Handball drew the groups for Paris 2024: France will seek to defend its crowns

Handball has confirmed its groups for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in which France will seek to defend against its people the gold medal it won in Tokyo, both for men and women.

Group B appears to be the strongest among men. France, which won three of the four editions, will seek to retain the crown and will have as one of its rivals Denmark, champion of the last three world championships. The two played in the last Olympic final. The area is completed by the also European and always dangerous Norway and Hungary, Egypt (fourth in Tokyo) and Argentina.

Group A, meanwhile, will consist of five teams from Europe: Spain (bronze in Tokyo and last World Cup), Croatia (champion in Atlanta and Athens), Germany, Slovenia and Sweden. The sixth member of the zone is Japan.

Among women, France, who also came to the Olympic Games as world champion, will join Group B with Spain and the Netherlands. Hungary is the fourth European in the area, Brazil will try to get into the fight and complete Angola.

Meanwhile, in Group A there will be the three teams with the most medals in the history of the Games: Denmark (Olympic champion in Atlanta, Sydney and Athens), Norway (gold in Beijing and London) and South Korea (titles in Seoul and Barcelona). The area is completed by Germany, Slovenia and Sweden.

The format is the same for both competitions: 12 selected are divided into two groups of six and the first four in each zone will be the ones that will go to the quarterfinals. The first phase, which will start on July 25 for women and a couple of days later for men, will be held at the Arena Paris Sur in the French capital and from the quarterfinals onwards, handball will be played at the Pierre Mauroy stadium in Lille.