Horse Racing stats man, Andy has contributed to OLBG for 18 years - An Ipswich fan and F1 fanatic, he also contributes EFL football and Motor Sport opinion.
2026 European Women's Handball Championship Preview
This tournament was founded in 1994 and has been dominated by two countries over the first fifteen tournaments with Norway and Denmark winning twelve of those between them.
The 2026 European Women's Handball Championship will take place between the 3rd and the 20th of December 2026 and will be the seventeenth edition.
It will be the fifth hosted by more than one country and the second to be hosted in three different countries with Czechia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Turkey sharing the hosting.
Best Bookie for Handball Betting
This will be the first time Czechia, Slovakia, Poland and Turkey have hosted this event, it will be Romania's second time hosting having previously hosted in 2000 and Poland is due to also co-host the 2032 tournament.
The tournament will feature a total of twenty-four countries, the five hosts plus the reigning champions (Norway) all get automatic berths which means there are eighteen more places up for grabs.
The hosting will be split between just six venues, Romania will feature two venues with the other four countries hosting at one venue each.
- Brno (Arena Brno - 12,000)
- Katowice (Spodek - 11,036)
- Antalya (Antalya Arena - 10,000)
- Bratislava (Ondrej Nepela Arena - 10,000)
- Cluj-Napoca (BTarena - 10,000)
- Oradea (Oradea Arena - 5,500)
European Womens Handball Championship Past Winners
Norway's record has been spectacular in this competition, they have now won nine of the last eleven tournaments and are dominating this tournament, having said that, they have not been running away with the finals, four of their last five have only been won by margins of 3, 1, 2 & 2 goals. France and Montenegro are the only two countries to stop the Norwegians since 2004 and the 2018 final is the only time since then that Norway didn't make the final.
| Season | Champions | Score | Runners-Up |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Norway | 31-23 | Denmark |
| 2022 | Norway | 27–25 | Denmark |
| 2020 | Norway | 22–20 | France |
| 2018 | France | 24–21 | Russia |
| 2016 | Norway | 30–29 | Netherlands |
| 2014 | Norway | 28–25 | Spain |
| 2012 | Montenegro | 34–31 (ET) | Norway |
| 2010 | Norway | 25–20 | Sweden |
| 2008 | Norway | 34–21 | Spain |
| 2006 | Norway | 27–24 | Russia |
European Womens Handball Championship Betting Tips
Throughout the European Womens Handball Championship, the tipsters on OLBG will be predicting which countries will win their matches and these predictions will be found on the handball predictions page, which will contain European Womens Handball Championship betting tips from the first game right up until the final.
If you want to see which outcomes are being tipped by the profitable handball tipsters then head over to the best handball tipsters page, on this page, we only highlight tips from tipsters who have shown a profit over the past year for their handball picks.
If you are planning on backing in this tournament, then before doing so, head over to our best bookie for handball betting article to make sure you get the most out of your betting experience at the European Women's Handball Championship.
Last Five Tournament Favourite Statistics
As with most handball tournaments, as the sport gained more popularity, the knowledge of the sport has grown which has resulted in the success rate of the favourites improving. It was only a 61.70% success rate in 2012 but that grew to 65.96% in 2014 and since 2016 it has been in the 70% range with it peaking at 86.15% for the 2024 tournament. You get an 80% success rate over the last five tournaments for favourites priced up 1.60 or shorter and on average 75.89% of favourites have won over the last five tournaments.
- 2016: 34-47 (72.34%)
- 2018: 35-47 (74.47%)
- 2020: 33-47 (70.21%)
- 2022: 34-47 (72.34%)
- 2024: 56-65 (86.15%)
- Overall: 192-253 (75.89%)
Last Five Tournament Goal Statistics
You tend to find the women's version of these tournaments averaging slightly fewer than the men's and it's the same here, 55.64 goals per game on average for the men's equivalent and 52.21 for the women's. To hit that 90% rate, you have to set the bar as low as 42.5 with 92.49% of the games going over that line and it seems to dip rather quickly. You move up to 45 goals and we are down to just 82% of games exceeding that line and at 51 only 54% of games involve more goals so with a line set at 51 based on previous tournaments, that is a flip of a coin.
- Over 45: 207 Games (81.82%)
- Over 47.5: 190 Games (75.10%)
- Over 50: 149 Games (58.89%)
- Over 52.5: 116 Games (45.85%)
- Over 55: 79 Games (31.23%)
- Over 57.5: 59 Games (23.32%)
European Womens Handball Championship Medal Table
When it comes to previous winners, the Scandinavian countries really have been a dominant force in this competition, of the fifteen previous tournaments, twelve of those have gone to either Norway or Denmark. Norway is by far the most successful with a total of nine golds compared to the three that Denmark has won, only three other countries have tasted success, those are France, Hungary and Montenegro.
| Rank | Club | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Norway | 10 | 3 | 1 | 14 |
| 2nd | Denmark | 3 | 4 | 0 | 7 |
| 3rd | France | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 4th | Hungary | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 |
| 5th | Montenegro | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Author Information
Andy Powell manages this European Women's Handball Championship Preview and other handball content in this section of the site as well as the Handball Tipsters in the OLBG tipster competition in his role in the OLBG Expert Team. Andy meticulously updates the data and results for these pieces. You can get Handball betting advice in our bookmaker reviews as well as in our Best Handball Betting Sites Guide.
Andy Powell
Content Editor
