Euro Handball in January – everything that you need to know to organize the trip

The European Men’s Handball Championship takes place every two years in January. Some time until this event is still left. However, most matches will be played in countries where the interest in handball is high, so it’s worth thinking about a possible trip and buying tickets in advance.

Where, when, where to buy, how to get there? All this necessary information in the article below.

The European Men’s Handball Championship 2020, basic information

When?

Tournament will take place 09-26 January 2020.

Where?

This is another tournament that will take place in more host countries.

In 6 cities, in 3 countries:

Austria: Vienna and Graz, Norway: Trondheim and Sweden: Gothenburg, Malmö and Stockholm.

Group phase

It is scheduled for January 9-15.

The tournament will be attended by an increased number of teams, up to 24 (so far there were 16). They were divided as a result of the June draw into 6 groups, each will play matches with one of the five cities mentioned above (apart from Stockholm, two groups will play in Trondheim).

The exact list of groups as well as daily and hourly schedules can be found here.

Main round

In previous tournaments, 3 teams qualified for the main round. In this edition it will be 2 best teams from each group. So the number of 12 teams in this round remains.

They will be divided into two groups of 6 teams:

Group I matches will be played in Vienna and will be teams from groups A, B, C.

Group II will play matches in Malmö and will be teams from groups D, E and F.

The round is scheduled for January 16-22.

If you want to make a calculation who can play with whom and where, check here .

Finals

January 24-26

The final weekend was also modified. So far, the semi-finals have been played on Saturday, medals on Sunday. In the 2020 edition, the weekend was extended by Friday, when both semi-finals will be played. On Saturday the match for the bronze and for the 5th place, on Sunday the final.

Fortunately, the matches will be played in one place and it will be Stockholm.

Tickets

You can buy tickets on three different sites, depending on the country. Links to sites are provided from here.

Ticket prices are more or less similar in all countries. In the group round they range from around 30 euros for the lowest category to 90-100 euros for the best. You can buy a daily ticket, as well as a package for the entire round or a package for all matches in a given hall.

Daily ticket prices in the main round start at 40 euros in Vienna and 170 crowns in Malmö.

When it comes to tickets for the finals, we need to buy a separate ticket for each day.

Two semi-finals or a final will cost from 300 to 2000 crowns, a bronze match and a fifth place from 150.

Tickets are still available, although they are more expensive categories. We can also buy tickets for group matches and the main round. However, these are often single places. The interest in tickets since the start of sales was really high. Hence, the information at the beginning that this trip is worth organizing now.

Polish games

Polish handball players have been drawn to group F matches and will play matches in Gothenburg:

Slovenia – Poland, 10/01/2020, 18:15

Switzerland – Poland, 12/01/2020, 16:00

Poland – Sweden, 14/01/2020, 20:30

The group is not the easiest one.

If they get promoted to the  next round, the games of the main round will be played in Malmö. This is probably good news for players and fans, because transport between two cities takes about three hours only.

The most difficult task will have fans of the teams from the group C (including Germany and Spain), who in the event of promotion to the main round will have to move from Trondheim to Vienna, and then eventually back north to the finals.

The ride from Malmö to the finals to Stockholm is about 5-6 hours.

Potential opponents in the main round are France, Norway, Portugal and Bosnia (Group D) and Denmark, Hungary, Iceland and Russia (Group E).

How to get

There are really many transport possibilities to all three cities of Sweden.

In addition to the standard lines, low cost airlines also fly there.

Directly to Gothenburg we will fly by Ryanair from Gdańsk, Katowice, Kraków and Modlin as well as Wizzair from Gdańsk, Warsaw and Wrocław.

You can fly to Malmö with Wizzair from Gdańsk, Katowice and Warsaw.

Stockholm has flights from Gdansk, Warsaw, Katowice and Wroclaw by Wizzair or Gdansk, Krakow, Modlin or Poznan by Ryanair.

If you are going from a country other than Poland, there will be also no connection problems.

It is also easy to get to Malmö by landing in Copenhagen.

Currently, ticket prices for flights during the championships are really low. It is worth remembering that transport from the airport to the center often costs more than the flight itself, around EUR 30 one way (e.g. from Skavsta airport).

Arenas

The championship will take place in 5 arenas.

Trondheim Spektrum is a new, interesting-looking hall with a capacity of about 9,000.

In Austria, Group A matches will be played at Stadthalle Graz with a capacity of 6,000. It is the largest hall in Europe, which can easily be adapted to different needs because it has an opening roof. In Vienna, however, the tournament will be played in the largest hall in the country (over 10,000), City Hall of Vienna.

Malmö Arena and Scandinavium in Gothenburg is a hall with a capacity of approximately 13,000 fans, both are also a home arena for hockey teams.

The final arena will be the multi-purpose Tele 2 Arena, which received the title ‘Arena of the Year 2014’. The capacity is over 20,000 fans.

From touristic side – what to see before games

Swedish cities rather don’t come to mind as the first direction for a city break in winter.

It somehow happened that I visited all three who host championships in the autumn and winter. And it really has its charm.

First and foremost – fika! Meaning a coffee break and something sweet (cinnamon buns for example), which is mainly about stopping for moment and being together. Lots of pubs and cafes where you can celebrate non-stop fika. And in which you always have the feeling of coziness, also because of the ubiquitous candles.

You will also find many places to see there. Stockholm is about islets, bridges, the old city, museums, green island and park or art galleries at subway stations. Gothenburg is a port, opera house, The Hague district, canals, bridges, interesting museums, the largest amusement park in Sweden, and the islets of the Gothenburg archipelago near the city. In Malmö you can see a castle, old town, small market, park, garden or bridge over the strait, leading all the way to Copenhagen.

One thing you can be sure of – even if going for the entire duration of the championships you will not be bored there while waiting for the afternoon matches.