The Paris 2024 Olympic Games are now less than five months away, and the final race for places in the handball competitions is on. 

It is a race that began long ago. Here, we look at the journey of the confirmed competitors in the men’s competition to book their Paris 2024 tickets, and on to the last teams left standing in the contest to clinch the remaining spots at the upcoming Olympic Qualification Tournaments in Spain, Hungary and Germany. 

The current Olympic title holders France were the first confirmed for the 2024 Games, when Paris was awarded the hosting rights at the 131st IOC Session in Peru in September 2017. At that point, Denmark were the Olympic champions, after defeating France in the final at Rio 2016. France were the world champions at that time — the last world title before Denmark started their stronghold on that trophy, which has seen them record an historic three-peat. 

France had to wait some time to learn who would join them in the Paris 2024 line-up — enough for another Olympic Games before the first of the other competitors would be confirmed. At Tokyo 2020, France celebrated their third Olympic gold, positioning themselves as defending title holders for the home Games. 

Three Paris 2024 places booked in 2023

The next to join the Paris 2024 men’s line-up were none other than Denmark, when they reached the final of the 2023 Men’s World Championship. With one Olympic ticket available for the winners of the World Championship, or for the runners-up in case France won, Denmark were through to Paris 2024 after winning their semi-final against Spain and when France beat Sweden in the second semi-final. It will be Denmark’s ninth Olympic Games participation and fifth in a row. 

Denmark’s joining of the Paris 2024 line-up on 27 January 2023 was the first of three to come that year, with the Asian Qualification Tournament and Pan American Games to be held. 

The Asian Qualification Tournament took place in Doha in October, with Japan securing the Paris 2024 place as they won the 11-team event. The Asian Qualification Tournament saw a group structure to start, with the top two sides proceeding to the semi-finals. There, it was down to Qatar, Republic of Korea, Japan and Bahrain. 

Japan beat Republic of Korea clearly in their semi-final, 34:23, and then took a narrow win over Bahrain, 32:29, in the final. It was a milestone for Japan, as they played the Tokyo 2020 Games as hosts but prior to that had not reached the Olympic Games since 1988. Overall, Paris 2024 will be Japan’s sixth Games appearance. 

With their second-place finish, Bahrain booked a place in the Olympic Qualification Tournaments (OQTs), where they would have the chance to clinch one of six tickets up for grabs across three tournaments held in the Olympic year. 

The Pan American Games format also saw a two-group structure with the top two sides qualifying for the semi-finals. The last four standing were Brazil, Chile, Argentina and the USA. Argentina and Brazil won the semi-finals, setting up a familiar final battle, with Argentina coming out on top, 32:25, to secure their fourth straight Olympic berth. Brazil’s second place sent them to the OQTs. 

Two berths confirmed in early 2024

As 2023 became 2024 and the Olympic year arrived, it brought two big continental competitions in January: the Men’s EHF EURO and the Men’s African Championship, which each offered one ticket to Paris 2024 for the top-ranked side, as well as OQT places. In the case of the EURO, the direct Olympic berth would go to whoever ranked highest if the title were taken by already qualified France or Denmark. 

In the end, it was France and Denmark who reached the final of the EURO — both returning to the continental trophy match for the first time in a decade. That left the bronze-medal match to also decide the place at Paris 2024, and it was Sweden who secured it as they beat Germany 34:31 in the 3/4 play-off. 

Meanwhile in Cairo, the direct ticket was sure to go to the winners of the African Championship. Egypt entered as firm favourites and lived up to expectations, securing their ninth trophy in the competition overall and third in a row. Second-ranked Algeria and third-placed Tunisia booked places in the OQTs with their results. 

For Egypt, it will be the eighth Olympic Games, with the African side having first qualified in 1992 and reached every Games except one since then. For Sweden, it will be the 10th Olympic participation overall. 
 

🇵🇹 𝐏𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬? ✨ It wouldn't be the first time 😏

🔜 14-17 March: 𝐌𝐞𝐧'𝐬 𝐎𝐥𝐲𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐜 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 🔥#Paris2024 #Olympics @AndebolPortugal pic.twitter.com/6v86H5RVt5

— International Handball Federation (@ihf_info) February 28, 2024

On to the Olympic Qualification Tournaments

With that, all the direct tickets for the men’s handball competition were secured, the rankings that would help determine the teams to contest the OQTs were finalised and the line-up of participants to vie for those last Paris 2024 places was confirmed. 

For OQT 1, which will be played in Granollers, Spain will host Slovenia, Bahrain and Brazil. While Bahrain and Brazil secured their tickets with their continental performances, Spain clinched a place at the OQTs thanks to their bronze medal at the 2023 World Championship and Slovenia made it because of their 10th-place finish at the same event. 

Men’s OQT 2 will be hosted by Germany in Hanover. Germany’s place was secured based on their ranking of fifth at the World Championship. Germany were joined by Croatia, because of their ninth-place finish at the World Championship, as well as two teams through with their continental rankings — Algeria and Austria, after the latter ranked eighth at the Men’s EHF EURO 2024. 

OQT 3 will feature Norway, Hungary, Portugal and Tunisia. Norway and Hungary qualified based on their World Championship rankings of sixth and eighth, respectively, while Portugal secured a place thanks to their seventh at the EURO and Tunisia their third at the African Championship. 

The OQTs will take place on March 14 to 17, following a round-robin format where the two top-ranked teams qualify for Paris 2024. The Olympic handball competition will run from 25 July to 11 August, starting one day before the official beginning of the broader Paris 2024 Games. Tickets for the handball competitions can be purchased here.