With the Women’s EHF EURO 2024 just around the corner, the top teams in Europe, plus some from other continents, engaged in high-profile friendly competitions over the last week, as the best women’s senior handball teams in the world took centre stage during the international break.

Four of the top teams in the world, including the next two hosts of the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship, Germany and the Netherlands, took part in the Golden League Posten Cup, which took place in Larvik, Norway.

The hosts, the reigning Olympic champions, after a fantastic performance at Paris 2024, extended their superb run of form and clinched the first place, with some excellent matches against strong opponents, confirming their credentials for yet another continental trophy, in what will be the last major international competition for Thorir Hergeirsson.

Norway’s coach announced his departure after the EHF EURO 2024, after 14 years in the position, with 15 medals at major international competitions, and led Norway to yet another clean sweep, securing three big wins, 32:30 against Germany, 26:22 against Denmark and 33:25 against the Netherlands.

The reigning Olympic champions were without some high-profile stars, like Stine Bredal Oftedal, who retired after Paris 2024, Nora Mork, who just announced her pregnancy, and also without Katrine Lunde for the last match against the Netherlands, seeing some new faces in the squad, such as Ane Cecilie Hogseth, Eli Marie Raasok or Kristina Sirum Novak.

With Norway sweeping their opponents, Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany each shared their wins, with Denmark finishing on the second place, courtesy of their better goal difference, after a 34:19 win over Germany and a 31:36 loss over the Netherlands.

The Dutch side finished third, conceding a 23:27 loss against Germany in the second match, with coach Henrik Signell making his debut on the Dutch bench, after replacing Per Johansson in early October.

Switzerland dominate Carpathian Trophy

A six-team competition, the Carpathian Trophy, was also hosted in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, with five European sides qualified for the EHF EURO – Romania, Switzerland, North Macedonia, Slovakia and Türkiye – plus the reigning South and Central American champions, Brazil.

Each team played three matches on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with Switzerland emerging as the surprise winners of the competition, after sweeping their opponents and clinching the title thanks to a better goal difference than Brazil.

In the first two matches, Switzerland dominated Türkiye, 37:26, and Romania, 37:26, finishing off with another strong performance against North Macedonia, 27:22, putting a +25 goal difference past their opponents.

Brazil finished second, with three wins and  a +12 goal difference, after beating Slovakia, 34:30, Türkiye, 33:28, and Romania, 34:31, with the latter match being a showcase for centre back Bruna de Paula, who scored eight goals on her way to the MVP trophy. Slovakia’s Barbora Lancz was the top scorer, with 26 goals in three matches.

Slovakia finished third, with two wins, while Romania were the big disappointment, ending up on the fourth place, while Türkiye and North Macedonia finished on the last two places, with three losses in three matches.

Gardillou makes debut for France

Reigning world champions France had a doubleheader in Tremblay-en-France against Hungary, sharing the wins with the European side. In the first match, Hungary secured a 26:22 win, while France bounced back in the second match and delivered a 30:27 win.

These matches were the first two as head coach for Sebastian Gardillou, replacing the former France coach, Olivier Krumbholz, who decided to retire after the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Krumbholz was also inducted in the French Handball Hall of Fame, receiving some fantastic words after the ceremony from his long-time assistant, Gardillou.

“Seeing Olivier being inducted into the Hall of Fame is a pleasure and full of emotion. He's a great man of French handball, calling him a legend is not overrated. He's been a guide for all the people on the staff for years. So seeing him honored like this is truly deserved,” said Gardillou.

Sweden also delivered two big wins against Spain, 40:28 and 41:24, in two friendly matches played in Gavle, while Croatia took a 23:21 win against Montenegro, in the debut of Montenegro’s new coach, Suzana Lazovic.

Three teams also faced off in Austria in the alst weekend, with Austria, the co-hosts of the EHF EURO 2024 taking two wins, 26:25 against the Czechia and 34:21 against Ukraine, while Czechia also were victorious against Ukraine, 34:25.

Credit photo: Federația Română de Handbal