The 2020
European Women's Handball Championship
The European Women's Handball Championship is the official competition for senior women's national handball teams of Europe, and takes place every two years. In addition to crowning the European champions, the tournament also serves as a qualifyin ...
was held from 3 to 20 December 2020. The games were played in
Herning
Herning () is a Denmark, Danish town in the Central Denmark Region of the Jutland peninsula. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Herning Municipality. Herning has a population of 51,782 (1 January 2025) and
Kolding
Kolding () is a Denmark, Danish seaport city located at the head of Kolding Fjord in the Region of Southern Denmark. It is the seat of Kolding Municipality. It is a transportation, commercial, and manufacturing centre and has numerous industria ...
, Denmark.
Originally, this tournament would be held with 2 host countries: Norway and Denmark. However, lacking some time for the beginning, Norway renounced the right to seat, respecting the local legislation about the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
.
The tournament was also one of the qualification events for the
2021 World Women's Handball Championship
The 2021 IHF World Women's Handball Championship, the 25th event by the International Handball Federation, was held in Spain from 1 to 19 December 2021. On 18 October 2018, at a congress in Doha, Qatar, the IHF announced that the World Championsh ...
. It was also played
behind closed doors
Behind Closed Doors may refer to:
Film, television and radio Film
* ''Behind Closed Doors'' (1929 film), an early talkie starring Virginia Valli
* Behind Closed Doors (1961 film), ''Behind Closed Doors'' (1961 film), an Italian comedy film by Dino ...
due to the pandemic.
Norway won the tournament for the eighth time after defeating France in the final. Croatia won the third place game to capture their first ever medal.
Bidding process
The bids were as follows:
*
Denmark
Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
*
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
In December 2013, these were announced as the bids:
* and
*
The joint bid of Denmark and Norway was recommended as the preferred bid.
Shortly after, Denmark and Norway decided to merge their bids. They were announced as the hosts in Dublin on 20 September 2014.
Venues
On 9 September 2020, the
Norwegian Handball Federation
The Norwegian Handball Federation (, NHF) is the national handball association in Norway.
The Norwegian Handball Federation was founded in 1937, and is a member of the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports (NIF) ...
announced, that all games scheduled to take place in Norway, would be played in Trondheim, while on 6 November, the
announced, that all games scheduled to take place in Denmark, would be played in Jyske Bank Boxen, Herning. On 16 November, Norway withdrew altogether for health reasons.
Danish
Sydbank Arena
Sydbank Arena (formerly known as Kolding Hallerne and Tre-For Arena) is an indoor sports arena in Kolding, Denmark primarily used for handball. The arena has a capacity of 5,001 spectators and is home to Danish Handball League team KIF Kolding, on ...
then announced a wish to co-host the tournament together with Herning and this was approved of by the Danish government on 23 November 2020.
Qualification
Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, the qualification was cancelled and the 2018 final ranking decided the participants.
Qualified teams
Draw
The draw was held on 18 June 2020 in
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
, Austria.
Seedings
The pots were announced on 7 May 2020.
Squads
Each squad consisted of 16 players, with a maximum of six players who could be replaced during the tournament. However, in regard to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
and the potential risk of several players from the same team testing positive, there was no limit to the number of replacements for players testing positive.
Referees
10 referee pairs were selected on 9 October 2020. Two new pairs were added ahead of the main round.
Preliminary round
''All times are local (
UTC+1
+01:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +01:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2019-02-07T23:28:34+01:00. This time is used in:
*Central European Time
* West Africa Time
* Western European Summer Time
**Brit ...
).''
Group A
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Group B
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Group C
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Group D
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Main round
Points gained in the preliminary round against team that also advanced, were carried over.
Group I
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Group II
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Knockout stage
Bracket
5th place game
Semifinals
Third place game
Final
Final ranking and awards
Final ranking
All Star Team
The All Star Team and awards were announced on 20 December 2020.
Statistics
Top goalscorers
Top goalkeepers
Notes
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Handball, European Championship, Women, 2020
2020
The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...
European Championship, Women, 2020
European Handball Championship
2020 in Danish women's sport
December 2020 sports events in Europe
Sport in Herning
Sport in Kolding
Women's handball in Denmark