2008 European Women's Handball Championship

8th European Women's Handball Championship 2008
2008 Women's EHF European Handball Championship
Number of nations	16
European champion	Norway (4th title)
venue	Macedonia
Opening game	December 2, 2008
Endgame	December 14, 2008
Games	48
Top scorer	Linn-Kristin Riegelhuth Koren (51 goals)
Best player	Kristine Lunde

The 8th European Women's Handball Championship took place from December 2nd to 14th, 2008 in Macedonia . The title was won for the third time in a row by the team from Norway , which clearly beat the Spanish team in the final . In the end, Germany finished fourth, Austria finished fifteenth.

Attendees

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
France	Norway	Russia	Germany
Hungary	Portugal	Sweden	Croatia
Denmark	Spain	Austria	Macedonia
Romania	Ukraine	Belarus	Serbia

Venues

Skopje Ohrid

Venues

The European Championship games were played in the Macedonian capital Skopje and the city of Ohrid on the lake of the same name .

• Skopje - Boris Trajkovski Arena (8,000 seats)
• Ohrid - Biljanini Izvori Sports Hall (3,500 seats)

Preliminary round

The total of 16 teams were divided into 4 groups with 4 teams each. Within the individual groups, each team played once against each other team. The first three of each group then reached the main round.

Group A

Group A played in Skopje.

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Pt.
1	Romania	3	3	0	0	84:71	+13	6th
2	Denmark	3	1	1	1	75:76	- 01	3
3	Hungary	3	1	1	1	76:79	- 03	3
4th	France	3	0	0	3	74:83	- 09	0

December 3, 2008
18:15	Hungary	-	Romania	21:27 (9:11)
20:15	France	-	Denmark	23:24 (13:10)
December 5, 2008
18:15	Romania	-	France	30:25 (17:13)
20:15	Denmark	-	Hungary	26:26 (16:17)
December 7, 2008
18:15	France	-	Hungary	26:29 (14:15)
20:15	Denmark	-	Romania	25:27 (13:10)

Group B

Group B games took place in Ohrid.

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Pt.
1	Norway	3	2	1	0	88: 060	+28	5
2	Spain	3	1	2	0	74: 069	+ 05	4th
3	Ukraine	3	1	1	1	82: 081	+ 01	3
4th	Portugal	3	0	0	3	67: 101	−34	0

December 3, 2008
17:15	Portugal	-	Ukraine	24:38 (14:17)
19:15	Norway	-	Spain	21:21 (9: 7)
December 5, 2008
17:15	Spain	-	Portugal	29:24 (12:13)
19:15	Ukraine	-	Norway	20:33 (8:16)
December 7, 2008
17:15	Spain	-	Ukraine	24:24 (12:12)
19:15	Norway	-	Portugal	34:19 (16: 9)

Group C

All Group C games were played in Ohrid.

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Pt.
1	Russia	3	2	1	0	79:66	+13	5
2	Sweden	3	1	2	0	64:50	+14	4th
3	Belarus	3	1	1	1	77:71	+ 06	3
4th	Austria	3	0	0	3	53:86	−33	0

December 2, 2008
18:15	Sweden	-	Belarus	21:21 (13: 7)
20:15	Russia	-	Austria	31:22 (13:10)
December 4, 2008
18:15	Austria	-	Sweden	10:24 (5:11)
20:15	Belarus	-	Russia	25:29 (12:18)
December 6, 2008
18:15	Russia	-	Sweden	19:19 (5: 8)
20:15	Austria	-	Belarus	21:31 (12:14)

Group D

Group D played their games in Skopje.

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Pt.
1	Germany	3	3	0	0	89:80	+9	6th
2	Macedonia	3	2	0	1	84:84	± 0	4th
3	Croatia	3	1	0	2	86:89	−3	2
4th	Serbia	3	0	0	3	87:93	−6	0

December 2, 2008
17:45	Croatia	-	Serbia	30:26 (17: 8)
20:15	Germany	-	Macedonia	25:22 (11:10)
December 4, 2008
18:15	Serbia	-	Germany	31:32 (15:17)
20:15	Macedonia	-	Croatia	31:29 (15:13)
December 6, 2008
18:15	Germany	-	Croatia	32:27 (19:13)
20:15	Macedonia	-	Serbia	31:30 (16:14)

Main round

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 also reached the main round were taken over . The two first and second place winners in the groups advanced to the semi-finals. The third of the two groups played from the 5th place.

Group I.

Group I games were played in Ohrid.

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Pt.
1	Norway	5	4th	1	0	156: 111	+45	9
2	Spain	5	2	2	1	117: 110	+ 07	6th
3	Romania	5	3	0	2	143: 141	+ 02	6th
4th	Hungary	5	1	1	3	114: 134	−20	3
5	Ukraine	5	1	1	3	130: 148	−18	3
6th	Denmark	5	1	1	3	121: 137	−16	3

December 9, 2008
16:15	Hungary	-	Ukraine	26:24 (10: 9)
18:15	Romania	-	Spain	18:26 (9: 9)
20:15	Denmark	-	Norway	19:31 (12:10)
December 10, 2008
16:15	Romania	-	Ukraine	40:32 (17:18)
18:15	Hungary	-	Norway	20:34 (8:13)
20:15	Denmark	-	Spain	26:23 (12:12)
December 11, 2008
16:15	Hungary	-	Spain	21:23 (12:10)
18:15	Denmark	-	Ukraine	25:30 (12:18)
20:15	Romania	-	Norway	31:37 (14:19)

Group II

Group II games took place in Skopje.

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Pt.
1	Germany	5	4th	1	0	145: 121	+24	9
2	Russia	5	3	1	1	137: 116	+21	7th
3	Croatia	5	2	0	3	149: 146	+ 03	4th
4th	Macedonia	5	2	0	3	129: 145	−16	4th
5	Sweden	5	1	2	2	110: 125	−15	4th
6th	Belarus	5	0	2	3	133: 150	−17	2

December 8, 2008
16:15	Belarus	-	Croatia	35:43 (18:21)
18:15	Sweden	-	Germany	22:33 (11:15)
20:15	Russia	-	Macedonia	43:24 (15:12)
December 10, 2008
16:15	Russia	-	Croatia	24:21 (11:10)
18:15	Sweden	-	Macedonia	24:23 (13:13)
20:15	Belarus	-	Germany	28:28 (13:14)
December 11, 2008
16:15	Sweden	-	Croatia	24:29 (13:10)
18:15	Russia	-	Germany	22:27 (12:14)
20:15	Belarus	-	Macedonia	24:29 (12:17)

Final round

All games in the final round took place in Skopje.

Play for 5th place

December 13, 2008
11:30	Romania	-	Croatia	36:33 a.d. (29:29, 17:15)

Semifinals

December 13, 2008
14:00	Spain	-	Germany	32:29 (12:13)
16:30	Norway	-	Russia	24:18 (12: 7)

3rd place match

December 14, 2008
14:00	Russia	-	Germany	24:21 (17:11)

final

December 14, 2008
16:30	Norway	-	Spain	34:21 (13:12)

List of goalscorers

rank	Surname	country	Gates	Goals per game
1	Linn-Kristin Riegelhuth Koren	Norway	51	6.4
2	Grit Jurack	Germany	46	6.6
3	Marta Mangué	Spain	43	5.4
4th	Anita Görbicz	Hungary	39	6.5
5	Natalija Todorovska	Macedonia	38	6.3
6th	Andrea Penezić	Croatia	37	5.3
	Valentina Ardean-Elisei	Romania	37	5.3
8th	Dijane Golubic	Croatia	33	4.7
	Julija Portjanko	Macedonia	33	5.5
10	Kristina Franić	Croatia	32	4.6

Allstar team

position	Surname	country
Goal:	Katrine Lunde Haraldsen	Norway
Left winger:	Valentina Ardean-Elisei	Romania
Back left:	Tonje Larsen	Norway
Back center:	Kristine Lunde	Norway
Back right:	Grit Jurack	Germany
Right winger:	Linn-Kristin Riegelhuth Koren	Norway
Circle:	Begoña Fernández	Spain
Most Valuable Player:	Kristine Lunde	Norway
Best defender:	Nadezhda Muravyova	Russia

Final score

Pl.	team
1.	Norway
2.	Spain
3.	Russia
4th	Germany
5.	Romania
6th	Croatia
7th	Macedonia
8th.	Hungary
9.	Sweden
10.	Ukraine
11.	Denmark
12.	Belarus
13.	Serbia
14th	France
15th	Austria
16.	Portugal

Web links

• Official website of the EHF Euro 2008