Six spots for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games are still available and will be awarded to the top two placed teams in the three Olympic Qualification Tournaments, which are due to take place between 14 and 17 March in Granollers (Spain), Hanover (Germany) and Tatabanya (Hungary). 

With 12 teams lined up at the start, there is no room for mistake for them and the 18 matches which will unfurl in the next days promise to bring some excellent handball, with the big prize a huge target for all those involved, as the chance of taking part in the Olympic Games comes once every four years.

Excellent venues to host fantastic matches

The Palau d’Esports de Granollers, the ZAG-Arena and the Tatabányai Multifunkcionális Sportcsarnok will be the three arenas ready to host the 12 teams that will lock horns for a place at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, with the teams’ dreams and history being interlocked forever with these arenas.

The Palau d’Esports de Granollers has already written history in handball, as the venue for the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games, being an arena built especially for that competition. The 5,685-seater has also been the venue for the final weekend of the 2021 IHF Women’s World Championship, producing an excellent setting for the business end of the world handball flagship competition.

The handball-mad Germany will also host one of the Olympic Qualification Tournaments and the venue is the ZAG-Arena, where over 11,000 fans will flock to cheer for their favourites in their bid to seal the ticket for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Hanover has already proven its apetite for handball during the 2023 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship, when it hosted several groups.

Last, but not least, the Tatabányai Multifunkcionális Sportcsarnok is the fourth-largest handball arena in Hungary, with a capacity of 6,000 spectators, being inaugurated in 2022. The arena, which will definitely be sold-out before the throw off, is intended to host the IHF Women’s World Championship in 2027, providing an excellent setting for the most balanced Olympic Qualification Tournament on paper.

Will Spain bounce back after an underwhelming January?

Since 1980, Spain have missed the Olympic Games only once, at Rio 2016, and will hope to write another page of history on their home court in Granollers, where they face Brazil, Bahrain and Slovenia. Over the last six editions they took part in, Spain have won four bronze medals, at Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Beijing 2008 and Tokyo 2020, as they certainly aim to secure a gold medal this time around.

After an underwhelming experience at the EHF EURO 2024, where they finished on the 13th place, Spain will be looking to improve their fortunes, with several changes made by coach Jordi Ribera to the 19-player squad announced late February, including the comebacks of experienced stalwarts like Gedeón Guardiola, Rodrigo Corrales and Antonio García Robledo.

“These are going to be three difficult games, because every team aims to be in the Olympic Games, they are waiting because it is a great opportunity for everyone. I hope that playing at home, in a great venue like the Palau d'Esports de Granollers, allows us to have a great atmosphere, supporting the team, because we are going to need all the support," said coach Jordi Ribera.

Handball-mad Germany to host crunch Olympic Qualification Tournament

The Olympic Qualification Tournament #2 in Hanover will bring over 11,000 fans in the stands in the ZAG-Arena, after Germany proved once again how much home support can mean in such a competition, after finishing on the fourth place at the EHF EURO 2024, where they had over 53,000 fans in Düsseldorf and over 15,000 fans in Berlin and Cologne.

A strong mix of experience brought by Andreas Wolff and the exuberance of Juri Knorr and several gold medallists at the 2023 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship, proved to be an excellent mix for Alfred Gislason, as Germany look well positioned both to contend now and to be a powerhouse for the foreseeable future. A qualification to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games would just reinforce that feeling.

But one of the biggest storylines in the Olympic Qualification Tournament #2, where Germany, Croatia, Algeria and Austria face off, is definitely how Croatia will look under their new coach, Dagur Sigurdsson. The Icelandic ace, who has also coached Germany and Japan men’s national teams, is the first foreign coach in the history of Croatia and will have the big ask to deliver a ticket to Paris 2024, which could see the last chance for Domagoj Duvnjak and Luka Cindric to play at the Olympic Games.

Group of death in Tatabanya

The battle for a place at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will provide neutral fans with some dramatic moments in the Olympic Qualification Tournament #3 in Tatabánya, with three strong European side vying for two places, while underdog Tunisia play the role of the plucky outsider which can always bring some surprises to the table.

Hungary are aiming to return to the Olympic Games for the first time since London 2012, as coach Chema Rodriguez has stabilised the team, which finished 5th at the 2021 IHF Men’s World Championship, 8th at the 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship and fifth at the EHF EURO 2024.

But they will face a hefty challenge from Portugal and Norway, with both teams qualifying to the previous edition of the Olympic Games, Tokyo 2020. Portugal have young blood in their squad, with brothers Francisco and Martim Costa shining in the past year, as Norway are trying to rekindle their fire, after some underwhelming appearances in the major international competitions, far removed from their silver medals at the 2015 and 2017 IHF Men’s World Championship.

Nevertheless, it might go down to the wire, with Portugal being in that place already, in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Qualification Tournaments, when Paulo Pereira’s side made it through after a last-gasp win against France in Montpellier, with a shock elimination of Croatia in that moment. 

Can non-European sides spring a surprise?

Since the introduction of the Olympic Qualification Tournaments, for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, in two of the four editions played, a non-European side made it through to the final competition. Coincidentally, this happened for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, when Tunisia progressed, and for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, when Brazil punched their tickets.

Can that happen also for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where three European sides – hosts France, world champions Denmark and Sweden, who finished third at the EHF EURO 2024 – are already qualified? Two non-European sides – Bahrain and Brazil – are in the Olympic Qualification Tournament #1, with one non-European side – Algeria in the OQT #2 and Tunisia in the OQT #3 – in the other two ones.

Strength in numbers for non-European sides come in the Olympic Qualification Tournament #1, but both Brazil and Bahrain are underdogs against Spain and Slovenia. While Bahrain have some big absences, due to the suspensions incurred by five key players after the 2024 AHF Asian Men’s Handball Championship, Brazil have both the experience and the depth to challenge their European counterparts. Algeria’s chances look slim against powerhouses like Germany and Croatia, while Tunisia, which have featured four times at the Olympic Games, face a tough test against Hungary, Norway and Portugal.