Host country Serbia Venue(s) 5 (in 4 host cities) Runner-up Serbia | Dates 15–29 January 2012 Champions Denmark (2nd title) | |
 | ||
Teams 16 (from 1 confederation) | ||
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.
Contents
- Background
- Qualification
- Venues
- Referees
- Seeding
- Group stage
- Group A
- Group B
- Group C
- Group D
- Main round
- Group I
- Initial standing and matches
- Group II
- Knockout stage
- Final
- References
The bronze medal was claimed by Croatia, who defeated Spain 31-27 to win their second bronze and fourth European medal overall. 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. Over 300,000 spectators were present in 47 matches during the tournament, which was also a new championship record.
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.
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.
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
The 2012 Championship was the second for which the new qualification system was used.
Venues
Referees
On 12 September 2011, 12 couples were announced in Vienna.
Seeding
The draw was held on 15 June 2011 in Belgrade at 12:00 local time. The seeding was announced on 13 June 2011.
Group stage
The match schedule was released and confirmed on 18 April 2011. 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. The playing schedule was announced on 1 July.
All times are UTC+1.
Group A
Venue: Pionir Hall, Belgrade
Group B
Venue: Čair Sports Center, Niš
Group C
Venue: Spens Sports Center, Novi Sad
Group D
Venue: Millennium Center, Vršac
Main round
Group stage results between teams that qualified for the main round were carried over.
Group I
Venue: Belgrade Arena, Belgrade
Initial standing and matches
(A) and (B) indicates from which group the teams came; in the main round they were only playing 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 Denmarks last seconds win against Macedonia and Polands turn-around of first half result 9-20 to win second half by the same ciffres thereby equalizing against Sweden.
Group II
Venue: Spens Sports Center, Novi Sad
Initial standing and matches
(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.
Knockout stage
Venue: Belgrade Arena, Belgrade
Final
The final was played at the Belgrade Arena between the host-nation Serbia and Denmark, and was seen by 19,800 spectators. 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.
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.