Host Germany beat Switzerland 27-14 and France beat North Macedonia 39-29.
The goalkeeper became Germany’s overwhelming number one figure Andreas Wolffwho allowed only four shots in the first 23 minutes with a save percentage of over 70.
Germany is seeking its first medal since the 2016 European Championship gold and Olympic bronze. Now the German media are glowing about the “dream start”.
Unelmastarttia emphasized that the opening matches of the tournament were played in Düsseldorf at the stadium, which attracts 54,600 spectators during sporting events. It serves as the home field of the football team Fortuna Düsseldorf and will also be one of the arenas for the European football championships next summer.
The number of spectators for both opening matches was 53,586 – a new handball world record.
The previous record, 44,189 spectators in 2014, was also from Germany, when Bundesliga leaders Rhein-Neckar Löwen and HSV met at the home arena of soccer club Eintracht Frankfurt.
President of the German Handball Association Andreas Michelmann glowedthat 10.1.2024 will be a big day in handball history.
– It was a huge challenge to build such a wonderful stage for our sport in a football stadium. We would like to thank everyone who helped us realize the idea of such a world record opening match day. This day highlights that Germany has a knack for big sporting events.