Publication date: 19 Aug 2022

European Women’s Handball Championship

The European Women’s Handball Championship is held every two years under the auspices of the European Handball Federation (EHF).

Official website of the European Handball Federation

2022 European Women’s Handball Championship

The 2022 European Women’s Handball Championship is the 15th handball tournament to be held in three countries: Slovenia, Northern Macedonia and Montenegro from 4 to 20 November.

Sixteen national teams will compete in the final part of the championship. Norway will defend its 2020 title.

Macedonia has already hosted the European Women’s Handball Championship in 2008.

Slovenia hosted the European Men’s Handball Championship in 2004.

Montenegro has not previously hosted any major handball tournaments.

History of the European Women’s Handball Championship

Handball is a team ball game that consists of two halves of 30 minutes each. Modern handball was first played at the end of the 19th century. Denmark, Germany and Sweden are the countries that started the history of handball.

The official date of handball’s birth is 1898. At that time, physical education teacher Holger Nielsen invited his female students to play a new game of handball.

In 1917, Max Heiser, Karl Schelenz and Erich Koenig compiled the first handball rule book.

Handball has been recognised as an international sport since 1926.

The first European Women’s Handball tournament was held in Germany in 1994, three months after the Men’s European Championship. A total of 12 countries were represented. The winning country was Denmark.

Previous European Women’s Handball Championships results

2024 European Women’s Handball Championship

It is already known that the next Women’s Handball European Championship will take place in Austria, Hungary and Switzerland in November and December 2024.

Keep an eye on the dates of the European and World Handball tournaments and other events in our Sports Events Calendar.