2006 European Women's Handball Championship

The 2006 EHF European Women's Handball Championship was held in Sweden from December 7 to December 17, it was won by flagicon|NOR Norway, who beat flagicon|RUS Russia 27-24 in the final match.

This championship was also the European qualifying event for 2008 Olympics, and Norway earned a spot at the 2008 Games for being the European champion. If Norway also becomes the 2007 World champion, the 2nd place team will qualify for the Olympics. In addition, the 1 or 2 (if Europe finishes in the top 2 continents at the world championship) best ranked teams in this championship, which are outside top 7 at the world championship, will participate at the Olympic qualifying tournament.

Venues

The European Championships will be held in the following cities:
*Skövde, Arena Skövde (Preliminary Group A)
*Malmö, Baltiska Hallen (Preliminary Group D)
*Göteborg, Scandinavium (Preliminary Group B, Main Group 1)
*Stockholm, Hovet (Preliminary Group C, Main Group 2, Final Round)

Draw

The following nations were qualified:

Group B (Göteborg)

"* Note - the tiebreaker was the goal difference in the matches between Spain, France and Denmark"

Main Round

Group I (Göteborg)

Final Standings

#NOR
#RUS
#FRA
#GER
#HUN
#SWE
#CRO
#POL
#ESP
#AUT
#DEN
#MKD
#UKR
#SRB
#NED
#SVN

All-star team

*Gro Hammerseng (NOR) was voted the most valuable player.Norway and Russia were also the only two countries to have two players on the All-star team.

The All-star team was:
*Goalkeeper: Inna Suslina (RUS)
*Right wing: Annika Wiel Freden (SWE)
*Right back: Ibolya Mehlmann (HUN)
*Playmaker: Gro Hammerseng (NOR)
*Pivot: Liudmila Bodnieva (RUS)
*Left back: Nadine Krause (GER)
*Left wing: Kari Mette Johansen (NOR) (also the one with the highest scoring rate. (77%)

References

* [http://www.eurohandball.com European Handball Federation]