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2014 European Women's Handball Championship

2014 European Women's
Handball Championship
2014 European Women's Handball Championship Logo.svg
Official logo
Tournament details
Host countries  Hungary
 Croatia
Dates 7–21 December
Teams 16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s) 6 (in 6 host cities)
Final positions
Champions  Norway (6th title)
Runner-up  Spain
Third place  Sweden
Fourth place  Montenegro
Tournament statistics
Matches 47
Goals scored 2375 (50.53 per match)
Attendance 122,070 (2,597 per match)
Top scorer(s) Sweden Isabelle Gulldén
(58 goals)
Best player Sweden Isabelle Gulldén
Next

The 2014 European Women's Handball Championship was the eleventh continental tournament for women's national teams, organized by the European Handball Federation. The second jointly-hosted edition in the competition's history took place in Hungary and Croatia from 7 to 21 December 2014.

Norway won their sixth title after beating Spain 28–25 in the final.Sweden defeated Montenegro 25–23 to capture the bronze medal.

Norway's victory ensured their qualification for the 2016 Summer Olympics. However, they later won the 2015 World Women's Handball Championship, vacating the European champion Olympic berth which fell to Spain as the runner-up. The two next-best placed teams, Sweden and Montenegro, earned spots in the Olympic Qualification Tournaments.

Initially there were two applicants for the tournament, Slovenia and Turkey, with none of them having the experience of organizing a continental event before. However, both candidates withdrew their offers later, thus the host nation could not be selected on the 10th Ordinary EHF Congress between 24 and 25 September 2010 as it was planned.

Instead, the European Handball Federation re-launched the bidding process. As a result, six federations (Croatia, Hungary, Iceland, Slovakia, Sweden and Turkey) showed intention to host the championship. Until the final deadline of 28 January 2011, EHF received three bids from four federations:

After a thorough analysis, Slovakia was excluded from the race first, as they failed to ensure a minimum of four arenas that meet the strict criteria for the European Championship. The EHF Executive Committee decided between the two remaining aspirants on its meeting on 9 April 2011, awarding the right to host the 11th Women’s EHF European Handball Championship to Hungary and Croatia.


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