The last two matches of the women’s handball competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will take place in a packed Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille on Saturday, when the three medallists will be decided after two fantastic matches.

In the battle for the gold, France and Norway – the teams which have dominated women’s handball in the past decade, winning each major international competition since 2016, with the exception of the 2019 IHF Women’s World Championship, won by the Netherlands – will face off in a battle for the ages.

This will be the first-ever Olympics final between the two sides, which have now ensured a medal, the third at the Olympic Games for France and the eighth for Norway, the largest number in history.

The bronze medal match will see an all-Scandinavian battle between Denmark and Sweden, the rematch of the bronze medal match at the 2023 IHF Women’s World Championship

Paris 2024 – women’s handball competition – finals' day schedule

Saturday, 10 August

Gold medal match

• 15:00 CEST Norway vs France

Bronze medal match

• 10:00 CEST Denmark vs Sweden

A final for the ages: 37 matches will have been played in women’s handball competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games to finally reach the conclusion. The new – or old – Olympic champion will be revealed Saturday afternoon, when hosts and reigning Olympic champions France take on Norway. The two powerhouses have been dominating women’s handball in recent years: France have been world champions in 2017 and 2023, European champions in 2018 and Olympic champions at Tokyo 2020. Norway won the EHF EURO in 2016, 2020 and 2022, were world champions in 2015 and 2021 and won a medal at every edition of the Olympics since Beijing 2008. The two sides have also played the final at the EHF EURO 2020 and the IHF Women’s World Championship in 2021 and 2023, making this the fourth final of a major international competition in the last four years. But this is the first time ever when the two powerhouses will ever meet in an Olympics final. Both their coaches have won 14 medals so far and secured their 15th one at Paris 2024. It is the perfect showdown in a perfect setting for a perfect edition of the Olympics. 

One “adieu” for Krumbholz? Playing in the final of the Olympic Games is an emotional thing in itself. Having possibly the last match of one’s career on the biggest of stages, it surely gets even more emotional. Olivier Krumbholz has led France between 1998 and 2013, stopped for three years, then returned in 2016 to deliver the golden age of the women’s handball team, winning two world titles, one European title and one Olympic title. In fact, Krumbholz has led France in each of the last seven appearances at the Olympic Games. Now, he hinted about leaving after the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, but left a door open to an extension, even after another major international competition final, in a fantastic setting – in front of over 27.000 spectators, in the Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille. In his over 20 years as France’s head coach, Krumbholz has led the team in over 550 matches and has already won 15 medals. But if France have gone so far in the last years, it is surely his merit too.

The final bow for Oftedal: After the men’s handball competition at this edition of the Olympics, Nikola Karabatic and Mikkel Hansen, arguably two of the best players ever, are saying goodbye to their playing careers. In the women’s, it is Stine Bredal Oftedal who will bow out. And for Oftedal, it will be on her terms, in the biggest setting possible. Come Saturday, when the 32-year-old Norway centre back will play the last match of her career, the Stade Pierre Mauroy will be packed – with possibly a new record of attendance for a women’s handball match – for the final of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games between France and Norway. Oftedal is undoubtedly still playing at the highest possible level. She has scored 20 goals in the competition, being her team’s top goal scorer, three goals less than line player Kari Brattset Dale. But the connection she has with her teammates is absolutely fantastic. No other player has delivered more assists in the competition, 43, than Oftedal. The second player in the standings is Sweden’s Jamina Roberts, with 30 assists. Or more than two assists per game less than Oftedal. As a centre back, her influence is huge on Norway’s play. And now, Oftedal will say her farewell to handball in the perfect way possible. In an Olympics final, against France, in France, the place she called home for four years, featuring at Issy-Paris Handball between 2013 and 2017, her first experience outside Norway and the place where she really put her absolutely fantastic skills to use for the first time.

All to play for in the bronze medal match: Denmark and Sweden, perennial contenders in the last years in major international competitions, will play once again for the bronze medal, just like at the 2023 IHF Women’s World Championship, where Denmark secured the bronze, with a 28:27 win. Both are coming after disappointing losses in the semi-finals, especially Sweden, which led by four goals against France with 15 minutes to go, but dropped the match in extra-time. While Denmark have won bronze at the 2021 and the 2023 IHF Women’s World Championship editions, Sweden have not won a medal since the EHF EURO 2014, therefore they will aim to end that drought in Paris. Denmark have won the last five mutual matches, including a 25:23 win 10 days ago, in the preliminary round at Paris 2024, with the last Sweden win coming in 2017, at the IHF Women’s World Championship, 26:23. These teams know each other fully well, but it is still Sweden’s task to provide yet another fantastic match to turn the tables and finally get on the podium.

Horacek or Hagman for the top goal scorer plaudits? The battle for the top goal scorer of the Olympic Games is still on and several players still have a chance. Currently, the top position is held by Hungary’s Katrin Klujber, with 38 goals, but she is closely followed by Sweden’s right wing, Nathalie Hagman, and France’s back Tamara Horacek, both with 36 goals. Therefore, both Horacek and Hagman, who will play in the last day of the women’s handball competition at Paris 2024, need three goals to be on the top. Other players who can still leapfrog Klujber are Estelle Nze Minko (30 goals) and Denmark’s Emma Friis and Kristina Jorgensen (27 goals), or Sweden’s Jamina Roberts (26 goals), but the gap looks already too big, with the knockout matches providing low-scoring encounters.