European handball championship 2006

This article describes the 2006 Men's Handball Championship . For the women's championship, see the 2006 European Women's Handball Championship .

7th European Men's Handball Championship 2006
Logo of the EM 2006
Number of nations	16
European champion	France (1st title)
venue	Switzerland
Opening game	January 26, 2006
Endgame	February 5, 2006
Games	47
Gates	2,780   (∅: 59.15 per game)
Top scorer	Siarhei Rutenka Slovenia , 51 goals
Best player	Ivano Balić Croatia (MVP)
←  EM 2004 EM 2008  →

The 7th men's handball championship took place from January 26th to February 5th, 2006 in Switzerland . France became European champions for the first time, defending champion Germany only finished fifth. Host Switzerland was eliminated after the preliminary round, the Austrian national team could not qualify for the EM.

The major handball event was accompanied by 500 active players and officials, 600 journalists and around 185,000 spectators.

Attendees

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
Switzerland	Germany	Denmark	Croatia
Slovenia	France	Hungary	Russia
Ukraine	Spain	Iceland	Portugal
Poland	Slovakia	Serbia and Montenegro	Norway

St. Gallen Basel Bern Sursee Zurich

Venues

Venues

• St. Gallen - Kreuzbleiche (4,500 seats)
• Basel - St. Jakobshalle (8,500 seats)
• Bern - Wankdorfhalle (3,100 seats)
• Sursee / Luzern - City Hall (3,500 seats)
• Zurich - Hallenstadion (11,500 seats)

Preliminary round

The first three in each group reached the main round.

Group A

Group A played in the Kreuzbleiche , St. Gallen .

space	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Points
1	Slovenia	3	3	0	0	95:85	6th
2	Poland	3	1	1	1	93:88	3
3	Ukraine	3	1	0	2	92:96	2
4th	Switzerland	3	0	1	2	86:97	1

January 26, 2006
17:30	Poland	-	Ukraine	33:24 (19:13)
21:00	Slovenia	-	Switzerland	29:25 (16:13)
January 28, 2006
16:15	Switzerland	-	Poland	31:31 (16:17)
18:30	Ukraine	-	Slovenia	31:33 (17:16)
January 29, 2006
14:00	Slovenia	-	Poland	33:29 (16:10)
16:15	Switzerland	-	Ukraine	30:37 (14:21)

Group B

Group B played in the St. Jakobshalle , Basel .

space	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Points
1	Spain	3	2	1	0	94:82	5
2	France	3	2	0	1	88:75	4th
3	Germany	3	1	1	1	87:84	3
4th	Slovakia	3	0	0	3	72: 100	0

January 26, 2006
15:45	Germany	-	Spain	31:31 (16:15)
18:00	France	-	Slovakia	35:21 (19: 9)
January 28, 2006
14:00	Slovakia	-	Germany	26:31 (15:18)
16:15	Spain	-	France	29:26 (17: 9)
January 29, 2006
15:15	Germany	-	France	25:27 (11:13)
17:30	Spain	-	Slovakia	34:25 (15:10)

Group C

Group C played in the Sursee town hall in Sursee / Lucerne .

space	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Points
1	Denmark	3	2	1	0	90:82	5
2	Iceland	3	1	1	1	95:94	3
3	Serbia and Montenegro	3	1	0	2	89:93	2
4th	Hungary	3	1	0	2	86:89	2

January 26, 2006
18:00	Serbia and Mont.	-	Iceland	31:36 (11:16)
20:15	Denmark	-	Hungary	29:25 (12: 8)
January 27, 2006
18:00	Hungary	-	Serbia and Mont.	24:29 (12:13)
20:15	Iceland	-	Denmark	28:28 (15:14)
January 29, 2006
18:00	Hungary	-	Iceland	35:31 (16:14)
20:15	Denmark	-	Serbia and Mont.	33:29 (19:12)

Group D

Group D played in the Wankdorfhalle , Bern .

space	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Points
1	Russia	3	3	0	0	89:82	6th
2	Croatia	3	2	0	1	85:79	4th
3	Norway	3	1	0	2	76:83	2
4th	Portugal	3	0	0	3	80:96	0

January 26, 2006
17:00	Croatia	-	Portugal	24:21 (11:11)
19:10	Russia	-	Norway	24:21 (12:10)
January 27, 2006
18:00	Portugal	-	Russia	32:35 (12:18)
20:15	Norway	-	Croatia	28:32 (14:20)
January 29, 2006
17:00	Croatia	-	Russia	29:30 (12:17)
19:10	Portugal	-	Norway	27:37 (12:17)

Main round

The main round games took place in the Kreuzbleiche, St. Gallen, and the St. Jakobshalle, Basel. Two groups were formed from the twelve teams from the preliminary round. In group I the first three of groups A and B played, in group II the first three of groups C and D. The points from the preliminary round that were scored against the other teams that had also reached the main round were taken over . The first and second placed in each group advanced to the semi-finals, the third played the direct qualification for the handball European championship 2008 in Norway.

Group I.

The group I games were played in the St. Jakobshalle in Basel.

space	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Points
1	Spain	5	4th	1	0	164: 144	9
2	France	5	4th	0	1	148: 125	8th
3	Germany	5	3	1	1	160: 137	7th
4th	Slovenia	5	2	0	3	162: 169	4th
5	Poland	5	1	0	4th	132: 154	2
6th	Ukraine	5	0	0	5	126: 163	0

January 31, 2006
15:10	Ukraine	-	Germany	22:36 (13:15)
17:30	Slovenia	-	France	30:34 (11:20)
20:00	Poland	-	Spain	25:34 (15:16)
February 1, 2006
15:15	Slovenia	-	Germany	33:36 (16:20)
17:45	Poland	-	France	21:31 (9:18)
20:15	Ukraine	-	Spain	29:31 (13:17)
February 2, 2006
15:15	Poland	-	Germany	24:32 (7:16)
17:45	Ukraine	-	France	20:30 (10:16)
20:00	Slovenia	-	Spain	33:39 (16:19)

Group II

The Group II games were played in the Kreuzbleichhalle in St. Gallen.

space	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Points
1	Croatia	5	4th	0	1	155: 146	8th
2	Denmark	5	3	1	1	161: 147	7th
3	Russia	5	3	0	2	143: 140	6th
4th	Iceland	5	2	1	2	159: 156	5
5	Serbia and Montenegro	5	1	0	4th	137: 157	2
6th	Norway	5	1	0	4th	141: 150	2

January 31, 2006
15:45	Iceland	-	Russia	34:32 (17:15)
18:00	Denmark	-	Croatia	30:31 (14:15)
20:15	Serbia and Mont.	-	Norway	26:25 (15:16)
February 1, 2006
15:45	Serbia and Mont.	-	Russia	21:29 (8:14)
18:00	Iceland	-	Croatia	28:29 (13:13)
20:15	Denmark	-	Norway	35:31 (17:15)
February 2, 2006
15:45	Serbia and Mont.	-	Croatia	30:34 (16:16)
18:00	Iceland	-	Norway	33:36 (16:14)
20:15	Denmark	-	Russia	35:28 (13:13)

Final round

In the final round, all games were played in the largest hall, the Hallenstadion Zurich.

Play for 5th place

February 4, 2006
11:45	Germany	-	Russia	32:30 (16:18)

Germany has thus qualified directly for the 2008 European handball championship in Norway.

Semifinals

February 4, 2006
14:15	Spain	-	Denmark	34:31 (15:16)
17:00	France	-	Croatia	29:23 (12:10)

3rd place match

February 5, 2006
13:30	Denmark	-	Croatia	32:27 (16: 9)

final

February 5, 2006
16:00	Spain	-	France	23:31 (13:17)

Final score

Pl.	team
1.	France
2.	Spain
3.	Denmark
4th	Croatia
5.	Germany
6th	Russia
7th	Iceland
8th.	Slovenia
9.	Serbia and Montenegro
10.	Poland
11.	Norway
12.	Ukraine
13.	Hungary
14th	Switzerland
15th	Portugal
16.	Slovakia

List of goalscorers

Pl.	player	team	Gates	FT	7m
1	Siarhei Rutenka	Slovenia	51	36	15th
2	Albert Rocas	Spain	45	30th	15th
3	Eduard Koksharow	Russia	44	17th	27
4th	Ivano Balić	Croatia	43	43	0
5	Snorri Guðjónsson	Iceland	42	25th	17th
6th	Nikola Karabatić	France	40	40	0
	Iker Romero	Spain	40	32	8th
	Soren Stryger	Denmark	40	26th	14th
9	Michael V. Knudsen	Denmark	39	39	0
	Florian Kehrmann	Germany	39	34	5

FT - field goals, 7m - seven meters

Allstar team

position	Surname	country
Goal:	Thierry Omeyer	France
Left winger:	Eduard Koksharow	Russia
Back left:	Iker Romero	Spain
Back center:	Ivano Balić	Croatia
Back right:	Ólafur Stefánsson	Iceland
Right winger:	Soren Stryger	Denmark
Circle:	Rolando Urios	Spain
Most Valuable Player (MVP):	Ivano Balić	Croatia

Team squad

European champion: France

Yohann Ploquin Jérôme Fernandez Didier Dinart Geoffroy Krantz Guillaume Gille Sébastien Bosquet

Bertrand Gille Daniel Narcisse Olivier Girault Daouda Karaboué Nikola Karabatić

Christophe Kempé Thierry Omeyer Joël Abati Luc Abalo Michaël Guigou

Trainer: Claude Onesta

Second place: Spain

José Javier Hombrados Alberto Entrerríos Rolando Urios Albert Rocas Ruben Garabaya Chema Rodríguez

Ion Belaustegui Mateo Garralda Julio Fis Demetrio Lozano Juancho Perez

David Davis David Barrufet Juanín García Iker Romero Mariano Ortega

Coach: Juan Carlos Pastor

Third place: Denmark

Kasper Hvidt Lars Møller Madsen Mikkel Aagaard Rune ohm Lars Jørgensen Jesper Nøddesbo

Jesper Jensen Lars Rasmussen Lars Christiansen Joachim Boldsen Kristian Asmussen

Bo Spellerberg Michael V. Knudsen Henrik Hansen Soren Stryger Per Leegaard

Coach: Ulrik Wilbek

Fifth place: Germany

Henning Fritz Johannes Bitter Florian Kehrmann Christian Sprenger Christian Zeitz

Volker Michel Michael Kraus Frank von Behren Michael Hegemann Pascal Hens

Torsten Jansen Dominik Klein Andrei Klimovets Sebastian Preiss Oliver Roggisch

Trainer: Heiner Brand

Web link

• Tournament on eurohandball.com