2008 European Men's Handball Championship

The 8th European Handball Championship for men was held in Norway from 17 to 27 January 2008. 16 teams were qualified for the final round.

Denmark won the tournament by a 24:20 against Croatia in the final in Lillehammer. Third place went to the team of France, which also presented the most valuable player of the tournament with Nikola Karabatic.

The German team ended at the end of the fourth place after the semi-final, first just the eventual champions Denmark was defeated, the game for third place but clearly lost against France. The teams from Austria and Switzerland failed already in the qualifying round or the qualifying play-offs.

4.1 Group A
4.2 Group B
4.3 Group C
4.4 Group D

5.1 Group I
5.2 Group II

6.1 Match for 5th place
6.2 Semi-finals
6.3 3rd place match
6.4 final

Qualification

Seven teams were directly qualified for the European Championship., Hosts Norway and Spain, Denmark, Croatia, Germany and Russia in second to sixth in the previous European Championship in Switzerland were defending champions France a starting place, without that they had to participate in the qualifying round.

Qualifying round

For the remaining nine launch sites qualifiers had to be discharged. For those interested in participating, 32 teams took place in January 2006, the draw for the qualifying round. First, the 26 non-seeded teams played in seven groups. In the four-team groups comprising the two best teams came on, in the three groups, only the best team.

Play-Offs

Then the twelve teams played in the qualifying round with the six seeded teams ( Iceland, Poland, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Ukraine and Hungary) in the play-offs, the nine remaining EM grid positions from. It found the following matches take place:

Participant

Venues

Stavanger - Stavanger Idrettshall, 7,000 places
Drammen - Drammenshallen, 4,200 places
Bergen - Haukelandshallen, 4,000 places
Trondheim - Trondheim Spektrum, 4,200 places
Lillehammer - Håkon Hall, 10,000 places finals

Preliminary round

In the preliminary round, each team played one match against each of a group other team in the same group. The currently best three teams in each group qualified for the Main Round, Group Fourth eliminated from the tournament.

Group A

The group A played in Stavanger in Stavanger Idrettshall.

The group A was largely dominated by Olympic champions Croatia. The team led by Ivano Balic playmaker won all games with at least four hits superior difference. Poland was after the defeat against Croatia recorded a victory against Slovenia and also beat the Czech Republic 33:30. The Slovenians were only able to win their opening match against the team from the Czech Republic just with 34:32 and thus secured a place in the final round. The team of the Czechs was an outsider of the group and was eliminated as a group from Last.

Group B

The group B wore their games in the Drammenshallen from Drammen.

The group B showed how valuable the home advantage in a major tournament can be, because hosts Norway won all group matches. The opening game won Norway just with 27:26 to eventual champions Denmark, Russia, however, was clearly defeated, and the success against Montenegro never was in danger. Denmark recorded as third in the previous World Cup in the second game against Montenegro newcomer a clear 32:24 victory and was also the last group game against Russia decide for themselves. Montenegro surprised to tournament start with a 25:25 draw with the previously traded as a co-favorite Russian national team. Since Montenegro and Russia in the games against Denmark and Norway each subject had to decide on a place in the main round because of the tie in a direct comparison, the goal difference. Here Montenegro was in the final with a goal in front.

Group C

The Group C matches were held in Bergen in the Haukelandshallen.

In Group C Hungary started with an unexpected victory with 35:28 against Spain. The second game against world champions Germany went to long open game with 24:28 lost. The success in the last match against Belarus meant thanks to goal difference group victory for Hungary. Spain beat Belarus in their second group game with 36:31 and defeated Germany to conclude with 30:22 and thus was second in the group. World Champion Germany started with a win against the inexperienced team from Belarus. Already in the early stages of the game, Oleg Velyky seriously injured and could no longer be used in the further course of the tournament. Since the second game against Hungary was successfully designed, Germany was prematurely qualified for the main round. The team was defeated in the last group match Spain, in which the goalkeeper showed an outstanding performance in the second half of the match. Belarus had been as an outsider of the group and was able to keep only the first half, with the opposing team in all three games.

Group D

Hosted the games in Group D was the Trondheim Spektrum, Trondheim.

Group D was estimated in advance as the strongest group. Tournament favorites France launched after poor performance on a tight 33:32 victory against Slovakia, which could only convince in this game. The other two group games against Sweden and Iceland France could decide for themselves. Sweden succeeded in the first match against Iceland revenge for the failure in the World Cup qualification. In the last game against Slovakia Sweden achieved with 16 goals difference the biggest win the European Championship in 2008. Iceland was successful only in the second group match against Slovakia outsider.

Main Round

The main round was held from January 22 to 24 in Stavanger ( Group I) and Trondheim ( group II).

In the main round played the three best teams in the preliminary round group A and B in group I and the three best teams in the groups C and D in group II, each team played against three teams from the other Preliminary Round group. The results against the teams from their own preliminary group were transferred to the main round. The top two teams in each main round group qualified for the semi-finals, the two third group will contest the play 5th place

Group I

At the beginning of the main round defeated Croatia Denmark after a strong performance with 30:20. In the second game, the Danes vice world champion beat Poland with 36:26. In the final duel they beat Slovenia with 28:23 and went as group winners semi-finals. Croatia was after the defeat against Denmark in a tight spot and won a victory against Montenegro. The last match against Norway became a play in which the audience stood unconditionally behind the hosts, Croatia, however, was able to secure a draw with 23:23 and moved into the semi-finals. Norway hosts separated from Poland in the first game with 24:24. However, the second game was lost with 29:33 against Slovenia, so that Norway was eliminated in the mentioned draw against Croats. After Poland had only taken from the first two games against Norway and Denmark a point, the last game against Montenegro was meaningless, despite the significant victory. Slovenia defeated in the first game the novice and Montenegro was also the second match against Norway to decide for themselves what was not expected after the tournament so far. In the last game against Denmark Slovenia would be fed with a win in the semi-finals, but lost to the eventual winners. Montenegro remained winless in the main round.

Group II

France beat Spain just in the first game with 28:27 and thus secured almost the semi-finals. In the second game the team against Germany succeeded in revenge for the lost World Cup semi-final last year. It fell in the first twelve minutes was all five goals. In ultimately meaningless last main round match against Hungary, the team lost to Nikola Karabatic with 28:31. World champion Germany beat Iceland 35:27. After the defeat against France in the second game, the team of Heiner Brand, in his last match had to get get a win against the record European champions Sweden, which nearly succeeded after a varied gameplay with 31:29. Sweden scored in the first match against Hungary with 27:27 a draw. Against Spain, the team grew further and won with 27:26. For Spain, the 2005 World Champion, who had a victory needed to preserve his chance at the semifinals, this meant the withdrawal from the tournament. The winning goal Sweden succeeded only in the last seconds, when Spain without a goalkeeper, and for an extra player acted in the attack. Hungary lost in the second match against Iceland and could then no longer the semi-finals. Spain finished the tournament in the last and meaningless match against Iceland with a win. Iceland had already left after the defeat against Germany and the results of the second main round match day, but showed in the two remaining games each have a dedicated performance.

Final round

The games of the final round took place in Lillehammer on 26 and 27 January.

The two semi-finals and the match for 5th place were held on 26 January, the 3rd place match and the final took place on 27 January.

The top three teams in the EM qualified directly for the Handball World Cup 2009. However, since both Germany as World Cup defending champions and Croatia as World Cup hosts reached the semi-finals, already sufficed the semi-finals and the fifth place for the direct qualification for the 2009 World Cup.

The ranks 7-16 resulted from the group placements and were, unlike World Championships, not played individually. The scheduled for 27 January at 11 clock -place play- 7 was canceled because it was no longer relevant for the Olympic qualifiers.

Match for 5th place

Semifinal

The first semi-final was played between European champions France and Olympic champions Croatia. France was after the tournament so far as an absolute favorite for the title, while Croatia had shown in the main round fluctuating performances. In the game, however, the Croats were to Ivano Balic their best performance of the tournament and won in a hard fought game with 24:23.

The second semi-final was played between world champion Germany and the bronze medalist Denmark. After changeable gameplay Germany equalized just before the end again. A quick attack of the Danes was stopped with a foul, so that Denmark three seconds was awarded a seven meters before the end, the Lars Christiansen 26:25 transformed and Denmark for the first time secured a place in a European Championship final.

3rd Place Match

In the 3rd place match played defending France against Germany. In the German team several players fell out due to injury. The Germans showed their weakest performance during the tournament and defeated by the French motivated occurring after a time between 14 - goal deficit with 26:36.

Endgame

The final was played between Olympic champions Croatia and Denmark. Ahead of the game, not have a favorite let make. In the Danish goalkeeper Kasper Hvidt stood out and secured the Danes at halftime, a lead 13-10. After an intermediate score of 21:18 for Denmark, the Croats complained several times about their view incomprehensible referee decisions. This coach Lino Červar was banished to the stands because of repeated protests. Denmark could no longer take the victory in the closing minutes and celebrated by a final score of 24-20 to win the European Championship.

Full Time

Scorers list

Source: EHF Euro.com

All-Star Team

Immediately after the final the following players were honored for their achievements and elected to the All- Star team.

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