The teams have entered the last straight in their preparations and just finished a national team week, which saw friendly matches and tournaments taking place throughout Europe.
On the back of these matches and their results, we examine who is hot and who is not before the start of the EHF EURO 2024. As always, these power rankings are subjective opinion of the journalist based on the results and performances shown by the teams in the last months.
8. Switzerland
The co-hosts of the competition made their debut at the EHF EURO in 2022, finishing 14th. They are still looking for their first win in the competition, but have a hugely talented generation, with young players ready to prove their worth.
Hosting a competition of this magnitude will certainly boost their credentials and Switzerland will be buoyed by their performance in the Carpathian Trophy, which took place in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
There, Switzerland secured first place with three wins in three matches: 37:26 against Türkiye, 36:27 against Romania and 27:22 against North Macedonia. Switzerland finished with the same number of points as Brazil, but with a better goal difference, at +25.
Three of Switzerland’s players — Tabea Schmid (24 goals), Daphne Gautschi (20 goals) and Mia Emmenegger (15 goals) — were among the five top scorers in the friendly competition, proving that the co-hosts will be no pushovers when they meet Denmark, Croatia and the Faroe Islands in group D in Basel.
7. Germany
Germany participated in the Golden League along with Norway, the Netherlands and Denmark. The side were once again on a rollercoaster, as they have been in previous major international competitions, with consistency lacking at times in both attack and defence. They started with two good performances — a 30:32 loss against Norway and a 27:23 win against the Netherlands — before an off-match against Denmark.
In the first 15 minutes against Denmark, the silver medallists from the EHF EURO 2022, Germany could only muster four goals and were down by nine at that point. Eventually, they conceded a 19:34 loss, which raises some questions to be answered by Markus Gaugisch and his players.
Nevertheless, Germany are slowly getting to the peak of the current generation, with some younger players, like right back Viola Leuchter, who has impressed in the EHF Champions League Women 2024/25, adding solutions on both sides of the ball. At the EHF EURO 2024, Germany will face the Netherlands again, as well as Iceland and Ukraine, in group F.
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Publish date : 2024-10-29 05:25:00
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