Six different winners, 580 matches and 30,856 goals
The 2020 Men’s EHF EURO in Sweden, Austria and Norway will break many records - as the first edition with 24 participants, hosted by three nations and a final venue with a capacity of 22,000.
But the European championships have set many records in the past – here are the most impressive facts and figures from the 2020 tournament and past editions.
1 team – Germany – won all six EHF EURO 2020 qualification matches. With one draw each, Hungary and Croatia were also unbeaten.
1 men’s team so far has held all three major titles at once. France achieved this twice: they were EHF EURO 2010 champions, after winning the 2008 Olympics and 2009 world championship; they then won the 2012 Olympics, EHF EURO 2014, and the 2015 world championship. Last year’s world and 2016 Olympic champions Denmark can do the same if they take this year’s EHF EURO trophy.
1 coach led both men’s and women’s teams to EHF EURO gold. Ulrik Wilbek steered the Danish women to the podium in 1994 and 1996 and the Danish men in 2008 and 2012.
1 Men’s EHF EURO host has won the trophy on home ground: Sweden in 2002. Spain (in 1996), Slovenia (2004), Serbia (2012) and Denmark (2014) made it to the final, but lost. Sweden is also the only nation to defend an EHF EURO trophy. They managed this twice in a row, winning in 1998, 2000 and 2002.
1 nation is undefeated in every EHF EURO final appearance: France reached this stage and won in 2006, 2010 and 2014.
1 coach has won four Men’s EHF EURO gold medals: Bengt Johansson with Sweden, ahead of Claude Onesta (France, three) and Ulrik Wilbek (Denmark, two).
1 country – Croatia – is the only one to host two Men’s EHF EURO final tournaments before the 2020 edition, in 2000 and 2018.
2 current head coaches won the EHF EURO as players: Didier Dinart (France) won the trophy in 2006 and 2010 with France; Ljubomir Vranjes (Slovenia) won the trophy in 1998, 2000 and 2002 with Sweden. One of them has the chance to become the first ever male to win EHF EURO gold as player and coach.
2 more current head coaches were EHF EURO finalists as players, both winning silver: Austria coach Ales Pajovic in 2004 with Slovenia, and Russia’s Eduard Koksharov in 2000.
2 players were twice named MVP at a Men’s EHF EURO: Ivano Balic (Croatia) in 2004 and 2006 and Nikola Karabatic (France) in 2008 and 2014.
2 countries have won both the Men’s and Women’s EHF EURO: Denmark and France.
3 countries are together hosting an EHF EURO event for the first time: Sweden, Austria and Norway. This is the first Men’s EHF EURO to be hosted by more than one country. All three have hosted before: Sweden in 2002, Norway in 2008 and Austria in 2010.
3 MVPs of Men’s EHF EURO events are from Sweden: Magnus Andersson (MVP in 1994), Magnus Wislander (2002) and Jim Gottfridsson (2018).
3 goals only were scored by Hungary in the lowest half-time score of a single team in EHF EURO history, when they were down by 3:17 against Spain in 1998.
3 debutants are among the 24 EHF EURO 2020 participants: Latvia, Netherlands and Bosnia & Herzegovina.
3 countries have won the whole set of EHF EURO medals so far: Germany, Denmark and Spain.
3 different Czech players have been EHF EURO top scorers: Jan Filip (1998/48 goals), Filip Jicha (2010/53) and Ondrej Zdrahala (2018/55).
4 Men’s EHF EURO final tournaments were played with 12 participants, from 1994 until 2000.
4 times – Sweden have won the EHF EURO more than any other nation, in 1994, 1998, 2000, and 2002.
5 Swedish players were part of all four winning squads: Ola Lindgren, Staffan Olsson, Stefan Lövgren, Magnus Wislander and Martin Frandesjö.
6 countries have been Men’s EHF EURO champions so far: Sweden (four), France (three), Denmark, Germany (two each), Spain and Russia.
6 cities host the Men’s EHF EURO 2020: Trondheim (Norway), Stockholm, Malmö and Gothenburg (Sweden), Graz and Vienna (Austria).
7 – the number of EHF EURO medals won by Spain, more than any other nation. Spain won silver in 1996, 1998, 2006 and 2016, bronze in 2000 and 2014, and finally gold in 2018. Denmark have won six EHF EURO medals; France, Croatia and Sweden five each.
9 Men’s EHF EURO tournaments – from 2002 until 2018 – were played with 16 participating teams.
11 straight EHF EURO participations is one of Icelander Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson’s records. He played his first final tournament in 2000 and has not missed any since then.
13 goals – the biggest ever gap in a Men’s EHF EURO final, when Sweden beat Russia 34:21 in the very first edition in Portugal in 1994.
14 – 2020 is the 14th EHF EURO tournament.
19 goals in one match were scored by Norwegian Kjetil Strand in the match against Iceland at the EHF EURO 2006 (36:33), the individual all-time high score.
20 goals – the biggest margin so far in a Men’s EHF EURO match, when the Czech Republic beat FYR Macedonia 38:18 in 1998.
24 teams will compete at an EHF EURO for the first time ever.
30 goals were scored in the all-time lowest-scoring match between France and Germany (15:15) at the EHF EURO 2002.
41 goals – the highest score by one team at a single Men’s EHF EURO match. Three teams have reached this target: Germany (41:32 against Poland in 2004), Sweden (41:25 against Slovakia in 2008) and Poland (41:24 against Slovakia in 2012).
53.2 goals – the average number of goals per game in all Men’s EHF EURO final tournaments since 1994.
54 goals were scored by Switzerland’s Andy Schmid to be the top scorer of the EHF EURO 2020 qualification ahead of Dean Turkovic (Italy/44) and Kiril Lazarov (North Macedonia/43).
60 matches – the highest number of matches at an EHF EURO final tournament by an individual player so far. France’s Nikola Karabatic holds the record, ahead of his current coach Didier Dinart (57) and Croat Igor Vori (54) in the all-time ranking.
61 goals – the highest number scored by one player at a single EHF EURO, reached by Macedonian Kiril Lazarov at the EHF EURO 2012 in Serbia. Icelander Olafur Stefansson is second with 58 goals at the 2002 EHF EURO in Sweden.
77 goals – the all-time high score in a single Men’s EHF EURO match, when Belarus beat Iceland 39:38 in 2016.
270 goals were scored by Icelander Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson to be the all-time EHF EURO record scorer. The left wing is ahead of his PSG teammate Nikola Karabatic (France/256) and Stefan Lövgren (Sweden/203).
580 matches have been played at all Men’s EHF EURO final tournaments since 1994.
2,780 goals were scored at the EHF EURO 2006 in Switzerland - the highest score of all Men’s EHF EURO tournaments so far, ahead of Slovenia 2004 (2,773) and Austria 2010 (2,690).
20,000 fans – the highest attendance so far at a Men’s EHF EURO match. This was at the 2012 semi-final between Serbia and Croatia in the Kombank Arena in Belgrade.
22,000 is the capacity of Stockholm’s Tele2 Arena for the final weekend of the 2020 EHF EURO.
30,856 goals scored in total across all Men’s EHF EURO events since 1994.
400,815 fans at the 2016 EHF EURO in Poland is the all-time record in terms of spectators.
TEXT:
Björn Pazen / jh