Throughout the building of the Belgian, French and Spanish collaboration, a key notion has emerged: we are truly animated by giving, spreading, sharing, transmitting to each other and to the world. In other words, we want to relay!
Relay is the value at the very core of our bid; this value that will be shared with the 120 million inhabitants in Belgium, France and Spain, but also with the entire continent.
Relay our passion for handball by organising a popular celebration with arenas packed with fans radiating with Spanish “pasión", in this land where so many first class handball players were born. Relay a breath of fresh air to the world of handball through Belgium’s challenging and enthusiastic approach to the sport. Relay our expertise through France’s know-how in hosting major handball events such as the 25th IHF Men’s World Championship. Relay a unique heritage of handball to the world by organising a premium EHF EURO 2022 event thanks to a stimulated tripartite candidacy giving a special focus on disabled handball practice.
Please, discover our candidature video:
All proposed host cities are all famous touristic destinations and thus an exemplary accommodation capacity to host the event, meeting all stakeholders’ needs. Hosting supporters from all over Europe in ideal conditions, who will share a magnificent celebration of handball and fraternity between people, will be one of the major successes of the event.
We have selected 8 host territories, across our 3 countries, where the competition will be held:
These cities are all well prepared to receive supporters and teams, and provide them with excellent conditions to share a unique moment, on and off the playing field!
Each city features a state-of-the-art arena able to host top-level handball as well as fans from all over Europe!
The quality of transportation is primordial to enable everyone to move in the smoothest, the fastest and the safest way possible. Our systems are perfectly adapted to receive fans from all over the world, 24 handball teams, EHF officials, partners, media, sponsors, etc. Selected host cities are also well-connected with one another, thanks to a local transport infrastructure which links the venues to main touristic attractions and cultural masterpieces.
The best proof of the quality of our joint candidature may well be our experience in providing great hosting conditions for teams, fans and officials.
Belgium and the host city of Antwerp have experience in organising major team sport events, such as volleyball (one pool of the 2015 CEV Women’s Volleyball European Championship was played in Antwerp’s Lotto Arena, as well as one quarter-final), and football (UEFA Euro 2000). In 2019, Belgium will host the Men’s CEV Euro 2019 of volleyball in the proposed competition venue, along with Slovenia, the Netherlands and France.
Over the past two years only, France has seen on its territory the UEFA Euro 2016 of football, the Wrestling World Championships 2017, the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, not to mention the IHF Men’s World Championship 2017 of handball.
Hence, France has been awarded several international competitions to come such as the Women’s EHF EURO 2018, the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019 or the 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games (in Paris).
Regarding Spain, since the men’s 2013 World Championship, the Royal Spanish Handball Federation has led many international handball projects: a Euro Beach Handball Championship, two continental youth beach handball Events and a U19 Euro Championship. Furthermore, the country features enjoyable perspectives: Spain already has the organising rights of the 2019 Men’s Junior World Championship and the 2021 Women’s World Championship of handball. This does not include experience in other sports, such as basketball, with the hosting of the FIBA 2014 Men’s World Cup and the very famous football games, gathering people from the entire world, all year long.
Our three federations have handed in our bid book in November 2017 (see its cover page). EHF will designate the final host of the Men’s EURO 2022 in June 2018. We really hope we will organise this great event, which has been thought to be a celebration for all. This will be the best possible reward for all stakeholders which have contributed to the project. We especially thank host cities, our respective governments and everyone who has worked on this bid for their commitment and trust.
