Summary: Media calls and final preparation on EHF EURO eve

• the Men's EHF EURO 2024 throws off in Dusseldorf on Wednesday 10 January
• keep reading the live blog for build-up to the tournament
• on Tuesday: group A have their first media calls
• read the opening day preview
• download the Home of Handball app to make your match predictions
• follow the EHF EURO social media channels: X, Facebook and Instagram
• find out how to follow the tournament
• all photographs © Kolektiff Images

20:00

We close the blog today with this wonderful timelapse of the work that's gone into turning the MERKUR Spiel-Arena from a football stadium to a handball arena. 

One more sleep - are you ready?

19:30

Anticipation is building for tomorrow's opening games, and France head coach Gullaume Gille is looking forward to the match.

19:00

Poland have also arrived in Germany and have been hitting the gym in their last bits of preparation.

18:45

More social media posts to share while we wait for some quotes from the French media call - here's the Norwegian photoshoot yesterday!

18:20

EHF journalist Kevin Domas went to the North Macedonia media call earlier and spoke to Filip Taleski, who despite still being only 27 years old, is a veteran of the team and is hoping the squad can produce something special against France tomorrow. Read on to discover how Taleski and his teammates are feeling ahead of tomorrow's opening match.

17:45

For Hungary, it's been quiz time, with players asked to identify German host cities from pictures. See how many they got right!

17:35

France had their official portraits taken yesterday by our team of amazing photographers from Kolektiff Images - and the team behind the team got some behind-the-scenes shots of that happening. Every player is photographed so their image can be used on ehfeuro.eurohandball.com and on the cubes and big screens at the arenas.

17:25

The Faroese players were also on the road yesterday, travelling to Berlin for their first-ever EHF EURO!

17:15

Denmark - tipped by many to win the tournament - travelled to Munich yesterday and documented the journey on Instagram.

17:05

Croatia have announced their team travelling to Germany. Szeged right back Luka Stepancic is dropped to the reserve list, while David Mandic, Josip Sarac and Dominik Kuzmanovic are ruled out through injury. But it's still a solid squad for the 2020 silver medallists.

16:50

The teams are all ramping up their social media ahead of the tournament. We like this video from Portugal finding out which team member has the worst musical taste!

16:22

Our journalist Kevin Domas is at the group A media calls and he's sent through some thoughts from North Macedonia and Switzerland - here's a couple of quotes from two true legends of the game, Macedonian coach Kiril Lazarov and Swiss centre back Andy Schmid.

If you want to see everything that's coming from the media calls, keep checking the flash quotes.

15:50

In case you haven't got enough things earmarked to watch over the next weeks, add another: our documentary on German legend Stefan Kretszchmar. "Kretzsche - the Handball Punk" premieres on Friday 12 January at 19:30 CET on our YouTube channel and it's going to be epic!

14:45

We're about to head into a series of media calls for the group A teams - North Macedonia being the first up - and we'll bring you the best quotes from coaches and players as we get them. Before then, take some time out and watch the third in our series of documentaries on EHF EURO legends, which lifts the lid on Spain's Alex Dujshebaev and his team's incredible run to victory at the EHF EURO 2020.

14:15

Data analyst Julian Rux has sat down with the numbers once again and has produced a preview of the Men's EHF EURO 2024 looking at how this year's line-ups might compare with the teams who competed in 2022. It's a deep dive into the performances of two years ago, and shows that Norway have the most continuity between tournaments in terms of their roster, while defending champions Sweden had the best-performing line-up last time around.

See the article for lots more analysis!

13:50

The referee pairs for the first three matchdays have been announced - check out the list here. We'll keep this article updated throughout the tournament, so bookmark it if you want to know who'll be whistling each game.

13:05

Three teams are making their debuts at the Men's EHF EURO 2024 - Georgia, Greece and the Faroe Islands. All have huge ambitions while acknowledging that progression to the main round will be a challenge. We've spoken to the Faroes and Georgia already, so don't miss their features.

12:30

Our social media team have put together this great video showing the French players as youngsters and now!

12:00

There's been lots of talk already about the world record for attendance that will hopefully be set in Dusseldorf tomorrow night, but EHF journalist Björn Pazen has dug into the facts and figures to pick out plenty more key numbers for the tournament ahead. For example, do you know how many hosts have won the EHF EURO previously? Or how many medals Spain have won? 

This is your answer to those questions and many more!

11:30

Wondering how to follow the Men's EHF EURO 2024? You've already found one way, just by reading this live blog, but there's lots of other ways too, including watching the matches live on television or streaming, following our social media channels, and of course downloading the Home of Handball app to get involved with the Player of the Match and All-star Team votes and match predictor. Click here for all the details.

11:00

Our preview for the opening day is now live, picking out the key facts from both of tomorrow's group A matches. Find out what the stats say about all four teams and their previous head-to-head clashes, and which players might feature heavily at the MERKUR Spiel-Arena, by clicking here.

10:30

Germany had their first training session at the MERKUR Spiel-Arena last night and they've shared a video of the magnificent space that will host the opening games tomorrow night.

10:00

Welcome to the live blog on the day before the Men's EHF EURO 2024!

It's going to be a busy day for the teams, who must continue to get ready for the competition, and a busy one for us here in Dusseldorf with media calls for all four group A participants. Stay tuned throughout for some of the best quotes and behind-the-scenes content.

We're starting off today by sharing this great documentary with Andreas Wolff, who could be an important part of the hosts' journey through the competition. How far can Germany go at home?