EHF Executive Commitee confirms bids to host Women's EHF EURO 2024

The destination of the Women’s EHF EURO 2024 is a step closer to being named after three bids to host the tournament were confirmed by the EHF Executive Committee.

In April the EHF invited federations to pitch to host the Women’s EHF EURO 2024, which will make history by becoming the first women’s event to feature 24 teams.

The three bids that are now officially in the running to host the tournament, which will take place between 28 November and 15 December 2024, are:

• Russia

• Hungary, Austria and Switzerland (joint-bid) 

• Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia (joint-bid)

Russia, runners-up at Women’s EHF EURO 2018, are aiming to host the tournament for the very first time. As part of the Russian Federation’s bid, it is proposed that matches will be played at five venues across four cities; Moscow, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar and Saint Petersburg. The final would be played at the 12,000-capacity VTB Arena Park in Moscow.

Of the joint-bid from Hungary, Austria and Switzerland, only Hungary has previous hosted Women’s EHF EURO events. Hungary, Women’s EHF EURO 2000 champions, held the event in 2004 and co-hosted with Croatia in 2014.

Basel in Switzerland, Innsbruck in Austria and Debrecen in Hungary are proposed to host the preliminary rounds, with Budapest and Debrecen the venues for the main round. The final would be played inside a newly-constructed 20,000-seater venue in Budapest, which is due to be completed in 2021.

Never have the Czech Republic, Poland or Slovakia hosted a Women’s EHF EURO event. As part of this joint-bid, action would take place in seven cities; Wroclaw (preliminary round), Katowice (preliminary and main round) and Krakow (final weekend) in Poland, Ostrava (preliminary round) in Czech Republic, and in Bratislava (main round), Samorin and Banska Bystrica (both preliminary round) in Slovakia.

The next step in the process will see each bid evaluated by the EHF throughout October and November, with site visits undertaken to assess suitability.

Once this has been completed, the EHF Executive Committee will reveal the winning bid at the conclusion of their committee meeting on Thursday 21 November.