24 teams, three countries, one championshipArticle
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NEWS REPORT: Sweden, Austria and Norway jointly apply to host the Men's EHF EURO 2020 with the prospect of having the final played in a football stadium. The EHF Congress will vote on the allocation on 19/20 September in Dublin
 

24 teams, three countries, one championship

The Men's EHF EURO, the European Handball Federation's flagship national team event, takes a major step forward in its development with the 2020 event likely to be the first one which is organised with 24 teams and staged in three countries.

Sweden, Austria and Norway are jointly bidding to host the championship and have now released their official application documents.

On 19/20 September 2014 at its gathering in Dublin, Ireland the EHF Congress will vote on the allocation of the Men's and Women's EHF European Championships in 2018 and 2020.

The three organisers plan to hold the championship in seven different cities and venues and put the word out there that the EHF EURO 2020 Final will potentially played in front of 20,000+ fans in Stockholm's Tele 2 Arena, a multi-purpose stadium with a retractable roof.

The six preliminary round groups shall be played in the Austrian cities of Vienna and Graz, the Norwegian cities of Trondheim and Oslo and the Swedish cities of Malmö and Gothenburg.

The main round shall take place in Vienna and Sweden (either Malmö or Gothenburg), and for the finals the tournament shall move to the Swedish capital Stockholm.

Venue capacities reach from 6,000 in the Graz Messehalle to 20,000+ in the Tele 2 Arena in Stockholm.

The Trondheim Spektrum arena in Norway is currently being built and will offer seats for approximately 8,000 spectators. Oslo's Telenor Arena has a capacity of 15,000.

The Stadthalle in Vienna can seat 12,000 people and so can the Scandinavium in Gothenburg. The Malmö Arena, which hosted the World Championship 2011 Final, has a capacity of 13,000.

"We would like to prepare a championship where the we place handball in the focus and make sure that we get the best possible conditions for the players and the teams," is one of the application's key phrases.

Download application documents


This article is part of a four-item long series presenting the potential hosts for the Men's and Women's EHF EURO events in 2018 and 2020 over the coming days until Thursday, 18 September.

It is the EHF Congress in Dublin on 19/20 September that will vote on the allocation of these four European Championships.

The bidding nations are the following:

Men’s EHF EURO 2018: Croatia

Women’s EHF EURO 2018: France

Men’s EHF EURO 2020: Austria/Norway/Sweden (joint bid)

Women’s EHF EURO 2020: Norway/Denmark (joint bid)


TEXT: EHF / ts
 
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