Men's EHF EURO 2018 goes to Croatia

It is 14 years ago that Croatia hosted the Men's EHF EURO in 2000, and in four year's time the nation will once again welcome the best 16 teams in European men's handball as the EHF Congress awarded Croatia the right to host the Men's EHF EURO 2018.

Croatia entered the race with the slogan "Come, meet, cheer and celebrate".

"Over the decades handball has been one of the most popular sports in Croatia," the national federation has written in its bid book.

"In order to maintain this tradition, our strongest motive to organize the 2018 Men's European Championship is precisely the further promotion and popularization of handball both among boys and among girls.

"It is unique opportunity for each generation of spectators, but especially for the young ones to see the best of what handball has to offer and to host the best handball men players."

Apart from the Men's EHF EURO 2000, Croatia also hosted the Women's World Championship 2003 and the Men's World Championship 2009.

The continuous use of the infrastructure, i.e. arenas, built for these events is another strongpoint mentioned in the bid book.

The tournament will be played in the following halls:

• Arena Zagreb in Zagreb; capacity: 15,200
• Spaladium Arena in Split; capacity: 11,000
• City Hall Varazdin; capacity: 5,200
• Zatika sport centre; capacity: 3,500

EHF President Jean Brihault and Sandi Sola, President of the Croatian Handball Federation, following the official contract signing.