After Sweden secured qualification thanks to the bronze obtained in the 2024 European Handball Championship last weekend and Egypt, as the champion of the African Handball Championship, only six places remain for the upcoming Olympic event scheduled to start in July 2024 in the French capital.

France, qualified as the host, Denmark as the world champion, Argentina as the Pan-American champion, and Japan as the winner of the Asian Qualification Championship have already secured their participation in Paris.

The Spanish team couldn't secure its place in Paris during the European handball championship and will have to reaffirm its credentials in Tournament 1 alongside Slovenia, Bahrain, and Brazil. It is the clear favorite in its group, and while it must compete in March, barring a catastrophe in sporting terms, it should not have major problems playing at home, even if it secures its place as the second team to reach Paris.

The Iberian Peninsula team is ranked 3rd in the world, and despite its long tradition and quality in this sport (finalists in the last 4 editions of the European championship, the most important continental championship worldwide), it could not earn its ticket after finishing third in its group following a lackluster performance (1 win, 1 draw, and 1 defeat). They will have to earn their place in France on the field.

They will face Slovenia (10), Brazil (15, although the best in all of America), and Bahrain (very low at 24th place).

In the Pre-Olympics 2 and 3, there will also be two spots at stake among the 4 participants in each group. Germany will try to secure its place in Paris 2024 at home, being the clear favorite in the group, while Hungary will have Norway as the main rival, but at home, it also becomes strong and will try to secure one of the two spots in play.

The Venues:

The IHF Council has decided to grant hosting rights to the National Federations of Spain, Germany, and Hungary, as their bids have shown to meet all logistical requests. Logically, the historical supremacy of Europe (all golds above the rest of the world in this sport) is overwhelming, and while it may not be recognized as a determining factor, it always plays its role.

In this facet, all Olympic golds have been European. France leads among the current nations (3 golds in total, all achieved this century). In fact, European supremacy is so significant that counting all medals since Berlin 1936, only South Korea (In Seoul 1988) managed to sneak in with a silver, in a discipline where podiums have always been composed of European teams.

All three Olympic Qualification Tournaments will be played in arenas with extensive handball experience and a capacity of more than 6,000 seats.

Olympic Qualification Tournament 1 will be played at the Palau d'Esports de Granollers (Spain), the arena that hosted the finals of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and also hosted the final weekend of the 2021 IHF Women’s World Championship with a capacity of 6,500 spectators.

The ZAG Arena in Hanover (Germany), with a capacity of 9,800 spectators, will be the venue for Olympic Qualification Tournament 2, while the Tatabánya Arena in Hungary, the fourth-largest handball arena in the country, with a capacity of 6,000 seats, will host Olympic Qualification Tournament 3.

In total, there will be six remaining spots for the men's Olympic tournament, scheduled to take place from 25 July to 11 August 2024 at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium and featuring 12 teams. The top two teams from each qualifying tournament, played in a round-robin format, will secure their place in the 33rd Olympic Games of the modern era.

How they reached the pre-Olympics:

Spain (3rd), Germany (5th), Norway (6th), Hungary (8th), Croatia (9th), and Slovenia (10th) secured their spots in the Olympic Qualification Tournaments through the 2023 World Championships in Poland and Sweden. Croatia and Slovenia entered this group after Sweden (4th in the World Championship) and Egypt (7th in the World Championship) earned their spots for the Paris Games through their continental championships.

Portugal (7th in Germany 2024) and Austria (8th) also qualified to compete in the Olympic Qualification Tournaments as the top two finishers in the 2024 European Championship among teams that had not yet secured a spot for Paris 2024 or the Olympic Qualification Tournaments.

Similarly, Algeria (2nd in the African Championship) and Tunisia (3rd) earned their tickets to the Olympic Qualification Tournaments through their continental championship.

The group of 12 teams was completed with the second-placed teams from the continental championships of America (Pan American Games Santiago 2023) and Asia, Brazil and Bahrain, respectively, earning the right to dream of reaching Paris 2024.

Pre-Olympic Brackets:

Tournament 1: Spain, Slovenia, Bahrain and Brazil.

Tournament 2: Germany, Croatia, Algeria and Austria.

Tournament 3: Norway, Hungary, Portugal and Tunisia.