First decisions on the road to Paris 2024
A total of 12 men’s and 12 women’s teams compete at Olympic handball tournaments. The road to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games began in November 2022 with the Women’s EHF EURO, where champions Norway were the first team to clinch their berth alongside hosts France.
Denmark’s men’s team are now also confirmed, after reaching the final of the 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship last week. Normally the world champion also wins a spot at the Olympic Games, but as France – who have an automatic ticket as hosts – faced Denmark in the final, the Danes knew their spot was certain even before their third consecutive world title.
The 2023 women’s world champions will also book a direct ticket to Paris after the tournament in December this year, alongside the four continental qualification winners. For Europe those qualification events are the Women’s EHF EURO 2022 and the Men’s EHF EURO 2024 in Germany.
The winners of the handball tournaments at the PanAm Games in Santiago de Chile (October 2023), the winners of the Asian qualification tournaments (for women in August 2023 in Japan, for men in October 2023 in Qatar) and the winners of the African qualification tournament (women) and the African championship (for men in January 2024, parallel to the EHF EURO 2024 in Germany) will also directly qualify.
Olympic Qualification Tournaments
The remaining six spots for both men and women are confirmed at three Olympic Qualification Tournaments (OQT) in spring 2024: from 11 to 17 March for men and from 8 to 14 April for women. A total of four teams per tournament fight for two spots at the Olympic Games.
Six participants in these tournaments earn their places at the world championships. On the men’s side, the teams ranked third to eighth after Poland/Sweden 2023 are currently set to be part of the OQTs: Spain, Sweden, Germany, Norway, Egypt and Hungary.
But this field still can change, because of the African championships in Egypt and the EHF EURO 2024 in Germany. If hosts Egypt directly qualify for Paris as African champions, and if a team from the first eight of the World Championship become EHF EURO champions, Slovenia and Croatia could qualify for the OQT as the ninth and tenth-ranked teams of the World Championship.
If either France or Denmark become EHF EURO 2024 champions, the silver medallists would book their direct ticket to Paris. If France and Denmark both make it to the final in Cologne, the EHF EURO bronze medallists would directly qualify for the Olympic Games.
Importance of the EHF EURO 2024
What does this mean for the EHF EURO 2024 ranking? As Europe and Africa are the two best continents at the 2023 Men’s World Championship, both earned an additional spot at the OQT. Asia and PanAmerica have one spot each and Europe and Africa two. If Egypt become African champions and a team ranked third to eighth at the 2023 World Championship wins the EHF EURO 2024, then Croatia and Slovenia will already be part of the OQT – as the OQT spots from the World Championships are higher-ranked than the continental ones.
Should France, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Germany, Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia make up the top nine teams in the EHF EURO 2024, and one of them directly qualifies for Paris, teams ranked 10th and 11th at the EHF EURO 2024 will take the two spots at the OQT. Any other team ranking among the top nine, or the two teams to follow them, could also reach the OQT.
How are the tournaments made up?
Each tournament consists of two teams qualified from the World Championship, and two continental qualifiers.
Tournament 1: WCh 1, WCh 6, Asia, PanAmerica
Tournament 2: WCh 2, WCh 5, Africa 1, Europe 2
Tournament 3: WCh 3, WCh 4, Europe 1, Africa 2
Right now, those tournaments are composed like this:
Tournament 1: Spain, Hungary, Asia, PanAmerica
Tournament 2: Sweden, Egypt, Africa 1, Europe 2
Tournament 3: Germany, Norway, Europe 1, Africa 2
If Egypt become African champions, the tournaments would look like this:
Tournament 1: Spain, Croatia, Asia, PanAmerica
Tournament 2: Sweden, Hungary, Africa 1, Europe 2
Tournament 3: Germany, Norway, Europe 1, Africa 2
If Egypt become African champions and Spain, for example, become EHF EURO 2024 champions, the composition would look like this:
Tournament 1: Sweden, Slovenia, Asia, PanAmerica
Tournament 2: Germany, Croatia, Africa 1, Europe 2
Tournament 3: Norway, Hungary, Europe 1, Africa 2
The first rights of hosting these OQT go to those teams best ranked at the 2023 World Championship which are not already qualified – currently Spain, Sweden and Germany.
Photos © Anze Malorvh / Sasa Pahic Szabo / Kolektiff
