2012 European Men's Handball Championship

2012 EHF European Men's Handball Championship
Европско првенство у рукомету 2012 (Serbian)
EHF Euro 2012 official logo
Tournament details
Host country	Serbia
Dates	15–29 January
Teams	16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	5 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Denmark (2nd title)
Runner-up	Serbia
Third place	Croatia
Fourth place	Spain
Tournament statistics
Matches played	47
Goals scored	2333 (49.64 per match)
Attendance	302,688 (6,440 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Kiril Lazarov (MKD) (61 goals)
Best player	Momir Ilić (SRB)
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Countries that qualified for the championship

Маscot Tasa (eagle) with Macedonian fan in Belgrade Arena

Serbian and Macedonian fans in Belgrade Arena

Serbian and Macedonian fans in Belgrade Arena, Serbia vs Germany

The 2012 EHF European Men's Handball Championship was the tenth edition of the men's continental handball tournament, which was held in Serbia between 15–29 January 2012. Sixteen teams qualified for the event, including host nation Serbia, defending champion France and fourteen national teams through the qualifying tournament. The teams were split into four groups of 4, with the top 3 teams of each group advancing to the main round, carrying the points won against other qualified opponents. Going to the main round with no points, Denmark ended up winning the championship after defeating Serbia in the final with a scoreline of 21–19.^[1]

In the bronze final Croatia faced Spain. The Balkan team, after previously having lost two EHF EURO bronze medal matches in 2004 and 2006, managed to overcome the Spaniards by 31–27 thus winning their second bronze and fourth European medal overall.^[2] In the placement match for the 5th position Macedonia proved to be too strong for Slovenia and won the match by 28–27. Macedonian right back Kiril Lazarov led his team with 8 goals to success and took the top scorers' award with a European Championship record of 61 goals.^[3] Over 300,000 spectators were present in 47 matches during the tournament, which was also a new championship record.^[1]

By winning the European title, Denmark directly qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics, while Serbia and Macedonia secured a spot in the Olympic Qualification Tournament. Thanks to the Danish triumph, Poland also made it to the qualifiers as the eighth ranked team of the 2011 World Championship.^[4]

The championship was somewhat overshadowed by incidents that occurred during the final week of the event. On 26–27 January, in violent attacks, cars were damaged or set on fire, and several Croatian supporters were injured. In the semifinal match between Serbia and Croatia, Žarko Šešum, back player of the Serbians was hit by a coin severely injuring his eye.^[5]

Background

EHF decided Serbia would host the tournament, in the cities of Belgrade, Niš, Novi Sad and Vršac. Germany and France were the other applicants for the championship.

Qualification

Main article: 2012 European Men's Handball Championship qualification

The 2012 Championship was the second for which the new qualification system was used.

Qualified teams

Country	Qualified as	Date qualification was secured	Previous appearances in tournament¹
Serbia	00Host	0027 September 2008	60 (1996², 1998², 2002², 2004³, 2006³, 2010)
France	00Defending Champion	0031 January 2010	92 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)
Hungary	00Group 1 winner	0013 March 2011	70 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)
Croatia	00Group 2 winner	0013 March 2011	90 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)
Sweden	00Group 4 winner	008 June 2011	80 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2010)
Denmark	00Group 7 winner	008 June 2011	80 (1994, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)
Russia	00Group 7 runner-up	008 June 2011	90 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)
Norway	00Group 6 winner	008 June 2011	40 (2000, 2006, 2008, 2010)
Germany	00Group 5 winner	008 June 2011	90 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)
Slovakia	00Group 4 runner-up	009 June 2011	20 (2006, 2008)
Spain	00Group 2 runner-up	009 June 2011	90 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)
Czech Republic	00Group 6 runner-up	0011 June 2011	60 (1996, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2010)
Macedonia	00Group 1 runner-up	0012 June 2011	10 (1998)
Poland	00Group 3 winner	0012 June 2011	50 (2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)
Slovenia	00Group 3 runner-up	0012 June 2011	80 (1994, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)
Iceland	00Group 5 runner-up	0012 June 2011	60 (2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)

¹Bold indicates champion for that year

² as FR Yugoslavia

³ as Serbia and Montenegro

Squads

Main article: 2012 European Men's Handball Championship squads

Venues

Belgrade (2)

Vršac

Novi Sad

Niš

Venues Map

Source: Serbian Handball Federation: Euro 2010

Preliminary round				Knockout stage
Belgrade	Novi Sad	Vršac	Niš	Belgrade
Pionir Hall Capacity: 8,150	SPENS Capacity: 8,000	Millennium Center Capacity: 4,000	Čair Sports Center Capacity: 5,000	Belgrade Arena Capacity: 20,000

Belgrade Arena.

Referees

On 12 September 2011, 12 couples were announced in Vienna.^[6]

Country	Referees
Czech Republic	Václav Horáček Jiří Novotný
Denmark	Per Olesen Lars Ejby Pedersen
France	Nordine Lazaar Laurent Reveret
Germany	Lars Geipel Marcus Helbig
Iceland	Hlynur Leifsson Anton Pálsson
Macedonia	Slave Nikolov Gjorgi Nachevski

Country	Referees
Norway	Kenneth Abrahamsen Arne Kristiansen
Romania	Sorin-Laurenţiu Dinu Constantin Din
Russia	Yevgeniy Zotin Nikolay Volodkov
Serbia	Nenad Nikolić Dušan Stojković
Slovenia	Nenad Krstić Peter Ljubič
Spain	Óscar Raluy Ángel Sabroso

Broadcasting

List of broadcasters

Country	Broadcaster
Bosnia and Herzegovina	BHRT
Croatia	HRT2
Czech Republic	ČT4
Denmark	TV2
France	Canal+ Sport Sport+
Germany	Sport1 Das Erste ZDF
Hungary	MTV Sport1
Iceland	RÚV
Macedonia	Sitel Sitel 3
Norway	TV2
Poland	TVP2 TVP Sport TVP HD
Portugal	Sport TV
Romania	Dolce Sport TVR2
Russia	Channel One
Serbia	RTS
Slovakia	Dvojka
Slovenia	RTV2
Spain	Teledeporte
Sweden	TV4 Sjuan
Turkey	Sports TV

Seeding

The draw was held on 15 June 2011 in Belgrade at 12:00 local time.^[7]^[8] The seeding was announced on 13 June 2011.^[9]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
France Croatia (assigned to D1) Germany Poland	Denmark Norway Hungary (assigned to C2) Sweden	Serbia (assigned to A3) Iceland Spain Czech Republic	Slovenia Russia Macedonia (assigned to B4) Slovakia

Group stage

The match schedule was released and confirmed on 18 April 2011.^[10] Four teams were selected to play in the four venue cities, Serbia in Belgrade, Macedonia at Niš, Hungary at Novi Sad and Croatia in Vršac.^[11] The playing schedule was announced on 1 July.^[12]^[13]

All times are UTC+1.

	Team advanced to the Main Round

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Serbia	3	2	1	0	67	61	+6	5
Poland	3	2	0	1	86	72	+14	4
Denmark	3	1	0	2	78	76	+2	2
Slovakia	3	0	1	2	70	92	−22	1

15 January 2012 18:15	Poland	18–22	Serbia	Pionir Hall, Belgrade Attendance: 4,000 Referees: Raluy, Sabroso (ESP)
	Bielecki 4	(7–11)	Vujin, Nikčević 6
	2× 3×	Report	4× 3×

15 January 2012 20:15	Denmark	30–25	Slovakia	Pionir Hall, Belgrade Attendance: 4,000 Referees: Zotin, Volodkov (RUS)
	Lindberg 7	(15–12)	Valo 6
	4× 3×	Report	2× 2×

17 January 2012 18:15	Slovakia	24–41	Poland	Pionir Hall, Belgrade Attendance: 3,500 Referees: Krstić, Ljubič (SLO)
	Kukučka 5	(13–17)	Tkaczyk 8
	5× 3× 1×	Report	3× 3×

17 January 2012 20:15	Serbia	24–22	Denmark	Pionir Hall, Belgrade Attendance: 5,000 Referees: Lazaar, Reveret (FRA)
	Ilić 8	(10–12)	Christiansen, Hansen 4
	2× 3×	Report	4× 3×

19 January 2012 18:15	Poland	27–26	Denmark	Pionir Hall, Belgrade Attendance: 3,500 Referees: Leifsson, Pálsson (ISL)
	Tkaczyk 7	(10–14)	Mogensen 4
	5× 3×	Report	5× 3×

19 January 2012 20:15	Serbia	21–21	Slovakia	Pionir Hall, Belgrade Attendance: 4,900 Referees: Zotin, Volodkov (RUS)
	Prodanović 5	(13–6)	three players 4
	5× 3×	Report	3× 3×

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Germany	3	2	0	1	77	74	+3	4
Macedonia	3	1	1	1	76	71	+5	3
Sweden	3	1	1	1	83	84	−1	3
Czech Republic	3	1	0	2	77	84	−7	2

15 January 2012 17:20	Germany	24–27	Czech Republic	Čair Sports Center, Niš Attendance: 3,800 Referees: Abrahamsen, Kristiansen (NOR)
	Kaufmann 5	(9–14)	Jícha 7
	3× 3×	Report	3× 3×

15 January 2012 19:30	Sweden	26–26	Macedonia	Čair Sports Center, Niš Attendance: 4,000 Referees: Lazaar, Reveret (FRA)
	Ekberg 6	(14–13)	Aluševski, Lazarov 7
	6× 3×	Report	6× 3×

17 January 2012 18:15	Macedonia	23–24	Germany	Čair Sports Center, Niš Attendance: 4,000 Referees: Leifsson, Pálsson (ISL)
	Lazarov 7	(12–12)	Kaufmann 6
	4× 3×	Report	7× 3× 1×

17 January 2012 20:15	Czech Republic	29–33	Sweden	Čair Sports Center, Niš Attendance: 2,050 Referees: Raluy, Sabroso (ESP)
	Jícha 7	(17–19)	Ekberg 10
	4× 3×	Report	6× 4×

19 January 2012 18:15	Germany	29–24	Sweden	Čair Sports Center, Niš Attendance: 2,800 Referees: Krstić, Ljubič (SLO)
	Gensheimer 9	(20–15)	Ekdahl du Rietz 8
	5× 3×	Report	2× 3×

19 January 2012 20:15	Czech Republic	21–27	Macedonia	Čair Sports Center, Niš Attendance: 4,000 Referees: Abrahamsen, Kristiansen (NOR)
	Jícha, Horák 5	(12–12)	Lazarov 7
	6× 3×	Report	3× 2×

Group C

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Spain	3	2	1	0	83	77	+6	5
Hungary	3	1	2	0	81	78	+3	4
France	3	1	0	2	77	79	−2	2
Russia	3	0	1	2	82	89	−7	1

16 January 2012 18:15	France	26–29	Spain	Spens Sports Center, Novi Sad Attendance: 5,000 Referees: Dinu, Din (ROU)
	Fernandez 7	(13–15)	three players 4
	2× 3×	Report	3× 3×

16 January 2012 20:15	Hungary	31–31	Russia	Spens Sports Center, Novi Sad Attendance: 6,000 Referees: Nikolić, Stojković (SRB)
	Császár 8	(19–19)	Chipurin 5
	6× 3×	Report	7× 3×

18 January 2012 18:15	Russia	24–28	France	Spens Sports Center, Novi Sad Attendance: 3,500 Referees: Horáček, Novotný (CZE)
	Chipurin 7	(11–16)	Narcisse 6
	3× 3×	Report	1× 3×

18 January 2012 20:15	Spain	24–24	Hungary	Spens Sports Center, Novi Sad Attendance: 4,500 Referees: Geipel, Helbig (GER)
	Cañellas 6	(11–12)	Császár, Mocsai 7
	3×	Report	5× 4× 1×

20 January 2012 18:15	Spain	30–27	Russia	Spens Sports Center, Novi Sad Attendance: 4,000 Referees: Nikolić, Stojković (SRB)
	García Parrondo 6	(17–11)	Igropulo 8
	3× 3×	Report	4× 4× 1×

20 January 2012 20:15	France	23–26	Hungary	Spens Sports Center, Novi Sad Attendance: 6,000 Referees: Nikolov, Nachevski (MKD)
	Barachet 5	(14–12)	Zubai 6
	2× 3×	Report	3× 3×

Group D

Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Croatia	3	3	0	88	78	+10	6
Slovenia	3	1	2	90	91	−1	2
Iceland	3	1	2	95	97	−2	2
Norway	3	1	2	80	87	−7	2

16 January 2012 18:10	Norway	28–27	Slovenia	Millennium Center, Vršac Attendance: 3,000 Referees: Horáček, Novotný (CZE)
	three players 6	(14–14)	Zorman, Gajić 5
	5× 3× 1×	Report	9× 2× 2×

16 January 2012 20:10	Croatia	31–29	Iceland	Millennium Center, Vršac Attendance: 2,500 Referees: Geipel, Helbig (GER)
	Štrlek 8	(14–15)	Sigurðsson 8
	4× 3×	Report	4× 3×

18 January 2012 18:10	Slovenia	29–31	Croatia	Millennium Center, Vršac Attendance: 3,800 Referees: Nikolov, Nachevski (MKD)
	Gajić 8	(12–16)	Čupić 9
	5× 4×	Report	4× 3×

18 January 2012 20:10	Iceland	34–32	Norway	Millennium Center, Vršac Attendance: 3,000 Referees: Olesen, Pedersen (DEN)
	Gunnarsson 9	(18–20)	Mamelund 10
	4× 3×	Report	4× 3×

20 January 2012 18:10	Iceland	32–34	Slovenia	Millennium Center, Vršac Attendance: 3,800 Referees: Geipel, Helbig (GER)
	Sigurðsson 9	(13–17)	Gajić, Skube 7
	3× 2×	Report	5× 3×

20 January 2012 20:10	Croatia	26–20	Norway	Millennium Center, Vršac Attendance: 3,000 Referees: Dinu, Din (ROU)
	Čupić 6	(13–8)	Mamelund 6
	3× 4×	Report	7× 3×

Main round

Group stage results between teams that qualified for the main round were carried over.

	Team advances to the Semifinals
	Team plays in the Fifth place game

Group I

Match Serbia vs Germany.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Serbia	5	3	1	1	110	104	+6	7
Denmark	5	3	0	2	140	133	+7	6
Macedonia	5	2	1	2	130	127	+3	5
Germany	5	2	1	2	132	129	+3	5
Poland	5	2	1	2	132	136	−4	5
Sweden	5	0	2	3	124	139	−15	2

21 January 2012 16:15	Poland	29–29	Sweden	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Attendance: 6,003 Referees: Lazaar, Reveret (FRA)
	Jaszka 8	(9–20)	Ekberg 7
	4× 2×	Report	3× 3×

21 January 2012 18:15	Denmark	33–32	Macedonia	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Attendance: 17,000 Referees: Raluy, Sabroso (ESP)
	Hansen 12	(16–19)	Lazarov 13
	3× 3×	Report	2× 2×

21 January 2012 20:15	Serbia	21–21	Germany	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Attendance: 19,500 Referees: Abrahamsen, Kristiansen (NOR)
	Ilić 6	(12–7)	Gensheimer 5
	4× 3×	Report	4× 3×

23 January 2012 16:20	Poland	25–27	Macedonia	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Attendance: 3,700 Referees: Leifsson, Pálsson (ISL)
	Jurecki 5	(12–18)	Lazarov 9
	5× 2×	Report	4× 3×

23 January 2012 18:20	Denmark	28–26	Germany	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Attendance: 7,000 Referees: Krstić, Ljubič (SLO)
	Eggert 7	(17–14)	four players 4
	2× 3×	Report	3× 3×

23 January 2012 20:20	Serbia	24–21	Sweden	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Attendance: 17,000 Referees: Raluy, Sabroso (ESP)
	Vujin 5	(14–11)	Ekdahl du Rietz 8
	3× 3×	Report	3× 3×

25 January 2012 16:15	Poland	33–32	Germany	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Attendance: 1,000 Referees: Raluy, Sabroso (ESP)
	Jurecki, Kuchczynski 5	(18–17)	Klein, Sprenger 7
	4× 2×	Report	8× 3× 1×

25 January 2012 18:15	Denmark	31–24	Sweden	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Attendance: 5,200 Referees: Krstić, Ljubič (SLO)
	Eggert 7	(18–11)	Andersson 8
	1× 3×	Report	5× 3×

25 January 2012 20:15	Serbia	19–22	Macedonia	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Attendance: 12,000 Referees: Abrahamsen, Kristiansen (NOR)
	Vujin 5	(10–11)	Lazarov 10
	1× 4×	Report	4× 2×

Group II

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Spain	5	4	1	0	143	130	+13	9
Croatia	5	3	1	1	137	128	+9	7
Slovenia	5	2	0	3	153	156	−3	4
Hungary	5	1	2	2	125	130	−5	4
Iceland	5	1	1	3	143	146	−3	3
France	5	1	1	3	128	139	−11	3

22 January 2012 16:10	Hungary	21–27	Iceland	Spens Sports Center, Novi Sad Attendance: 4,500 Referees: Nikolić, Stojković (SRB)
	Császár 7	(10–14)	Atlason, Sigurðsson 5
	4× 3×	Report	6× 3×

22 January 2012 18:10	France	28–26	Slovenia	Spens Sports Center, Novi Sad Attendance: 4,700 Referees: Dinu, Din (ROU)
	Barachet 6	(14–15)	Žvižej 6
	3× 3×	Report	7× 3×

22 January 2012 20:10	Spain	24–22	Croatia	Spens Sports Center, Novi Sad Attendance: 7,500 Referees: Horáček, Novotný (CZE)
	Tomás 5	(11–14)	Čupić 5
	3× 3×	Report	3× 3×

24 January 2012 16:10	Spain	31–26	Iceland	Spens Sports Center, Novi Sad Attendance: 2,500 Referees: Nikolov, Nachevski (MKD)
	Aguinagalde 5	(17–13)	Sigurðsson 6
	2× 3×	Report	2× 3×

24 January 2012 18:10	France	22–29	Croatia	Spens Sports Center, Novi Sad Attendance: 7,500 Referees: Abrahamsen, Kristiansen (NOR)
	Fernandez, Barachet 4	(12–11)	Kopljar, Čupić 7
	2× 3×	Report	3× 3×

24 January 2012 20:10	Hungary	30–32	Slovenia	Spens Sports Center, Novi Sad Attendance: 6,800 Referees: Geipel, Helbig (GER)
	Putics 7	(13–14)	Gajić 13
	5× 3× 1×	Report	6× 4×

25 January 2012 16:10	France	29–29	Iceland	Spens Sports Center, Novi Sad Attendance: 2,800 Referees: Nikolić, Stojković (SRB)
	Accambray 10	(11–15)	Sigurðsson 5
	2× 3×	Report	1× 3×

25 January 2012 18:10	Spain	35–32	Slovenia	Spens Sports Center, Novi Sad Attendance: 3,200 Referees: Geipel, Helbig (GER)
	Romero 7	(15–15)	Žvižej 7
	3×	Report	3× 3×

25 January 2012 20:10	Hungary	24–24	Croatia	Spens Sports Center, Novi Sad Attendance: 5,500 Referees: Din, Dinu (ROU)
	Császár 14	(13–12)	Horvat 11
	3× 2×	Report	4× 4×

Knockout stage

Bracket

Semi-finals			Final

27 January – Belgrade
Serbia	26
Croatia	22

			29 January – Belgrade
			Serbia	19
			Denmark	21


			Third place
27 January – Belgrade		29 January – Belgrade
Spain	24	Croatia	31
Denmark	25		Spain	27

Semifinals

27 January 2012 17:45	Denmark	25–24	Spain	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Attendance: 14,000 Referees: Krstić, Ljubič (SLO)
	Lauge 6	(12–10)	Aguinagalde 5
	3× 4×	Report	3× 3×

27 January 2012 20:15	Serbia	26–22	Croatia	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Attendance: 20,000 Referees: Lazaar, Reveret (FRA)
	Ilić 8	(13–14)	Kopljar 7
	3× 3×	Report	2× 3×

Fifth place game

27 January 2012 15:15	Macedonia	28–27	Slovenia	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Attendance: 5,500 Referees: Raluy, Sabroso (ESP)
	Lazarov 8	(16–12)	Dolenec 7
	5× 3×	Report	6× 3×

Bronze medal game

29 January 2012 14:30	Croatia	31–27	Spain	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Attendance: 8,500 Referees: Geipel, Helbig (GER)
	Lacković, Čupić 7	(13–12)	Sarmiento 7
	5× 3×	Report	2× 3×

Final

29 January 2012 17:00	Serbia	19–21	Denmark	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Attendance: 19,800 Referees: Abrahamsen, Kristiansen (NOR)
	Prodanović 4	(7–9)	Hansen 9
	4× 1×	Report	3× 2×

The final was played at the Belgrade Arena between the host-nation Serbia and Denmark, and was seen by 19,800 spectators.^[14] The teams played a match against each other in the group stage of the tournament, when Serbia defeated Denmark 24–22. Serbia's coach Veselin Vuković could not rely on Žarko Šešum, whose left eye was injured after he was hit with a coin on the halftime break of the semi-final match against Croatia.^[15]

The match started with tough play by both teams and low scoring. Denmark claimed the lead in the early phase of the match and controlled the period. Serbia's attacks were ineffective, and goalkeeper Darko Stanić made several saves. The Danes made fewer mistakes in the attacks and Anders Eggert scored important goals in the counter-attacks. Denmark led at halftime 9–7.

Early in the second half Denmark took a 11–7 lead, but then Serbian players halted opponent's run with a better play in defence, except for Mikkel Hansen who scored with his powerful shots in the critical moments of the game. Danes were having the lead all the time with a margin of 1–4 goals and thanks to the saves of their goalkeeper Niklas Landin Jacobsen prevented Serbians to level the result. Last minutes of the game were played with many mistakes on both sides, but Hansen scored the decisive goal for peerless lead 21–18 with 20 seconds to go. Serbia scored until the end making it 21–19 in favor of Denmark at the end. This was the second title for Denmark after they have previously won the European Championship in 2008.^[1]

Ranking and statistics

Final ranking

The final ranking for places 7 to 16 was determined by the team's group stage record. In case the ranking would have been relevant for Olympic qualification, there would have been a placement match for 7th and 9th place.

Rank	Team	World Ch'ship qualification	Olympics qualification
	Denmark	WC	Q
	Serbia	WC	q
	Croatia	WC	q
4	Spain	WC	q
5	Macedonia		q
6	Slovenia
7	Germany
8	Hungary		q
9	Poland		q
10	Iceland		q
11	France	WC	Q
12	Sweden		q
13	Norway
14	Czech Republic
15	Russia
16	Slovakia

WC	Team qualified for the 2013 World Men's Handball Championship
Q/q	Team qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics (Q) or the 2012 Summer Olympics Qualification Tournaments (q)
	Team already qualified as hosts or based on last world championship result

Macedonian fans in Belgrade Arena.

All Star Team

Goalkeeper: Darko Stanić (SRB)
Left Wing: Guðjón Valur Sigurðsson (ISL)
Left Back: Mikkel Hansen (DEN)
Centre Back: Uroš Zorman (SLO)
Pivot: Rene Toft Hansen (DEN)
Right Back: Marko Kopljar (CRO)
Right Wing: Christian Sprenger (GER)

Other awards

Top Scorer : Kiril Lazarov (MKD)
Best Defence Player : Viran Morros (ESP)
Most Valuable Player: Momir Ilić (SRB)

Source: ehf-euro.com, 29.01.2012

Top goalscorers

Rank	Name	Goals	Shots	%	MP
1	Kiril Lazarov (MKD)	61	114	54	7
2	Dragan Gajić (SLO)	48	67	72	7
3	Mikkel Hansen (DEN)	45	89	51	8
4	Gábor Császár (HUN)	43	68	63	6
5	Ivan Čupić (CRO)	42	55	76	8
6	Guðjón Valur Sigurðsson (ISL)	41	63	65	6
7	Momir Ilić (SRB)	34	72	47	8
8	Niclas Ekberg (SWE)	33	51	65	6
9	Blazenko Lackovic (CRO)	32	56	57	8
10	Anders Eggert Jensen (DEN)	30	39	77	8
	Luka Žvižej (SLO)	30	41	73	7
	Jure Dolenec (SLO)	30	47	64	7

Source: EHF

Incidents

Riots

On 24 January 2012, after the match between Croatia and France, Serbian hooligans attacked Croatian fans in several locations in Vojvodina, northern Serbia. In Novi Sad, Croatian supporters were heading home after the game, when they ran into a road block and some 50 masked men assaulted them with stones, bricks and axes, smashing windscreens. The attack left several supporters injured and one of them hospitalized. In Ruma, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) south from Novi Sad, a Croatian van was set on fire and one of the passengers stabbed with a knife.^[16]^[17]^[18]

A day later the unrest continued and many cars were damaged, torched, or burnt out throughout Novi Sad.^[19] The Croatian Foreign Ministry officially complained to Serbian Ambassador Stanimir Vukicevic over the attacks; Vukicevic expressed regret and stated that the Serbian police was already taking the necessary steps. Thirteen people were arrested in connection with the incident, including Ivan Ključovski and Jovan Bajić, leaders of a fan group from Novi Sad, and a member of the Obraz right-wing organization.^[20] After questioning, all of them remained in custody for a month.^[21]

Serbia-Croatia semifinal

Serbia and Croatia met in the semifinal of the tournament, which caused further concern on both sides. About 5,000 policemen were deployed to ensure the security of the fans, while in Croatia some tourist agencies cancelled trips for the match and the Croatian Handball Federation (Hrvatski rukometni savez, HRS) also recommended not to go to Serbia as the supporters' safety might not be guaranteed.^[22]^[23] Spokesman Zlatko Skrinjar also added that the HRS had planned to organize trips for the event, however, they changed their mind due to the incidents in the preceding days. On the Croatian-Serbian border, joint checkpoints were set up to prevent hooligans and other groups who have no ticket for the match to enter Serbia, and to escort the fans with tickets from the border to Belgrade.^[23]^[24]

The police reported that there were no incidents during the match,^[25] which was eventually won by the Serbians 26–22, howevever, a coin actually meant for Croatian playmaker Ivano Balić hit Serbian back player Žarko Šešum, severely injuring his eye.^[26] Šešum's eye suffered significant bleeding. After the trauma he had only minimal vision on the affected eye, but the risk of permanent sight loss was reportedly averted.^[27] Morten Stig Christensen, Secretary of the Danish Handball Federation, Serbia's opponent in the final said that he was "severely shocked" by the incident and so were the people from the European Handball Federation with whom he spoke. Christensen also added that he was shocked that although there were more than five thousand security personnel at the stadium, the hooligans still managed to sneak in Roman candles and laser lights.^[28]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: 2012 European Men's Handball Championship

^ ^a ^b ^c Björn, Pazen (29 January 2012). "Denmark win gold at Euro 2012". European Handball Federation. http://www.eurohandball.com/article/14545. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
^ Björn, Pazen (29 January 2012). "Croatia defeat their ‘Bronze curse’". EHF EURO official website. http://www.ehf-euro.com/Singe-News.2275.0.html?&tx_ttnews%5btt_news%5d=8081&cHash=a342a75ab3e961c4359acc064941df32. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
^ "EHF EURO 2012 - Day-by-day". European Handball Federation. 20 January 2012. http://www.eurohandball.com/article/14532. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
^ Björn, Pazen (29 January 2012). "Denmark qualify directly for London 2012". EHF EURO official website. http://www.ehf-euro.com/Singe-News.2275.0.html?&tx_ttnews%5btt_news%5d=8151&cHash=17f7ab3fec8d267421123535a1f11f23. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
^ "Serbian hooligans spoil European handball championships". Deutsche Welle. 28 January 2012. http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15698725,00.html. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
^ "Referees nominated for EHF EURO 2012". ehf-euro. 2011-09-12. http://www.eurohandball.com/print/14147.
^ "EHF EURO 2012 Final Tournament Draw". eurohandball.com. 2011-05-17. http://www.eurohandball.com/article/013937/EHF+EURO+2012+Final+Tournament+Draw. Retrieved 2011-05-17.
^ "The draw has been made for EHF EURO 2012". eurohandball.com. 2011-06-15. http://www.eurohandball.com/article/14012. Retrieved 2011-06-15.
^ Draw Procedure
^ "EHF EURO 2012 match schedule". ehf-euro.com. 2011-04-18. http://www.ehf-euro.com/Singe-News.2275.0.html. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
^ "Draw procedures for EHF EURO 2012". eurohandball.com. 2011-06-13. http://www.eurohandball.com/article/14006. Retrieved 2011-06-13.
^ "Official Playing Schedule". eurohandball.com. 2011-07-01. http://www.eurohandball.com/article/14046. Retrieved 2011-07-01.
^ Playing schedule
^ 2012 Men's European Championship – Final, EHF official web site.
^ Šešum zbog kretenskog ispada “navijača” propušta finale, Telegraf, 28 January 2012. (Serbian)
^ "Croatian handball fan stabbed in Serbia". T-Portal. 25 January 2012. http://daily.tportal.hr/172564/Croatian-handball-fan-stabbed-in-Serbia.html. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
^ "Croat fans attacked in northern Serbia". B92. 25 January 2012. http://www.b92.net/eng/news/crimes-article.php?yyyy=2012&mm=01&dd=25&nav_id=78451. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
^ "Croatia protests to Serbia over assaults on fans". Macedonian International News Agency. 25 January 2012. http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/20183/1/. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
^ "Cars set on fire after handball match". B92. 26 January 2012. http://www.b92.net//eng/news/crimes-article.php?yyyy=2012&mm=01&dd=26&nav_id=78471. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
^ "Police continue search for attackers". B92. 26 January 2012. http://www.b92.net/eng/news/crimes-article.php?yyyy=2012&mm=01&dd=26&nav_id=78468. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
^ "Suspects for attack on Croat fans remanded in custody". B92. 28 January 2012. http://www.b92.net/eng/news/crimes-article.php?yyyy=2012&mm=01&dd=28&nav_id=78512. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
^ "Sports: Violence hurts Serbia's name in intl sports - again". AKI. Adkronos. 26 January 2012. http://www.adnkronos.com/IGN/Aki/English/Sport/Sports-Violence-hurts-Serbias-name-in-intl-sports---again_312904766635.html. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
^ ^a ^b "Handball grudge match grips Serbia's capital". Al Jazeera. 27 January 2012. http://www.aljazeera.com/video/europe/2012/01/2012127192052589610.html. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
^ "5,000 police to secure Serbia-Croatia game". Tanjug. 27 January 2012. http://www.tanjug.rs/news/31487/5-000-police-to-secure-serbia-croatia-game.htm. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
^ "No incidents reported at Serbia-Croatia handball match in Belgrade". T-Portal. 28 January 2012. http://daily.tportal.hr/173193/No-incidents-reported-at-Serbia-Croatia-handball-match-in-Belgrade.html. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
^ "Serbian handball player struck in eye by dart". Yahoo!. 27 January 2012. http://news.yahoo.com/serbian-handball-player-struck-eye-dart-224135458--spt.html. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
^ "Serbiens træner: Sesum ude af EM" (in Danish). TV 2 (Denmark). 28 January 2012. http://emhh2012.tv2.dk/article/id-47781860:serbiens-tr%C3%A6ner-sesum-ude-af-em.html. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
^ "DHF-boss: Jeg er voldsomt rystet" (in Danish). TV 2 (Denmark). 28 January 2012. http://emhh2012.tv2.dk/article/id-47779609:dhfboss-jeg-er-voldsomt-rystet.html. Retrieved 30 January 2012.

External links

Official website

v t e European Handball Championships

Men	Portugal 1994 Spain 1996 Italy 1998 Croatia 2000 Sweden 2002 Slovenia 2004 Switzerland 2006 Norway 2008 Austria 2010 Serbia 2012 Denmark 2014

Women	Germany 1994 Denmark 1996 Netherlands 1998 Romania 2000 Denmark 2002 Hungary 2004 Sweden 2006 Macedonia 2008 Denmark/Norway 2010 Netherlands 2012 Hungary–Croatia 2014

v t e 2013 World Men's Handball Championship qualification

Africa	2012 African Men's Handball Championship

Asia	2012 Asian Men's Handball Championship

America	2012 Pan American Men's Handball Championship

Europe	2012 European Men's Handball Championship Playoffs

Oceania	2012 Oceania Handball Nations Cup