Featured image credit: Peter Weihs/CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED/Edited for size
Over one million fans attended the recent European Handball Championship in Germany, with the final weekend selling out and the preliminary round reaching 98% capacity.
The event concluded on Sunday as France defeated Denmark 33-31 after extra time at Cologne’s Lanxess Arena. Both the final and the third-place game between host Germany and Sweden attracted a sellout crowd of 19,750.
The opening match of the tournament between Germany and Switzerland on January 10 attracted a crowd of 53,586, which marked a new world record attendance for handball.
The match took place at Merkur Spiel-Arena (pictured), home of football club Fortuna Düsseldorf, with the crowd surpassing the previous world record of 44,189, which was set in September 2014 when HSV Hamburg and Rhein-Neckar Löwen met at Frankfurt’s Deutsche Bank Park.
EHF Euro 2024 was the first edition of the tournament to be played with 24 teams in one single country. Matches were also played at Berlin’s Mercedes-Benz Arena, Hamburg’s Barclays Arena, Mannheim’s SAP Arena, and Munich’s Olympiahalle.
Organisers had anticipated that more than one million fans would attend games over the course of the tournament, and this proved to be the case. The event was not just popular with locals, as 5,000 Faroese fans attended games in Berlin and 9,000 Danish supporters attended in Hamburg.
Michael Wiederer, president of the European Handball Federation (EHF), said: “The Men’s EHF Euro 2024 in Germany is the best ever in the championship’s history.
“The powerful combination of vibrant arena atmospheres with record-breaking spectator figures and millions at home following the matches, groundbreaking digital engagement and strong sponsorships has lifted the product ‘EHF EURO’ to the next level. The EHF, in collaboration with Infront, has set a new benchmark in how handball can captivate and engage on a global scale.”
The 2026 tournament will be co-hosted by Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Spain, Portugal and Switzerland will stage the 2028 edition.
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