The EHF EURO 2024 champions and MVP in numbers

EHF / Julian Rux

16 December 2024, 13:00

Data provides unique insights into the performances of players and teams. Data analyst and journalist Julian Rux has been sharing his findings on a regular basis during the Women’s EHF EURO 2024. At the end of the tournament, we are taking a look at European champions Norway and MVP Anna Kristensen.

For the tenth time, Norway won the EHF EURO after pulling clear of Denmark in the second half to win 31:23 in the end. According to the data, Norway completely dominated the tournament as well. They were clearly the best team in the tournament in both attack and defence.

The best way to determine the quality of a team in attach and defence is by adjusting the goals scored and conceded to 50 possessions. This is significantly more meaningful than just the raw number of goals scored and conceded, because it makes the teams actually comparable, since the raw number of goals is not only influenced by effectivity, but also by the number of possessions (accounting for whether a team and their opponents play rather fast or slowly).

However, in tournaments not everyone plays against the same opponents and the differences in opponents' quality can sometimes be huge. For example, teams that go far face much tougher opponents. But to even out these problems the numbers can also be adjusted for opponent strength.

The adjustment is done by calculating how many goals conceded per 50 possessions would be expected for each game and team by the number of goals the opponents scored and conceded per 50 possessions in their other games. So-called “garbage time”, when the game is already decided by the final few minutes, is also filtered out. The differences to the actual goals scored and conceded can then be added to the goals scored or conceded per 50 possessions to have an adjusted rating.

In terms of offence, Denmark was ahead of the Norwegians before the semi-final. However, Henny Reistad and her teammates showed that they are on a higher level with their performance in the final. Their opponent's adjusted offensive efficiency is 29.5 goals per 50 possessions, almost exactly one goal better than second placed Denmark. When it was most important, they went one better.

A class above the rest

Denmark even forced the third worst offensive performance of the competition from Thorir Hergeirsson's team, with 27.2 goals per 50 possessions in the final, as Norway conceded their second most turnovers in the tournament (10.5 per 50 possessions) and allowed no second chances.

But none of that was nearly good enough against the superior defending champions who, in turn, made Denmark succumb to their worst offensive performance of the tournament, with 19.8 goals per 50 possessions, their most turnovers (13.8 per 50 possessions) and their worst shooting efficiency (52.3 per cent). Their second worst performance in all these categories was against Norway in their main round match-up.

Over the entire tournament, Norway had fewer turnovers than anyone else (8.6 per 50 possessions), had by far the best shooting percentage (68.4) and field goal percentage (67.5) and was also among the top teams in all other important statistics.

Defensively, in the end Norway ranked first as well with opponent-adjusted 20.3 goals conceded per 50 possessions. Their net rating between this and their opponent-adjusted goals scored per 50 possessions is +11.0, while Denmark ranks second with +6.6. The difference between Norway and Denmark of 4.4 is bigger than the difference from Denmark to the Netherlands, who were ranked seventh.

In contrast to the attack, however, Norway does not lead all rankings in the general defensive statistics. Instead, they are mostly second, for instance in the opponent's shooting percentage (53.4) and field goal percentage (51.3), the number of turnovers (13.8 per 50 possessions) and second chances allowed (after 10.0 per cent of their opponent’s missed shots).

Interestingly, in terms of shooting percentage and turnovers, Czechia and Spain were ahead of them – two teams that were eliminated in the preliminary round and apparently had one clear strength. Germany, a main round team, was slightly better in not allowing rebounds.

In terms of overall save percentage, however, Norway was in first place with 37.9 per cent. The same applies to the net save percentage (only saves that lead to possession are taken into account), which correlates more closely with success, at 35.1 per cent.