2012 European Men's Handball Championship

The 2012 EHF European Men's Handball Championship was the tenth edition of the men's continental handball tournament, which was held in Serbia between 15–29 January 2012. Sixteen teams qualified for the event, including host nation Serbia, defending champion France and fourteen national teams through the qualifying tournament. The teams were split into four groups of 4, with the top 3 teams of each group advancing to the main round, carrying the points won against other qualified opponents. Going to the main round with no points, Denmark ended up winning the championship after defeating Serbia in the final with a scoreline of 21–19.[1]

2012 EHF European Men's Handball Championship
Европско првенство у рукомету 2012
EHF Euro 2012 official logo
Tournament details
Host country Serbia
Dates15–29 January 2012
Teams16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)5 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Denmark (2nd title)
Runner-up Serbia
Third place Croatia
Fourth place Spain
Tournament statistics
Matches47
Goals scored2508 (53.36 per match)
Attendance302,688 (6,440 per match)
Top scorer(s) Kiril Lazarov (MKD) (61 goals)
Best player Momir Ilić (SRB)
Next →
Countries that qualified for the championship

The bronze medal was claimed by Croatia, who defeated Spain 31-27 to win their second bronze and fourth European medal overall.[2] In the placement match for the 5th position Macedonia proved to be too strong for Slovenia and won the match by 28–27. Macedonian right back Kiril Lazarov led his team with 8 goals to success and took the top scorers' award with a European Championship record of 61 goals.[3] Over 300,000 spectators were present in 47 matches during the tournament, which was also a new championship record.[1]

By winning the European title, Denmark directly qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics, while Serbia and Macedonia secured a spot in the Olympic Qualification Tournament. Thanks to the Danish triumph, Poland also made it to the qualifiers as the eighth ranked team of the 2011 World Championship.[4]

Denmark, Serbia and Croatia as three best-ranked teams qualified directly for 2013 World Men's Handball Championship.

The championship was somewhat overshadowed by incidents that occurred during the final week of the event. On 26–27 January, in violent attacks, cars were damaged or set on fire, and several Croatian supporters were injured. In the semifinal match between Serbia and Croatia, Žarko Šešum, the back player of the Serbian team had his eye severely injured after a bottle intended for Croatian player Ivano Balić and coach Slavko Goluža was thrown at him.[5]

Background

The EHF decided that Serbia would host the tournament in the cities of Belgrade, Niš, Novi Sad and Vršac. Germany and France were the other applicants for the championship.

Qualification
Main article: 2012 European Men's Handball Championship qualification

The 2012 Championship was the second for which the new qualification system was used.

Qualified teams
CountryQualified asDate qualification was securedPrevious appearances in tournament1
 Serbia00Host0027 September 200810 ( 2010)
 France00Defending Champion0031 January 201092 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)
 Hungary00Group 1 winner0013 March 201170 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)
 Croatia00Group 2 winner0013 March 201190 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)
 Sweden00Group 4 winner008 June 201180 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2010)
 Denmark00Group 7 winner008 June 201180 (1994, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)
 Russia00Group 7 runner-up008 June 201190 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)
 Norway00Group 6 winner008 June 201140 (2000, 2006, 2008, 2010)
 Germany00Group 5 winner008 June 201190 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)
 Slovakia00Group 4 runner-up009 June 201120 (2006, 2008)
 Spain00Group 2 runner-up009 June 201190 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)
 Czech Republic00Group 6 runner-up0011 June 201160 (1996, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2010)
 North Macedonia00Group 1 runner-up0012 June 201110 (1998)
 Poland00Group 3 winner0012 June 201150 (2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)
 Slovenia00Group 3 runner-up0012 June 201180 (1994, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)
 Iceland00Group 5 runner-up0012 June 201160 (2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)
1 Bold indicates champion for that year

Squads
Main article: 2012 European Men's Handball Championship squads

Venues
Preliminary round
Belgrade Novi Sad Vršac Niš
Pionir Hall
Capacity: 8,150		 SPENS
Capacity: 11,500		 Millennium Center
Capacity: 5,000		 Čair Sports Center
Capacity: 5,000
Knockout stage
Belgrade
Belgrade Arena
Capacity: 20,000

Audience
  • Belgrade Arena.
  • Маscot Tasa (eagle) with Macedonian fan in Belgrade Arena
  • Serbian and Macedonian fans in Belgrade Arena

Referees

On 12 September 2011, 12 couples were announced in Vienna.[6]

List of broadcasters

Seeding

The draw was held on 15 June 2011 in Belgrade at 12:00 local time.[7][8] The seeding was announced on 13 June 2011.[9]

Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4

Group stage

The match schedule was released and confirmed on 18 April 2011.[10] Four teams were selected to play in the four venue cities, Serbia in Belgrade, Macedonia at Niš, Hungary at Novi Sad and Croatia in Vršac.[11] The playing schedule was announced on 1 July.[12][13]

All times are UTC+1.

     Team advanced to the Main Round

Group A

Venue: Pionir Hall, Belgrade

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Serbia 3 2 1 0 67 61 +6 5
 Poland 3 2 0 1 86 72 +14 4
 Denmark 3 1 0 2 78 76 +2 2
 Slovakia 3 0 1 2 70 92 −22 1
Source:
15 January 2012
18:15		 Poland  18–22  Serbia
Attendance: 8,000
Referees: Raluy, Sabroso (ESP)
Bielecki 4 (7–11) Vujin, Nikčević 6
3× 2× Report 3× 4×
15 January 2012
20:15		 Denmark  30–25  Slovakia
Attendance: 4,000
Referees: Zotin, Volodkov (RUS)
Lindberg 7 (15–12) Valo 6
3× 4× Report 2× 2×
17 January 2012
18:15		 Slovakia  24–41  Poland
Attendance: 3,500
Referees: Krstić, Ljubič (SLO)
Kukučka 5 (13–17) Tkaczyk 8
3× 5× 1× Report 3× 3×
17 January 2012
20:15		 Serbia  24–22  Denmark
Attendance: 8,100
Referees: Lazaar, Reveret (FRA)
Ilić 8 (10–12) Christiansen, Hansen 4
3× 2× Report 3× 4×
19 January 2012
18:15		 Poland  27–26  Denmark
Attendance: 3,500
Referees: Leifsson, Pálsson (ISL)
Tkaczyk 7 (10–14) Mogensen 4
3× 5× Report 3× 5×
19 January 2012
20:15		 Serbia  21–21  Slovakia
Attendance: 4,900
Referees: Zotin, Volodkov (RUS)
Prodanović 5 (13–6) three players 4
3× 5× Report 3× 3×

Group B

Venue: Čair Sports Center, Niš

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Germany 3 2 0 1 77 74 +3 4
 North Macedonia 3 1 1 1 76 71 +5 3
 Sweden 3 1 1 1 83 84 −1 3
 Czech Republic 3 1 0 2 77 84 −7 2
Source:
15 January 2012
17:20		 Germany  24–27  Czech Republic
Attendance: 3,800
Referees: Abrahamsen, Kristiansen (NOR)
Kaufmann 5 (9–14) Jícha 7
3× 3× Report 3× 3×
15 January 2012
19:30		 Sweden  26–26  North Macedonia
Attendance: 4,000
Referees: Lazaar, Reveret (FRA)
Ekberg 6 (14–13) Aluševski, Lazarov 7
3× 6× Report 3× 6×
17 January 2012
18:15		 North Macedonia  23–24  Germany
Attendance: 4,000
Referees: Leifsson, Pálsson (ISL)
Lazarov 7 (12–12) Kaufmann 6
3× 4× Report 3× 7× 1×
17 January 2012
20:15		 Czech Republic  29–33  Sweden
Attendance: 2,050
Referees: Raluy, Sabroso (ESP)
Jícha 7 (17–19) Ekberg 10
3× 4× Report 4× 6×
19 January 2012
18:15		 Germany  29–24  Sweden
Attendance: 2,800
Referees: Krstić, Ljubič (SLO)
Gensheimer 9 (20–15) Ekdahl du Rietz 8
3× 5× Report 3× 2×
19 January 2012
20:15		 Czech Republic  21–27  North Macedonia
Attendance: 4,000
Referees: Abrahamsen, Kristiansen (NOR)
Jícha, Horák 5 (12–12) Lazarov 7
3× 6× Report 2× 3×

Group C

Venue: Spens Sports Center, Novi Sad

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Spain 3 2 1 0 83 77 +6 5
 Hungary 3 1 2 0 81 78 +3 4
 France 3 1 0 2 77 79 −2 2
 Russia 3 0 1 2 82 89 −7 1
Source:
16 January 2012
18:15		 France  26–29  Spain
Attendance: 5,000
Referees: Dinu, Din (ROU)
Fernandez 7 (13–15) three players 4
3× 2× Report 3× 3×
16 January 2012
20:15		 Hungary  31–31  Russia
Attendance: 6,000
Referees: Nikolić, Stojković (SRB)
Császár 8 (19–19) Chipurin 5
3× 6× Report 3× 7×
18 January 2012
18:15		 Russia  24–28  France
Attendance: 3,500
Referees: Horáček, Novotný (CZE)
Chipurin 7 (11–16) Narcisse 6
3× 3× Report 3× 1×
18 January 2012
20:15		 Spain  24–24  Hungary
Attendance: 4,500
Referees: Geipel, Helbig (GER)
Cañellas 6 (11–12) Császár, Mocsai 7
3× Report 4× 5× 1×
20 January 2012
18:15		 Spain  30–27  Russia
Attendance: 4,000
Referees: Nikolić, Stojković (SRB)
García Parrondo 6 (17–11) Igropulo 8
3× 3× Report 4× 4× 1×
20 January 2012
20:15		 France  23–26  Hungary
Attendance: 6,000
Referees: Nikolov, Nachevski (MKD)
Barachet 5 (14–12) Zubai 6
3× 2× Report 3× 3×

Group D

Venue: Millennium Centar, Vršac

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Croatia 3 3 0 0 88 78 +10 6
 Slovenia 3 1 0 2 90 91 −1 2
 Iceland 3 1 0 2 95 97 −2 2
 Norway 3 1 0 2 80 87 −7 2
Source:
16 January 2012
18:10		 Norway  28–27  Slovenia
Attendance: 3,000
Referees: Horáček, Novotný (CZE)
three players 6 (14–14) Zorman, Gajić 5
3× 5× 1× Report 2× 9× 2×
16 January 2012
20:10		 Croatia  31–29  Iceland
Attendance: 2,500
Referees: Geipel, Helbig (GER)
Štrlek 8 (14–15) Sigurðsson 8
3× 4× Report 3× 4×
18 January 2012
18:10		 Slovenia  29–31  Croatia
Attendance: 3,800
Referees: Nikolov, Nachevski (MKD)
Gajić 8 (12–16) Čupić 9
4× 5× Report 3× 4×
18 January 2012
20:10		 Iceland  34–32  Norway
Attendance: 3,000
Referees: Olesen, Pedersen (DEN)
Gunnarsson 9 (18–20) Mamelund 10
3× 4× Report 3× 4×
20 January 2012
18:10		 Iceland  32–34  Slovenia
Attendance: 3,800
Referees: Geipel, Helbig (GER)
Sigurðsson 9 (13–17) Gajić, Skube 7
2× 3× Report 3× 5×
20 January 2012
20:10		 Croatia  26–20  Norway
Attendance: 3,000
Referees: Dinu, Din (ROU)
Čupić 6 (13–8) Mamelund 6
4× 3× Report 3× 7×

Main round

Group stage results between teams that qualified for the main round were carried over.

     Team advances to the Semifinals
     Team plays in the Fifth place game

Group I

Venue: Belgrade Arena, Belgrade

Match Serbia vs Germany.

Result
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Serbia 5 3 1 1 110 104 +6 7
 Denmark 5 3 0 2 140 133 +7 6
 North Macedonia 5 2 1 2 130 127 +3 5
 Germany 5 2 1 2 132 129 +3 5
 Poland 5 2 1 2 132 136 −4 5
 Sweden 5 0 2 3 124 139 −15 2
Source:

Initial standing and matches
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Germany (B) 2 2 0 0 53 47 +6 4
 Serbia (A) 2 2 0 0 46 40 +6 4
 Poland (A) 2 1 0 1 45 48 −3 2
 North Macedonia (B) 2 0 1 1 49 50 −1 1
 Sweden (B) 2 0 1 1 50 55 −5 1
 Denmark (A) 2 0 0 2 48 51 −3 0
Source:

(A) and (B) indicates from which group the teams came; in the main round they were playing only against teams from the other group. By three victories and the misfortune of among others Germany, Denmark qualified for the semifinals together with the host, Serbia. Notable results were Denmark's last second win against Macedonia and Poland's turnaround of first-half 9-20 result to win second half by the same numbers to equalize against Sweden.

21 January 2012
16:15		 Poland  29–29  Sweden
Attendance: 6,003
Referees: Lazaar, Reveret (FRA)
Jaszka 8 (9–20) Ekberg 7
2× 4× Report 3× 3×
21 January 2012
18:15		 Denmark  33–32  North Macedonia
Attendance: 17,000
Referees: Raluy, Sabroso (ESP)
Hansen 12 (16–19) Lazarov 13
3× 3× Report 2× 2×
21 January 2012
20:15		 Serbia  21–21  Germany
Attendance: 20,500
Referees: Abrahamsen, Kristiansen (NOR)
Ilić 6 (12–7) Gensheimer 5
3× 4× Report 3× 4×
23 January 2012
16:20		 Poland  25–27  North Macedonia
Attendance: 3,700
Referees: Leifsson, Pálsson (ISL)
Jurecki 5 (12–18) Lazarov 9
2× 5× Report 3× 4×
23 January 2012
18:20		 Denmark  28–26  Germany
Attendance: 7,000
Referees: Krstić, Ljubič (SLO)
Eggert 7 (17–14) four players 4
3× 2× Report 3× 3×
23 January 2012
20:20		 Serbia  24–21  Sweden
Attendance: 19,000
Referees: Raluy, Sabroso (ESP)
Vujin 5 (14–11) Ekdahl du Rietz 8
3× 3× Report 3× 3×
25 January 2012
16:15		 Poland  33–32  Germany
Attendance: 1,000
Referees: Raluy, Sabroso (ESP)
Jurecki, Kuchczynski 5 (18–17) Klein, Sprenger 7
2× 4× Report 3× 8× 1×
25 January 2012
18:15		 Denmark  31–24  Sweden
Attendance: 5,200
Referees: Krstić, Ljubič (SLO)
Eggert 7 (18–11) Andersson 8
3× 1× Report 3× 5×
25 January 2012
20:15		 Serbia  19–22  North Macedonia
Attendance: 24,805
Referees: Abrahamsen, Kristiansen (NOR)
Vujin 5 (10–11) Lazarov 10
4× 1× Report 2× 4×

Group II

Venue: Spens Sports Center, Novi Sad

Result
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Spain 5 4 1 0 143 130 +13 9
 Croatia 5 3 1 1 137 128 +9 7
 Slovenia 5 2 0 3 153 156 −3 4
 Hungary 5 1 2 2 125 130 −5 4
 Iceland 5 1 1 3 143 146 −3 3
 France 5 1 1 3 128 139 −11 3
Source:

Initial standing and matches
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Croatia (D) 2 2 0 0 62 58 +4 4
 Spain (C) 2 1 1 0 53 50 +3 3
 Hungary (C) 2 1 1 0 50 47 +3 3
 Slovenia (D) 2 1 0 1 63 63 0 2
 Iceland (D) 2 0 0 2 61 65 −4 0
 France (C) 2 0 0 2 49 55 −6 0
Source:
(C) Champion; (D) Disqualified.

(C) and (D) above indicates from which group the teams came, in the main round they are only playing against teams from the other group.

22 January 2012
16:10		 Hungary  21–27  Iceland
Attendance: 4,500
Referees: Nikolić, Stojković (SRB)
Császár 7 (10–14) Atlason, Sigurðsson 5
3× 4× Report 3× 6×
22 January 2012
18:10		 France  28–26  Slovenia
Attendance: 4,700
Referees: Dinu, Din (ROU)
Barachet 6 (14–15) Žvižej 6
3× 3× Report 3× 7×
22 January 2012
20:10		 Spain  24–22  Croatia
Attendance: 7,500
Referees: Horáček, Novotný (CZE)
Tomás 5 (11–14) Čupić 5
3× 3× Report 3× 3×
24 January 2012
16:10		 Spain  31–26  Iceland
Attendance: 2,500
Referees: Nikolov, Nachevski (MKD)
Aguinagalde 5 (17–13) Sigurðsson 6
3× 2× Report 3× 2×
24 January 2012
18:10		 France  22–29  Croatia
Attendance: 7,500
Referees: Abrahamsen, Kristiansen (NOR)
Fernandez, Barachet 4 (12–11) Kopljar, Čupić 7
3× 2× Report 3× 3×
24 January 2012
20:10		 Hungary  30–32  Slovenia
Attendance: 6,800
Referees: Geipel, Helbig (GER)
Putics 7 (13–14) Gajić 13
3× 5× 1× Report 4× 6×
25 January 2012
16:10		 France  29–29  Iceland
Attendance: 2,800
Referees: Nikolić, Stojković (SRB)
Accambray 10 (11–15) Sigurðsson 5
3× 2× Report 3× 1×
25 January 2012
18:10		 Spain  35–32  Slovenia
Attendance: 3,200
Referees: Geipel, Helbig (GER)
Romero 7 (15–15) Žvižej 7
3× Report 3× 3×
25 January 2012
20:10		 Hungary  24–24  Croatia
Attendance: 5,500
Referees: Din, Dinu (ROU)
Császár 14 (13–12) Horvat 11
2× 3× Report 4× 4×

Knockout stage

Venue: Belgrade Arena, Belgrade

Bracket
 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
27 January – Belgrade
 
 
 Serbia26
 
29 January – Belgrade
 
 Croatia22
 
 Serbia19
 
27 January – Belgrade
 
 Denmark21
 
 Spain24
 
 
 Denmark25
 
Third place
 
 
29 January – Belgrade
 
 
 Croatia31
 
 
 Spain27

Semifinals
27 January 2012
17:45		 Denmark  25–24  Spain
Attendance: 14,000
Referees: Krstić, Ljubič (SLO)
Lauge 6 (12–10) Aguinagalde 5
4× 3× Report 3× 3×
27 January 2012
20:15		 Serbia  26–22  Croatia
Attendance: 23,040
Referees: Lazaar, Reveret (FRA)
Ilić 8 (13–14) Kopljar 7
3× 3× Report 3× 2×

Fifth place game
27 January 2012
15:15		 North Macedonia  28–27  Slovenia
Attendance: 5,500
Referees: Raluy, Sabroso (ESP)
Lazarov 8 (16–12) Dolenec 7
3× 5× Report 3× 6×

Bronze medal game
29 January 2012
14:30		 Croatia  31–27  Spain
Attendance: 8,500
Referees: Geipel, Helbig (GER)
Lacković, Čupić 7 (13–12) Sarmiento 7
3× 5× Report 3× 2×

Final
29 January 2012
17:00		 Serbia  19–21  Denmark
Attendance: 21,800
Referees: Abrahamsen, Kristiansen (NOR)
Prodanović 4 (7–9) Hansen 9
 4× 1× Report 2× 3×

The final was played at the Belgrade Arena between the host-nation Serbia and Denmark, and was seen by 19,800 spectators.[14] The teams played a match against each other in the group stage of the tournament, when Serbia defeated Denmark 24–22. Serbia's coach Veselin Vuković could not rely on Žarko Šešum, whose left eye was injured after he was hit with a bottle on the halftime break of the semi-final match against Croatia.[15]

The match started with tough play by both teams and low scoring. Denmark claimed the lead in the early phase of the match and controlled the period. Serbia's attacks were ineffective, and goalkeeper Darko Stanić made several saves. The Danes made fewer mistakes in the attacks and Anders Eggert scored important goals in the counter-attacks. Denmark led at halftime 9–7.

Early in the second half Denmark took an 11–7 lead, but then the Serbian players halted the opponent's run with a better play in defence, except for Mikkel Hansen who scored with his powerful shots in the critical moments of the game. The Danes were having the lead all the time with a margin of 1–4 goals and thanks to the saves of their goalkeeper Niklas Landin Jacobsen prevented the Serbians to level the result. The last minutes of the game were played with many mistakes on both sides, but Hansen scored the decisive goal for peerless lead 21–18 with 20 seconds to go. Serbia scored until the end making it 21–19 in favor of Denmark at the end. This was the second title for Denmark after they have previously won the European Championship in 2008.[1]

Ranking and statistics
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